Various Messages from Samuel Logan Brengle
Compiled by Dominic Mahon
Released into public domain – January 2012
A Common Yet Subtle Sin
There is a sin which a Catholic priest once declared that no one had ever confessed to him sin so
deadly that the wrath of God comes upon men because of it; a sin so common that probably
everybody has at some time been guilty of it; a sin so gross in the sight of God as to be classed with
whoremongery, idolatry, murder, and such like; a sin so subtle that men most guilty of it seem to be
most unconscious of it; a sin that has led to the ruin of homes, to the doom of cities, the downfall of
kings, the overthrow of empires, the collapse of civilizations, the damnation of an apostle, of
ministers of the Gospel, and of millions of less conspicuous men. Men in the highest and most sacred
positions of trust, and enjoying the most unlimited confidence of their fellow-men, have, under the
spell of this sin, wrecked their good names, and have brought shame to their families, and
misfortune, want, and woe to their fellows.
When amid the thunderings and lightnings of Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments to
Moses, one of the ten was against this sin. When Lot lost all he had in the doom of Sodom and
Gomorrah, it was primarily because of this sin. When Nadab and Abihu were suddenly consumed by
the fierce fires of God's wrath, at the bottom of their transgression was this sin. When Achan and his
household were stoned, it was because of this sin. When Eli and his sons lost the priesthood and
died miserably, it was at root because of this sin. When Saul lost his kingdom, it was because this sin
had subtly undermined his loyalty to God. When Ahab died and the dogs licked his blood, he was
meeting the doom of this sin. When David fell from heights of God's tender favor and fellowship,
and brought shame and confusion upon himself, and incurred God's hot displeasure and lifelong
trouble, it was because of this sin.
When Elisha's servant, Gehazi, went out from the presence of the prophet smitten with leprosy
white as snow, it was because of this sin. When Judas betrayed the Master with a kiss, thus making
his name a synonym of everlasting obloquy, and bringing upon himself the death of a dog and a fool,
it was because of this sin. When Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead at Peter's feet, they suffered
the dread penalty of this sin. When the great war burst forth in 1914, enveloping the earth in its
wrathful flame, sweeping away the splendid young manhood of the world in storms of steel and
rivers of blood, and engulfing the accumulated wealth of ages in a bottomless pit of destruction, the
disaster could be traced to the unrestricted and deadly workings of this awful, secret, silent, pitiless
sin.
But what is the sin that the Catholic priest never heard mentioned in his confessional -- this sin that
apostles and priests, and shepherds and servants have committed, and upon which the swift, fierce
lightnings of God's wrath have fallen -- this sin of which everyone at some time has probably been
guilty, and yet which is so secret and subtle that those most enthralled by it are most unconscious of
it?
When the herdsmen of Lot and Abraham fell into strife, Abraham, the uncle, to whom God had
promised all the land, said to the young man, Lot, his nephew, 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee,
between me and thee, we be brethren.' Then he bade Lot take any portion of the land which
pleased him, and he would be content to take what was left. Lot looked down upon the fat plains of
Jordan, and without a thought for his old uncle, to whom he owed all, he drove his herds into the
lush pastures of the rich plain, near the markets of opulent Sodom and Gomorrah, while the rough
and stony hill country was left to Abraham. But God became, more fully than ever, the Companion
and Portion of Abraham; while Lot, through his covetousness, was soon so entangled in the life of
Sodom that in the doom of the city he lost all he had, barely escaping with his life, and accompanied
only by two weak and willful daughters.
At the bottom of Nadab and Abihu's sacrilegious offering of strange fire before the Lord was their
coveting of the priestly power and authority of Aaron, and it led to God's swift vindication of Aaron
in their awful destruction. When the children of Israel entered the Land of Promise and the walls of
Jericho fell before them, Achan saw gold and garments which he coveted and took to himself,
regardless of God's commandment, thereby bringing defeat to Israel, death to his fellow-soldiers,
and terrible doom of himself.
Old Eli's sons, unsatisfied with the rich provision made for the priesthood coveted that which God
had reserved for sacrifice, and against protest took what was forbidden for themselves. Besides,
despite God's command, they coveted the wives and maidens that came up to worship at God's
altar. When soft-hearted old Eli heard about their sin, he only feebly reproved them; consequently,
God's wrath swiftly followed, with its doom of death and the loss of the priesthood.
It was Saul's coveting the good will of the people, rather than the favor of God, that led to his
disobedience and loss of the kingdom.
Among all Ahab's other reeking iniquities, it was his covetousness -- leading him to destroy Naboth
and steal his vineyard -- that brought down upon him God's sleepless judgment, till he died in battle
and dogs licked up his blood.
David coveted Bathsheba the wife of another man, and to this day blasphemers sneer and God is
reproached, while David only escaped the doom which falls upon those who are guilty of this sin by
his humble confession, deep repentance, and brokenness of heart. But he could not escape endless
shame, sorrow, and trouble.
Gehazi cast longing eyes upon the gold, silver, and rare changes of garments which Naaman pressed
upon Elisha, the prophet, out of gratitude for his cleansing in Jordan, and which Elisha refused. But,
blinded by the glitter of gold, and steeped in covetousness, Gehazi had no heart and no
understanding for the austere self-denial of the fine old prophet, and he said to himself, 'As the Lord
liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him! ' And run he did, and 'somewhat ' he received!
Then, to hide his sin, he lied to Elisha; but the old seer's eyes were like seraph's eyes -- they saw -and he said to the covetous, lying Gehazi, Went not my heart with thee when the man turned again
from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and
oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and men-servants, and maid-servants? The leprosy,
therefore, of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever! And he went out from his
presence a leper as white as snow.'
Covetousness ruled the stony, ashen heart of Judas, and for thirty pieces of silver he betrayed the
Master!
Covetousness possessed the selfish hearts of Ananias and Sapphira; they wanted the praise and
honor of utmost sacrifice and generosity while secretly holding on to their gold. And God smote
them dead!
As we study the history and Biblical examples of this sin of covetousness, we see the deep meaning
and truth of Paul's words to Timothy, 'They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money
is the root of all evil.'
This sin led to ingratitude toward his uncle, and neighborly association with vile sinners in Lot; to
envy and jealousy and sacrilege in Nadab and Abihu; to disobedience in Saul; to sacrilege and
licentiousness in Eli's sons; to adultery and murder in David; to brazen robbery in Ahab; to greed and
lying in Gehazi; to the betrayal of the innocent Christ with an impudent kiss in Judas; to bold lying to
the Holy Ghost in Ananias and Sapphira. Truly, from its poisonous root has sprung up the deadly up a
tree of all evil, and upon it in manifold ways has been outpoured the wrath of God, showing His holy
hatred and abhorrence of it.
A close study of the awful ravages of this sin in its manifold workings would show that again and
again it has undermined thrones and led to the downfall of empires; that it has rotted away the
strong foundations of chastity and honesty and truth and good-will in whole peoples, ending in the
collapse of civilizations.
Once its workings begin in a human heart there is no end to the ruin and woe it may bring about in
that soul, and then in the lives of others. There is no height of honor and Holiness from which it may
not pull men down. There is no depth of pitiless selfishness, lying evasion, brazen effrontery, and
self-deception into which it may not plunge men. When proclaiming the Ten Commandments from
the flaming mount, God reserved the last to hurl at this sin, not because it was least of all the sins
forbidden, but rather because it was a pregnant mother of them all, an instigator and ally of all evil.
Covetousness is a sin that reaches out for men of every age. In some of its forms it makes its most
successful assaults upon men well advanced in years. A man in ardent devotion to Christ may
successfully resist it in his youth, and yet fall before it when his head is crowned with honors and
white with the snows of many winters. The fear of want in old age, the natural desire to provide for
his children and loved ones, may silently, secretly lead him into the deadly embrace of this serpent -like sin; may cause shipwreck of his honor, his faith, his 'first love,' his simplicity in Christ, his
unselfish devotion to the interests of the Lord and the souls of his fellow-men, and thus may bring
about his final rejection in that day when the secrets of men's hearts shall be revealed and their
works made manifest by fire.
How may men avoid this deadly, secret, subtle sin? There is but one way; that is, by following Jesus
in daily, resolute self-denial, by watchfulness and prayer, by 'walking in the light as He is in the light,'
by openness of heart, by humility of mind, by utter surrender to the Holy Ghost. by counting all
things loss for Christ, as did Paul; by learning and not forgetting that 'godliness, with contentment, is
great gain,' by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, by joyfully trusting and
obeying those words of Peter, 'casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you,' by keeping the
heart clean.
'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Said Jesus, 'Take heed and beware of
covetousness.'
A Word To Those Who Are Growing Old
In one of my recent Meetings a dear sister, who has been serving the Lord and walking in the Light
for many years, confessed with tears that her joy was not what it used to be. In her youth joys were
rapturous, leaping up like springing fountains and singing birds. A verse of Scripture would suddenly
stand out with its assuring message and fill her with gladness, and songs in the night welled up from
her glad heart, but now she says she often has heaviness of spirit, and the way seems to get harder.
And while she feels sure that she is accepted of God, yet she is not enjoying what she once enjoyed.
God forbid that I should offer any false comfort or, through lack of faith, limit His power to fill us
with the rapturous joys of youth as we grow older. But is it reasonable for us to suppose that this
should be so? In youth as we waited upon the Lord we found our spiritual strength renewed, and we
'mounted up as with wings of eagles.' In middle age as we wait upon the Lord, we find our strength
renewed and we 'run and are not weary.' In old age, as we wait upon the Lord, our strength is
renewed, but we must now 'walk and not faint.'
None of the natural senses are as keen in old age as in youth. The appetite for food, the joy in
society, the rapturous friendships of youth do not continue quite the same through the years, and
may it not be so spiritually? It is true that the Apostle says while the outward man perishes, the
inward man is renewed day by day. But is not the joy in some measure, at least, modified by the
sobering experiences of the years? The river that started as a bubbling, leaping, laughing brook in
the mountains, often rushing in torrents through narrow and precipitous ways, gradually widens and
deepens and flows peacefully and without noise as it nears the sea. May it not be so in our spiritual
life? Is not the river of God's peace flowing through the hearts of the aged a deeper and richer
experience than the exuberant joys at the beginning of the spiritual life?
The pressing infirmities of the flesh, and the gradual decay of memory and other powers, may
account for some of the apparent loss of joy in those who are growing old.
The enlarged knowledge of the malignant, massive, stubborn powers of evil may have a sobering
effect upon the mind which, if not watchfully guarded against and met with quiet, steadfast faith,
may tend to lessen joy.
If our children do not serve God with the ardor we wish, or souls for whom we pray do not at once
get saved, or the work of God which is dear to our hearts languishes, the Devil may tempt us to
doubt or repine, and so our joy is quenched.
What steps can be taken to prevent or arrest the failure of joy?
I. Aged people should still stir up the gift of God that is in them as we stir up a fire that is burning
low. Frequent seasons of prayer, singing and humming through old songs, with an active exercise of
faith, will help to keep the joy-bells ringing. I am a rather poor sleeper, and only recently in the small
hours of the night, before the birds were singing, I found myself wide awake, and to bless my own
soul and control and guide my thoughts without disturbing others, I softly, in almost a whisper, sang,
'I need 'Thee, Oh, I need Thee,' and my heart was strangely warmed and blessed as I sang.
2. Again, old people are not wise to spend too much time considering the joys of long ago and
comparing them with present emotions. They should live in anticipation of joys yet to come rather
than dwell upon joys that are past. God's storehouse is not exhausted. For those who love and
follow Jesus, 'the best is yet to be.' Paul said that he forgot the things behind and, looking forward,
he pressed like an eager racer toward the things that are before.
Those who keep looking backward instead of forward are likely to stumble and miss the joys that
spring up round about them. It is not well to be comparing the present with the past, but we should
each moment seek to exercise full and glad faith in our Lord for the present and the future. He has a
portion of joy for us now. But the ineffable glory and blessing and joy are yet to come, when we see
Him face to face and hear Him say, 'Well done, come!'
We must keep our eyes on Jesus, looking unto Him, the Author and the Finisher of our faith. We
must look away from the seen things to unseen, eternal things; to the purpose and covenant of God
in Christ, steadfast and sure; to His promises, great and precious, shining like stars for ever and
assuring us of God's interest in us.
We should carefully count up our present mercies and blessings and give thanks for them. It may be
better with us than we think. John Fletcher said that he at one time became so eager for what he
had not yet received, that he failed to rejoice and enjoy the things God had already given him. That
is an almost certain way to lose what we have. It is well, it is indeed a duty, to stretch out for the
things before, but we must not forget to give God thanks and enjoy the things He now gives us.
In feeble health we may not be able at all times to realize all we have to be glad about. There may be
deep and at times prolonged depression of spirit arising from physical causes. 'The body and soul are
near neighbors,' said the Founder, 'and they greatly influence each other.' Elijah was physically
exhausted when he got under that juniper tree and wanted to die, but God let him sleep, awaked
him, and gave him a simple meal of bread and water, let him sleep again, and again waked and fed
him and let him live in the open, in sunshine and fresh air, and so revived him, gave him a man's
work to do, and took him to Heaven in a chariot of fire. All God's resources were not exhausted
because Elijah was depressed and exhausted. The best was yet to be with Elijah! Simple food, fresh
air and sunshine, labor and rest are still important for old people, if they wish to keep a happy
experience.
Finally, old people should still go to the house of God and mingle with God's people. It was in the
temple that aged Simeon and Anna the prophetess found the little Lord Jesus. And the Psalmist
sang, if not from his own experience, then from observation of others and in assured faith 'Those
that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring
forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing: to show that the Lord is upright' (Psalm xcii.
13-15) Hallelujah!
When darkness seems to veil His face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
A Word To You Who Would Be Useful
Does the devil ever tempt you to feel that you are of no use and can do nothing? Every genuine
Christian wants to be useful, fruit-bearing, and a soul-winner. This desire is characteristic of the new
nature, received at conversion. When Paul was converted, he wanted to go back to Jerusalem and
tell all his old friends about it, that they, too, might be saved. When you were converted your heart
went out to God for the salvation of your friends, and you tried to so live your life before them that
they would be brought to Jesus, and it is largely this desire for usefulness and the salvation of others
that has led you to become a soldier or an officer. But now that you are fairly in the Army and in its
work, do you ever feel that you are useless; that you can do nothing; that your words are powerless
to lead people to Jesus?
I find a great many such people, and maybe you are such an one, and if so, it is for you I write. I have
often felt as you do myself; and therefore can sympathize with you, and maybe can write something
to encourage you. And first I would say, do what you can. 'Angels can do no more.' Your talents may
not be great, but use what talents you have and God will surely increase them. It is a law of God,
that what is used shall be increased. Everything that has life begins small. The largest oak was once
enfolded in an acorn. The most skillful musician in the world at one time did not know one note from
another. The most learned man now living once did not know A from Z. Moses was once a helpless
babe in a floating ark of bulrushes. The General was once a young convert. But they grew and
increased. If there is spiritual life in you, you will grow, if you will do with your might what your
hands find to do.
Cultivate your talents. There are many thousands of bandsmen in the Army today who at one time
could not play an instrument, and who did not know a cornet from a concertina. But they began to
practice. It was slow work at first. But they kept at it. Probably, the first day they could not see that
they had made any progress at all, nor the second day; but in a week or a month they could see.
They began, kept patiently at it, and at last succeeded. That is the way to cultivate any talent we
have. That is the way to become mighty in prayer, to become acquainted with the Bible, to learn to
speak or sing or fish for souls. Begin and keep at it.
Do not get discouraged because you cannot do as well as someone else. God has a work for you to
do, and no one else can do it; not even the General can do it. God meant that work for you and you
for that work, and if you do not do it, it will never be done. The thing then for you to do is to go to
God and thank Him for what gifts you have and for giving you some work to do, and then ask Him for
wisdom to do it bravely, faithfully and wisely, and He will surely be with you.
Do not sit down in the discouragement of unbelief and think because you have not the talents of
some gifted person you know that therefore you can do nothing. That is wicked. It is dishonoring to
God, pleasing to the devil, and will surely result in a great loss to your soul, if not in the final loss of
your soul. Jesus tells us that the man with five talents put his money out at use and gained five
talents more, and likewise the man with two talents. But He says the man with one talent went and
wrapped it in a napkin and hid it, and so lost it, and was himself cast out as a slothful and wicked
servant into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Secondly, encourage your poor, trembling heart with the promises and examples, in the Bible. Here
is a promise for you, 'Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord'
(1 Cor. xv. 58). The devil tells you that your labour is vain, but God says it is not. Believe God, my
brother, and go on with your work. Again the Lord says, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap' (Gal. vi. 7). David tried on Saul's armor, but he could not fight in that, so he laid it aside
and went out against the giant in the name of the Lord, with his sling and a smooth stone out of the
brook and slew him.
Saul's armor, wrought at the forge, may be like the education and culture gained in the theological
schools and universities, while the sling and the stone are like the wisdom given by the Holy Ghost to
simple, humble, faithful hearts in mills and shops and kitchens, and the lowly places of secret prayer
and daily toil. Go, my brother, my sister, in the name of the Lord, with the wisdom He gives you, and
you shall slay giants.
Paul tells us 'that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things
that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence' (1 Cor. ii. 26-29).
If you were learned and wise and mighty, and did great things, people would give all the glory to
your learning and wisdom; but if you are little and foolish, then they have to give the glory to God.
Go on, my brother, and do what you can.
When the Spirit of God came on Shamgar he slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad, and
Samson slew one thousand with the jaw-bone of an ass, and Gideon, with three hundred men armed
only with earthen pitchers and torches routed the hosts of Midian. Hallelujah!
When Jesus blessed the five little loaves and the two small fishes of the lad, they fed about five
thousand men. And so if you will pray and believe, He will bless your words and works to multitudes.
Remember, it is not what you say or do alone, but it is His blessing added to what you say and do
that accomplishes the work, and He will surely add His blessing if you will trust and obey.
I read of an educated minister who had a skeptical lawyer in his congregation, whom he wanted very
much to see converted and united with the church, and for whose benefit he prepared some very
learned and labored sermons. One day, to the minister's delight, the lawyer came to his study with
the glad news that he was converted, and wished to join the church. After some conversation, the
pastor rather blushingly inquired, 'May I ask you which one of my sermons it was led you to Christ?
Then the lawyer, with some little confusion, replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, pastor, it was not
one of your sermons that led me to Christ at all. It was this way. A few Sundays ago, as we were
leaving the church, the steps were very slippery, and old colored Auntie Blank was trying to descend
them. She was crippled and feeble and in danger of falling, when I took hold of her arm and assisted
her to the sidewalk. She looked up into my eyes and thanked me, and, with a bright smile on her old
black face, asked, "Do you love my Jesus?" and that led me to Christ.' Ah, that was the smooth stone,
that killed the giant when Saul's armor and sword had failed!
Be a man of much secret prayer, my brother. Acquaint yourself with God; take time to listen to His
voice; read your Bible; love it, pray over it; read good books; familiarize yourself with the 'Orders and
Regulations for Soldiers,' by the General, and you will get your mind stored with truths that will be to
you as David's smooth stones, and God will surely use you and make you a blessing.
I remember well the first time I attempted to speak from a text. I utterly failed, and was filled with
confusion. But by seeking His face the Lord has long since given me victory, and I rejoice unutterably
at the privilege of speaking for Him, and by living a life of constant prayer down at Jesus' feet, and by
a determined exercise of faith, I seldom open my mouth to speak for Him without feeling a deep
conviction in my soul that my words are accompanied by the Holy Ghost and are hitting the mark
and reaching hearts. And this may be your experience, my brother, my sister, if you utterly forsake
sin, consecrate yourself fully to the interests of Jesus, steadfastly believe and continue in prayer.
God said to Moses, 'I will be with thy mouth' (Exod. iv. 12), and He will say the same to you if you
wait on Him. He is no respecter of persons.
After The Holiness Meeting
Were you at the holiness meeting? Did you come out to the Penitent-form? Did Jesus make your
heart clean? And did you receive the Holy Ghost?
If you gave yourself to God in the very best way you knew of; but did not receive the Holy Ghost, I
beg of you not to be discouraged. Do not take a backward step. Stand where you are, and hold fast
your faith. The Lord means to bless you. Keep looking unto Jesus, and fully expect Him to satisfy your
heart's desire. Tell Him you expect it, and plead His promises. He says: "I know the thoughts I think
toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon
Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find
Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you" (Jer. xxix. 11, 14).
This is a wonderful promise, and it is for you.
Has the devil tempted you, more than ever, since then? Well, here is another promise for you: "O
thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours,
and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of
carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones ... in righteousness shalt thou be established" (Isa.
liv. 11, 12, 14). God is going to do wonderful things for you, if you will not cast away your faith and
your boldness.
No doubt some of you not only gave yourselves to God, but God gave Himself to you. You did receive
the Holy Ghost. When He came in, self went out. You abhorred, you loathed yourself; and sank into
nothingness, while Jesus became all and in all. That is the first thing the Holy Ghost does when He
comes into the heart in all His fullness -- He glorifies Jesus. We see Jesus as we never saw Him
before; we love Him; we adore Him; we ascribe all honour and glory and power unto Him, and we
realize, as we never did before, that through His precious Blood we are saved and sanctified. The
Holy Spirit will not call your attention to Himself; but will point to Jesus. "He shall not speak of
Himself ... He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you," said Jesus;
and again: "He shall testify of Me" (John xvi. 13, 14; xv. 26). Nor does He come to reveal to us any
new truth, but rather to make us understand the old truth that Jesus spoke, and which the Prophets
and Apostles, whom He inspired, spoke. "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John xiv. 26). He will make your Bible a new book
to you. He will make you remember it. He will teach you how to apply it to your everyday life, so that
you will be safely guided by it.
The reason why people get mixed up over the Bible is because they have not the Holy Spirit to show
them the meaning. A cadet or humble soldier who is full of the Holy Ghost can tell more about the
real, deep, spiritual meaning of the Bible than all the doctors of divinity and theological professors in
the world who are not baptized with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will make you love your Bible,
and you will say with Job, "I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job xxiii. 12); and with the Psalmist you will declare His judgments to be "sweeter also than honey
and the honeycomb" (Ps. xix. 10). No book or paper can take its place; but, like the "blessed" man,
you will "meditate therein day and night" (Ps. 1. 2; Josh. i. 8). He will make you tremble at the
warnings of God's word (Isa. lxvi. 2), exult in His promises, and take delight in the commandments.
You can be satisfied with nothing less than the whole Bible, and you will say with Jesus, "Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. iv. 4);
and you will understand what Jesus meant when He said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit, and they are life" (John vi. 63).
While you walk in humble obedience and childlike faith, trusting in the Blood of Jesus to cleanse you
from all sin, the Comforter will abide with you, and the "low-water mark" of your experience will be
"perfect peace." I will not dare to say what the high-water mark may be! Like Paul, you may get
"caught up to the third heaven" at times, and hear "unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a
man to utter "(2 Cor. xii. 4). Oh, there are unspeakable breadths, and lengths, and depths, and
heights of the love of God for you to revel in and discover by the telescope and microscope of faith!
Glory to God! You need not fear that the experience will wear out or grow tame. God is infinite, and
your little mind and heart cannot exhaust the wonders of His wisdom and goodness and grace and
glory in one short lifetime. Bless the Lord! Hallelujah!
Do not think, however, when the tide flows out to "low-water mark" that the Comforter has left you.
I remember well how, after I had received the Holy Ghost, I walked for weeks under a weight of
divine joy and glory that was almost too much for my body to bear. Then the joy began to subside,
and there would be alternate days of joy and peace; and on the days when there was no special
experience, the devil would tempt me with the thought that I had in some way grieved the Holy
Spirit and that He was leaving me. But God taught me it was the devil's lie, and that I must "hold fast
the profession of" my "faith without wavering" (Heb. x. 23). So I may say to you, Do not think He has
left you because you are not overflowing with emotion. Hold fast your faith. He is with you, and will
not leave you, after the hard time He has had to get fully into your heart, without first letting you
know just why He goes. The Holy Spirit is not capricious and fickle. He has to strive long to get into
your heart, and He will strive long before He will leave it, unless you willfully harden your heart and
drive Him from you.
I am not writing this, however, for those who are careless and would as soon grieve Him as not, but
for you whose hearts are tender, who love Him, and would rather die than lose Him out of your
hearts. I say to you, trust Him! When I had almost yielded to the lie of Satan that the Lord had left
me, God gave me this text: "The children of Israel ... tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us,
or not?" (Ex. xvii. 7).
I saw that to doubt God's presence with me, even though I felt no special sign of His presence, was
to tempt Him; so I promised the Lord then that I would not doubt, but would be strong in faith. Glory
to God for ever ! He has not left me yet, and I am persuaded He never will. I can trust my wife when I
cannot see her, and so I have learned to trust my Lord, even if I do not always feel the same mighty
stirrings of His power in me. I tell Him that I trust Hint, and I do believe He is with me, and I will not
please the devil by doubting.
Just at this stage, after having received the Holy Ghost, many people get into confusion. In time of
temptation they think He has left them; and instead of trusting and acknowledging His presence and
thanking Him for stooping so low as to dwell in their poor hearts, they begin to seek Him as though
He had not already come, or had gone away. They should stop seeking at once, and go to fighting
the devil by faith, and telling him to get behind them, and go on praising the Lord for His presence
with them. If you will seek light when you have light, you will find darkness and confusion; and if you
begin to seek the Holy Spirit when you already have Him, you will grieve Him. What He wants is that
you have faith. Therefore, having received Him into your hearts, continually acknowledge His
presence, obey Him, glory in Him, and He will abide with you for ever, (John xiv. 16), and His
presence will be power in you.
Do not keep seeking and crying for more power; but rather seek by prayer and watchfulness and
study of your Bible and the honest improvement of every opportunity to be a perfectly free channel
for the power of the Holy Ghost, who is now in you. Believe God, and do not obstruct the way of the
Holy Ghost, that He may work through you. Ask Him to teach and guide you, that you may not
hinder Him in His work. Seek to think His thoughts, to speak His words, to feel His love, and exercise
His faith. Seek to be so guided by Him that you will pray when He wants you to pray, sing when He
wants you to sing, and last, but not least, be silent when He wants you to be silent. "Live in the
Spirit," "Walk in the Spirit," (Gal. v. 25), "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. v. 18).
Finally, do not be surprised if you have very unusual temptations. You remember that it was after
Jesus was baptized with the Holy Ghost that He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil for forty days and forty nights (see Matt. iii. 16-17 and iv. 1-3). "The disciple is not above his
Master" (Matt. x. 24). But when you are tempted count it all joy (James i. 2). Your very trials and
temptations will lead you into a deeper acquaintance with Jesus; for, as He was, so are you to be in
this present world. Remember He has said: "My grace is sufficient for thee "(2 Cor. xii. 9), and it is
written of Him: "For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that
are tempted" (Heb. ii. 18); and again: "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. iv. 15).
But, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. viii.
31).
Be true, be full of faith, and you will be able to say with Paul: "In all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Rom. viii. 37-39).
An Open Letter To A Young Man Seeking Spiritual Help
My dear Comrade,
Your letter has just now reached me, and I hasten to reply.
You say: 'I have sought and found Holiness many times, but the longest I have been able to keep it
was seven weeks,' and then you mention some besetting sin against which you have struggled for
five years.
Let me ask, did you yield to this besetting sin? And then feeling condemned, did you come to the
penitent-form seeking a Clean Heart? If so, you have probably made the great mistake so many
make of claiming heart purity, when what you received was the peace of pardon. If I fall into sin, I
must first confess my sin with a penitent heart and trust for pardon through reliance upon the Blood
of Jesus, and if I do this the peace of pardon will fill my heart, but I must not mistake this for
Sanctification.
When I am pardoned I am then called to consecrate my redeemed life to God, and when I wholly
consecrate myself to Him who has loved me out of my sins, my guilt, my condemnation, I must trust
Him to purify my whole being, to sanctify me wholly and fill me with the Holy Spirit. And if I believe,
He can and will do the wonder work of grace in me. He will make me holy; He will perfect me in love;
He will fill me with passion for His glory, so that I sing from my heart:
Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet, its treasure store;
Take my life and it shall be Ever, only, all for Thee.
And with joy I sing:
The Blood, the Blood is all my plea; Hallelujah! for it cleanses me.
You speak of keeping the Blessing seven weeks. How did you keep the Blessing so long? Was it not
by walking with the Blesser? If your attention is fixed upon the Blessing instead of the Blesser; if you
think of Holiness as separate from the Holy Spirit, you will lose all. If you fail to recognize, honour,
love, trust, and obey the Blesser, you lose the Blessing, just as you lose the beauty of the rose when
you turn your eyes from the rose, or the sweetness when you take away the honey, or the music
when you lose the musician. Why and how did you lose the Blessing after seven weeks? Was it not
because under stress of temptation you took your eyes off the Blesser? You forgot the sweet, sacred
presence of the Blesser. and turning from Him you yielded to sin, or you doubted, and then the
enemy robbed you of the Blessing. 'Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.' When
temptation came you should have said, 'Get behind me, Satan.' You should have resisted the Devil,
and drawn nigh to God. The Blesser was there. The Holy Spirit was present. The infinitely loving
Redeemer, with all His redemptive power, was with you, but you forgot Him, and so lost the
Blessing.
You should have turned to Jesus in love and loyalty and trust, and said, 'O Lord, I am Thine; keep me!
I trust Thee. I love Thee. I praise Thee, and I will not fear mine enemy.' If you had done this, you
would not have lost the Blessing. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from thee. Draw nigh to God, and
He will draw nigh to thee.' That is the way, and I know of no other way of victory. In that way, and
that way only, I have been getting victory for nearly half a century, and in that way you can get
victory, and get it quickly, and get it always. Hallelujah
You are discouraged. You wonder if you can ever gain and keep the victory. You can, bless God! You
can. The victory is at the door now. The Victor is at the door. Open and let Him in, and victory is
yours. Drop on your knees now, just now, and tell Him all; then trust Him, thank Him, praise Him,
whether or not you have any great feeling. Just keep on trusting, thanking, praising, and obeying
Him, and peace and victory will come.
Keep your eyes on Jesus, and guard yourself against the beginnings of temptation and sin. Keep your
mind pure. Fill it with clean thoughts, loving thoughts, and holy affections. Lift your thoughts above
fleshly and low things to spiritual levels. Sing songs and make melody in your heart to the Lord.
Deal promptly and sternly with your eyes and your ears. Turn away your eyes from beholding evil,
and your ears from listening to evil. Make a covenant with your eyes as did Job. Stand on guard at
eyegate and eargate lest sin get into your heart through those gateways.
Sin does not leap upon us fully armed. It steals in through a look, a swift, silent suggestion or
imagination, but love and loyalty to Jesus will make you watchful and swift to rise up and cast out
the subtle enemy. Do this and you shall live, and live victoriously.
Often drop on your knees or lift your heart in secret prayer, and do not forget to mingle thanksgiving
with your prayers. You do not praise God enough. Begin now. Thank Him now and praise Him, for He
is worthy, and you are much behind in this sweet duty.
When you wake up in the morning ask Him for some verse of song to cheer you through the day, and
find some verse of Scripture upon which to stay your mind. Finally, seek to pass some of your
blessing on to some other soul, as the widow of Sarepta shared her bit of oil and handful of meal
with Elijah and found it multiplying through the months of famine. So will you find your blessings
multiplying as you share them with others.
An Undivided Heart
Unite my heart. -- David.
He who thinks to succeed in this infinite business of saving souls with a heart that is divided as yet
knows nothing as he ought to know concerning the matter.
That a man may by personal magnetism, grace of manners, power or persuasiveness of speech, and
a certain skill in playing upon the emotions and self-interest of the people, create an excitement that
fairly simulates a revival; and yet have a divided heart, I admit; but that he can bring men to a
thorough repentance and renunciation of sin, a hearty embrace of the Cross, an affectionate
surrender to Jesus as a personal Saviour and Master who requires deep humility and meekness and
tender love as the marks of His disciples is hard to be proved.
As certainly as like begets like, so certainly will the soul-winner put the mark of his own spirit and
consecration upon the people he influences; if he is himself not more than half won to the cause of
his lowly Master, he will not more than half win others. His task is the mightiest to which men were
ever set.
The physical scientist manipulates and changes dead matter, the newspaper man seeks principally to
amuse or interest people for the passing hour; the lawyer and politician simply seek to change and
mold the opinions of men; but the soul-winner is dealing with fundamentals. His object is not merely
to change the opinions and conduct, but to change character; to work a moral revolution in the
affections, the dispositions, the wills of men; to turn them from temporal things which they see, to
eternal things, which they do not see, from all vices to virtues, from utter selfishness to utter selfsacrifice, and often in spite of all present self-interest, and in the face of the combined opposition of
the world, the flesh and the devil. His object is not alone to save them from the guilt and penalty of
sin, but from the pollution and the power and the love of sin. Nor is it merely to save men from sin,
which is rather a negative work, but to save them into all goodness and love and holiness through a
vital and eternal union with Jesus -- a union that gives perpetual vigor and energy and fruitfulness in
righteousness to all the powers of the soul, filling it with grace and truth.
This is no little work, and can never be the work of a man with a divided heart. It is like turning
Niagara Falls back upon its source, or causing the sun and the moon to stand still on Ajalon; it can
only be done by God's power, and that power is only fully bestowed upon, and only works freely in
and through those whose hearts are perfect toward Him.
The soul-winner, then, must once and for all, abandon himself to the Lord and to the Lord's work,
and, having put his hand to the plow, must not look back, if he would succeed in this mighty
business.
He must love his Lord and love his work, and stick to it through all difficulties, perplexities and
discouragements, and not be given to change, for there is no discharge in this war.
Here it is that many fail; they have not a single eye. They make provisions for retreat. They are
double-minded, like an officer I knew, who dabbled in photography till it divided his life and heart,
and got him out of the work; like a minister of whom I heard the other day, who reads another
man's sermons to his people, while he studies law, saying that when he gets a poor appointment he
will fall back on the law and leave the ministry, forgetting Paul's words to Timothy: "No man that
warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him that hath chosen him
to be a soldier." (2 Tim. 2:4.)
By and by such men leave the work God sets them to do, because, as they say, they have not been
treated well, when the fact is, their minds being divided, they cease to work well; they no longer give
themselves wholly to it, and the people feel a lack of interest and power, hungering souls that look
for bread receive a stone, poor sinners, on the road to hell, and possibly on the brink of ruin, go from
their cold and heartless services unawakened and unsaved. They lost their grip first on God and then
on the crowd, and their superiors, perplexed to know what to do with them, and where to place
them, since the people no longer want them, are blamed. But blame others as they will, the blame
still lies with themselves.
No great work has ever been accomplished without abandonment to it.
Michael Angelo said his work was his wife and the statues he made were his children.
Edison is so wedded to his work that all other things are forgotten and set aside in the pursuit of his
marvelous inventions.
Demosthenes, the greatest of ancient orators, if not the greatest of all time, was hissed off the
platform at his first appearance. His figure was unprepossessing, and his voice weak and harsh, but
he determined to be heard. He devoted himself to his studies, shaved one side of his head lest he
should be led into society, and practiced elocution by day and by night. To perfect his enunciation he
filled his mouth half-full of pebbles and practiced while climbing a hill; and that he might successfully
contend against the thunders of the Athenian mob, he went to the seashore and strengthened his
voice by practicing it against the thunder of the waves.
Lord Beaconsfield stood for parliament five times, and at last won his seat. When he first attempted
to speak he was laughed from the floor but he sat down saying, "You will listen to me yet;" and they
did, when, as prime minister of England, he arbitrated the destinies of Europe and crowned Victoria
Empress of India.
"How long did it take you to prepare that address?" was asked of a great speaker. "All my lifetime in
general, and fifteen minutes in particular," he replied.
When Benjamin Franklin, as a poor boy, opened a printing-shop, a prosperous competitor said he
would drive him out of town. Franklin showed him a piece of black bread from which he dined, and a
pail of water from which he drank, and asked if he thought a man who could live on fare like that
and work sixteen hours a day could be driven out of town!
Who knows the name of that competitor? and who has not heard of Franklin?
If men engaged in secular pursuits are thus given up to their work and consumed with their purpose,
how much more should the soul-winner be, he who is fighting for righteousness and holiness, for the
kingdom of love upon earth, rescuing souls from the power of sin and the danger of eternal
burnings?
If God has set you to win souls, O my brother, make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts
thereof. Cut the bridge down behind you. Remember Paul's words to Timothy: "Give thyself wholly
to them, that thy profiting may appear to all."
Let your eye be single, make no plan for retreat, allow no thought of it. Remember Paul's "Woe is
me, if I preach not the Gospel."
Like Jesus, set your face steadfastly toward your Jerusalem, your cross, your kingdom, your glory,
when, having turned many to righteousness, you "shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." (Dan.
12:3.)
You may be ignorant and illiterate, your abilities may be very limited, you may have a stammering
tongue, and be utterly lacking in culture, but you can have an undivided a perfect heart toward God
and the work He has set you to do, and this is more than all culture and all education, all gifts and
graces of person and brain. If God has bestowed any of these upon you, see to it that they are
sanctified, and that your trust is not in them. But if He has denied them to you, He yet hath called
you to the fellowship of His Son, and to His service. Be not dismayed; it is not the perfect head, but
the perfect heart which God blesses. For has He not said, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward
Him"?
At this point none need fail, and yet, what an awful thing! -- some will fail, and after having, as they
say, prophesied in His name, and in His name cast out devils, and in His name done many wondrous
works, shall hear Him profess, "I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
"Let nothing now my heart divide, Since with Thee I am crucified, And live to God in Thee. Dead to
the world and all its toys, Its idle pomps and fading joys. Jesus, my glory be."
Another Chance For You!
"They that stood by ... said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them? Then began he to curse and to
swear, saying, "I know not the Man" (Matthew xxvi. 73, 74).
"Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jones, lovest thou Me more thou these? He saith unto
Him, yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him
again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord; Thou
knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time,
lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep" (John xxi. 15-17).
Peter vowed before his comrades that he would die with Jesus rather than deny Him. In a few hours
the opportunity of doing so presented itself but Peter's heart failed him. He forgot his vow and
threw away for ever this unparalleled chance of proving his love for the Saviour.
When the cock crew, and Jesus turned and looked at him, Peter remembered his broken vow, and
went out and wept bitterly. The tenderest sorrow for the way he had treated Jesus must have
mingled with the fiercest regret for the lost chance, to bring those bitter tears. Oh, how his love
must have reproached him, his conscience stung him, and the devil taunted him! I doubt not he was
tempted to give up all hope, and say to himself: "It is of no use for me to try to be a Christian; I have
made a miserable failure, and I will not try any longer." And over and over again, by day and by
night, in the company of others and when by himself, Peter must have been reminded by the devil of
his lost chance, and told it was no use for him to try any longer to be a Christian. And I imagine Peter
sighed within himself, and would have given the world to have that chance come back once more.
But it was gone, and gone for ever!
Peter did love Jesus, however, and while he had lost that chance, Jesus gave him another. A very
simple, everyday, matter-of-fact chance it was, nothing like the startling, splendid one of dying with
the Son of God on the cross, but probably of far more value to the world and the cause of Christ. All
over the country where Jesus had been there were, doubtless, many who believed with a trembling
faith in Him. They needed to be faithfully fed with the truths about Jesus, and with those which He
had taught. So Jesus called Peter to Him, and asked him three times the searching question: "Lovest
thou Me?" It must have most painfully recalled to Peter's mind the three times he had denied Jesus.
And in reply to Peter's positive assertion that he did love Him, Jesus three times commanded him to
feed His lambs and sheep. And then Jesus assured him that at last he should die on a cross -- as he
probably would have died had he not denied his Lord.
I suspect there are many Peters among the disciples of Jesus today; many in our own ranks, who,
somewhere in the past, since they began to follow Jesus, vowed they would do the thing He by His
Spirit through their conscience asked them to do; vowed they would die for Him, and meant it, too;
who, when the testing time came, forgot their vows, denied Jesus by word or act, and practically left
Him to be crucified afresh and alone.
I remember such a time in my own experience years ago, before I joined The Salvation Army, but
after I was sanctified. It was not a sin of commission, but one of omission -- a failure to do what I felt
the Lord would have me do. It was an unusual thing, but not an unreasonable one. The suggestion to
act came suddenly, and it seemed to me that all Heaven bent over me to bless me, if I obeyed; and
Hell yawned to swallow me, if I did not. I did not say I would not, but it seemed to me I simply could
not, and I did not. Oh, how I was humbled, and how I wept bitter tears, and begged forgiveness, and
promised God I would be true! I felt God had given me a chance that I had let slip by, and that would
never, never come again, and that I never could be the mighty man of faith and obedience that I
might have been had I been true. Then I promised God that I would do that very same thing, and I
did it again and again, but no real blessing came to me, and so Satan took advantage of me and
taunted me and accused me through my conscience till life became an intolerable burden to me;
and at last I felt I had grieved the Holy Spirit for ever and that I was lost, and so I threw away my
shield of faith, cast away my confidence in the love of Jesus for me, and for twenty-eight days
suffered, it seemed to me, the pains of Hell. I still prayed, but the heavens were like brass to me. I
read my Bible, but the promises fled away from me, while the commandments and threatenings
were like flames of fire and two-edged swords to my quivering conscience. When it was night I
longed for day; when it was day I longed for night.
I went to meetings, but no blessing came to me. The curse of God seemed to follow me, and yet
through it all I saw that God is love.
Satan tempted me to commit sin, to curse God and die, as Job's wife bade him; but God's mercy and
grace followed me, and enabled me to say "No," and to tell the devil that I would not sin, and that
though I went to Hell, I would go there loving Jesus and seeking to get others to trust and obey Him,
and that in Hell I would declare that the Blood of Jesus could cleanse from all sin. I thought I was
doomed. Those terrible passages of Scripture in Hebrews vi. and x. seemed just to fit my case, and I
said: "I have lost my chance for ever." But God's love is
Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea.
In twenty-eight days He drew me up out of that horrible pit and that miry clay with these words:
"Hold it for certain that all such thoughts as create disquiet proceed not from God, who is the Prince
of Peace, but proceed either from the devil, or from self-love, or from the good opinion we hold of
ourselves."
Quick as thought I saw it. God is the Prince of Peace. "His thoughts are thoughts of peace, and not of
evil, to give us an expected end." I saw I had no self-love, nor good opinion of myself, and longed to
be for ever rid of myself. Then I saw that the devil was deceiving me, and instantly it was as though a
devil-fish loosened his long arms from about my spirit and fled away, leaving me free.
The next Saturday and Sunday I saw about fifty souls at the Penitent-form for salvation and holiness,
and from that hour God has blessed me and given me souls everywhere. He has asked me, through
those words He spoke to Peter, "Lovest thou Me?" and when, out of the fullness of my clean heart -emptied of self, and made clean through His precious Blood -- I have said, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest
all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee," He has tenderly bidden me feed His lambs and sheep; that
is, to live the Gospel so fully in my life, and preach it so fully in my words, that His people should be
blessed and comforted, and encouraged to love and serve and trust Him with all their hearts.
This is my other chance; and it is yours, whoever you are who have denied Him in the past.
Do not seek to do some great thing, but feed the lambs and sheep of God, and pray and work for the
salvation of all men. Study your Bible, pray, talk often and much with God, and ask Him so to teach
you that, whenever you open your mouth, you may say something that will bless somebody -something that will encourage a discouraged brother, strengthen a weak one, instruct an ignorant
one, comfort a feeble-minded one, warn an erring one, enlighten a darkened one, and rebuke a
sinning one.
Notice: Peter was not only to feed the lambs, but also the sheep. We must seek to get sinners saved,
and after they are saved, after they are "born again," we must feed them. We must feed the young
converts on those promises and instructions in God's Word that will lead them into entire
sanctification. We must show them that this is God's will for them, and that Jesus has opened a way
for them into "the most holy place" (Heb. x.). We must warn them not to turn back into Egypt, not to
be afraid of the giants in the promised land, nor to make any unholy alliance with the Ammonites in
the wilderness. They are to come out and be separate. They are to be holy. This is their high and
happy privilege and their solemn duty, since they have been redeemed, not with corruptible things
such as silver and gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ. They are not to faint when chastened
and corrected by the Lord, nor grow weary in well-doing. They are to watch and pray, and give
thanks, and rejoice always. And they are not to get the blessing of a clean heart by hard work, and
just in the hour of death, but by simple faith in Jesus just now.
We must feed the sheep, the sanctified ones, on the strong meat of the Gospel. Feed a strong man
on white bread and tea, and he will soon be unfit for work. But give him good brown bread, butter
and milk, and suitable fruits and vegetables, and the harder he works, other things being equal, the
better he is in health and strength. Just so with Christians. Feed them on the chaff of stale jokes, and
old, last-year's Bible-readings that have lost their power on your own heart, and you will starve the
sheep. But feed them on the deep things of God's Word, which reveal His everlasting love, His
faithfulness, His saving power, His tender, minute care, His shining holiness, His exact justice, His
hatred of sin, His pity for the sinner, His sympathy for the weak and erring, His eternal judgments
upon the finally impenitent and ungodly, and His never-ending glory and blessedness bestowed
upon the righteous, and you will make them so strong that "one shall chase a thousand, and two
shall put ten thousand to flight."
Know Jesus, and you will be able to feed His lambs and sheep. You feed them by revealing Him to
them as He is revealed by the Father through the Spirit in the Bible.
Walk with Him. Talk with Him. Search the Bible on your knees, asking Him to open your
understanding as He did that of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, teaching you what the
scriptures say of Him, and you will have another chance of showing your love for Him and of blessing
your fellow-men that the angels might well covet.
Answering Atheism
A wide knowledge of history tends to sanity, to sobriety, and correctness of judgment of men and
events, if we have seen God in history. We need such knowledge to give us perspective, to steady us,
to save us from sharp judgments, to insure us against cocksureness on one hand and despair on the
other. Without this wide, long view, we are like a tiny boat on a tempestuous sea, tossed like a ship
on the waves, but with it we are more like a great ship that rides serenely over the billows.
To the casual observer the experience of the race seems tidal, always flowing and ebbing like the
tides of the sea; or forever moving in a circle, getting nowhere, evermore coming back from whence
it started, like the rivers rising out of and returning to the sea. The One far-off divine event, To which
the whole creation moves, and the slow but sure workings of Providence and the unfailing purpose
and process of the Divine government are hidden from him.
When I was a child on the wide, bare, unprotected prairies of the Middle West, black clouds and
fierce thunderstorms filled me with anxious fears and vague terror, but as I grew to manhood I saw
them as a part of a vast and ordered whole, and they lost their power to create panic in me.
Once, when sick and prostrated in health, I was thrown into a state of mental and spiritual anxiety,
amounting almost to torture, by the nation-wide excitement over a great prize-fight. I felt our
American civilization was only veneered barbarism, and for a time it seemed to me that we were
reverting to, and were to be swallowed up by, brutal, sensuous paganism; then, on my knees
praying, I remembered the days when a thousand gladiators fought each other to the death in the
Coliseum, or battled and struggled with and were devoured by wild beasts to make a Roman holiday,
while the mobs of the city by the hundred thousand, headed by the Emperor, Senators,
philosophers, noble ladies, and all the elite gloated over the cruel, bloody scene. Then in deep
reverence and gratitude and glad trust I gave God thanks, as I saw how far He had led us on and was
still leading, from those ghastly pleasures, those merciless days.
When I was a child the Civil War was raging; soldiers marched and counter-marched through our
peaceful little valley and village; armies stormed and thundered across the land; proud cities were
besieged and starved and fell before conquering hosts; fathers, brothers, sons were perishing in
bloody combat, in fetid swamps and prison camps; homes were vanishing; funeral bells were ever
tolling, tolling; mothers, sisters, wives, and orphans were ever weeping, weeping; the foundations of
the social order seemed to be crumbling, and men turned their thoughts to the apocalyptic portions
of Scripture and tried to interpret the times by their symbolisms, and turned their eyes to the clouds
in expectation of the Saviour's bodily appearing, longing for Him to come and work out the Salvation
which man himself, abasing his pride and yielding to the lordship of Jesus, under the leadership of
the sanctifying Spirit, must work out for himself and his, or perish. It was years before the light of
history enabled me to escape this bald interpretation of apocalyptic symbols and walk in quietness
and peace and close attention to daily duty, while a world quaked and trembled in unparalleled
hurricanes of war, assured that 'the heavens do rule,' and 'a Watcher and a Holy One ' in the
heavens was interested in our perplexity and sore travail, and would guide us through the storm and
tempest, purified and chastened, to a haven of peace.
History is repeating itself in spirit among us, and a society, a very militant society, for the
propagation of Atheism has recently received letters of incorporation from the legislators of New
York, and also an anti-Bible Society has been incorporated. And for its first year's budget it is asking
for $83,000, and offering life membership for $1,000. Its avowed object 'is to discredit the Bible,' to
'make known its human origin, evolutionary formation, and its discreditable history; expose its
immoral and barbaric contents; and lay bare its anti-scientific, anti-liberal, and irrational teachings.'
Such is its program. It proposes to show that 'the Bible is the work of man.' 'The falsification by
deliberate mistranslation is the sole basis of orthodoxy.' 'The inhuman character of the Bible -- God
shall be offered in evidence against the Book.' 'The Bible patriarchs shall be shown to be a set of
unmatched moral monsters.' 'The spirit of injustice and intolerance dominate the Bible.' 'The
Sermon on the Mount consists mainly of romantic sentimentalism unrelated to reality.' The Bible is
inimical to civilization. It must and shall be discredited.' 'The American anti-Bible Society has no
religious tests for membership, except disbelief in the Bible as divinely inspired.' Help us free
America from Bible-bondage.'
These are some tid-bits from its bulletin or manifesto. The Society for the Propagation of Atheism
has already enlisted many young people and students, and societies of 'damned souls,' as they dub
themselves, are flourishing in many of our schools and colleges. It is all a part of a nationwide, worldwide movement, awash of wide, sweeping waves of Atheism gushing forth from the heart of the
Russian Revolution, something that The Army and all lovers of our Lord and of the Bible will have to
face and possibly come into close and desperate grips with in the near future.
If these gentlemen were better acquainted with history, they might not be so cocksure of
discrediting the Bible and banishing God from His throne. If we are acquainted with history we shall
not be uncertain as to the final issue, but neither will we sit down in a fool's paradise and think we
can drive back the waves of mocking, irresponsible, desperate unbelief by witty retort, by smart
rejoinder, or by learned and masterly debate.
How shall we reply to their denial of the Divine elements of the Bible? How shall we prove it to be
God-inspired? Is it a subject of proof or of faith? How can I be sure of it for myself, and how can I
prove it to others? Paul says, 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,' but that is an assertion, not
a proof. It still has to be proved, if it can be.
I had studied the various arguments for the inspiration of the Bible by theologians, and since I had
from my infancy up accepted the Bible as God's Book, they confirmed my unquestioning faith. But
there came a time when I needed more than learned arguments to prove it to me. And not until God
Himself came to my help was I wholly, invincibly convinced.
That which finally established my faith in the divinity of the Bible was opened eyes, an inner
illumination of my own soul, which enabled me to behold wondrous things all through its sacred
pages. 'Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law,' prayed the
Psalmist. The Book is largely sealed to men with unanointed eyes and self-satisfied, or worldsatisfied, hearts, and from men who turn from the paths of rectitude and 'stumble at the word,
being disobedient.'
The pastor of the church of Laodicea became lukewarm as a result of getting rich and increasing in
goods until he felt he had need of nothing; but knew not that he was 'wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked.'
'I counsel thee,' said Jesus, 'to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and
anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see (Revelation iii. 5-18). The Book was sealed to
him, and the revelations of the Lord were hidden from him, because of the self-imposed blindness or
dimness of his spiritual eyes.
The final blessing that Jesus gave His disciples just before He ascended from them was the blessing
of this inner illumination of opened eyes. 'Then opened He their understanding, that they might
understand the Scriptures' (Luke xxiv. 45).
The sun does not need learned astronomical treatises to prove its existence, nor a candle of man's
making to enable it to be seen. All it needs is that men should have eyes to see. It is its own
evidence. So the Bible carries in itself its evidences of inspiration. 'I know the Bible is inspired,' said a
great soul-winner, 'because it inspires me.' What the sun is in the world of material things, that the
Bible is in the world of spiritual things. It is a lamp to the feet, a light unto the path of men whose
spiritual eyes are open, and who will resolutely follow where it leads. Let us notice some of the
assertions of the Book and find if they can be proved, not by argument but by life, by experience, for
the Bible is but a venerable and curious bit of ancient literature to be read for pleasure or to gratify
curiosity, if it does not answer to the deep needs of life, the hunger of the soul, the fears, the hopes,
the aspirations, the questionings of the spirit in man.
'Man shall not live by bread alone,' said Jesus, 'but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God.' Does the Bible feed the soul of man? All the saints and soldiers of Jesus of all the ages have
been nourished and have lived on the Word of God.
'I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food,' said Job. 'How sweet are
Thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth,' wrote the Psalmist. 'More to be
desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.'
Thy words were found, and I did eat them,' said Jeremiah. 'And Thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart.'
Does the Bible help men to live finer, cleaner, saintly lives? It certainly does. The man who receives
the word of God into his heart will stop sinning. 'Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not
sin against Thee,' wrote the Psalmist. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking
heed thereto according to Thy word.' 'Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the
law, but under grace.'
Does the Bible offer hope to the sinner? The man who has wasted his life, scorned the voice of
conscience, turned his back on light and goodness and God? It is the only Book in the world that
does. It, and it alone, tells of a redeeming God, a Saviour from sin, a loving Heavenly Father who
waits to welcome sinners.
'God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' 'This is a
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'
'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.' Ten thousand times ten thousand sinners saved by faith in the Saviour revealed in
the Bible will testify to the truth of those words.
Does the Bible offer succor to tempted men and women? Does it comprehend our need? It does as
no other book in the world does. It reveals an elder Brother who enters into the fellowship of our
temptations. 'For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are
tempted ' (Hebrews ii. 18). 'For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin ' (Hebrews iv. 15.)
'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it' (1 Corinthians x. 13).
Does the Bible have any word for the toilers and burdened people of earth, the perplexed, the
careworn? It does, sweet words of comprehension and assurance such as can nowhere else be
found: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'
Has the Bible any word for the persecuted, the maligned, the oppressed? Listen: 'Blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye,
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven.' 'From Heaven did the
Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to
death.'
Has the Bible any word for those who are sore afflicted? 'He hath not despised nor abhorred the
affliction of the afflicted; neither hath He hid His face from him; but when he cried unto Him, He
heard.' 'If we suffer we shall also reign with Him.' 'For our light affliction worketh for us,' worketh
what? 'worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: while we look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Hallelujah!
'For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us.'
Has the Bible a word for those whose eyes are dim with tears? 'God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes.'
For those who are in pain? 'Neither shall there be any more pain.'
Has it any word about the far future? 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.' 'It doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall
see Him as He is.' 'And God shall wipe away all tears . . . and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow nor crying.'
1. How can I prove the inspiration of the Bible? By the way it answers to the heart of man. The key
that fits an intricate lock was evidently made for that lock. The Bible meets me at every point of my
moral and spiritual need; it fits my heart's intricate needs as the key fits the lock, and I doubt not, I
exult to know that the Divine Hand that fashioned me gives me the Book, and His heart that loves
me pours itself with fathomless comforts into my heart through the Book; but I cannot prove to you
the divinity of the Book any more than I can prove to you that the sun is shining, that honey is sweet,
that the song of the bird is melodious.
The inspiration of the Bible is proved by experience, not by logic. 'Meditate therein day and night' to
obey, 'to do according to all that is 'written therein,' and you shall know, you shall taste its
sweetness, behold its wonders, and hear in its words the whisperings of the everlasting Father to the
heart of His child.
2. How shall I prove to others, to those who question, who doubt, who deny, that the Bible is a Godgiven, God-inspired Book? Shall I go to history, science, archaeology for proof? Yes, at the proper
time and to the right people. But the most convincing proof of the inspiration of the Bible that I can
offer to an unbeliever is a redeemed life, lived in the power and sweetness of the Spirit; a life that
matches the Bible; a life of love, of prayer and faith and devotion; a life of joy and peace and
patience and sweet goodwill to all men; a life full of good works matching a glad testimony to the
saving, sanctifying, keeping power and ever living presence of the Lord Jesus; a life like that of a
Convert from Heathenism, whose heathen neighbors said of him 'There is no difference between
him and the Book.' He was a living Bible known and read of them all, and they saw and felt in him
inspiration. He was inbreathed, indwelt of God, and through him they recognized inspiration in the
Book.
Redeemed lives, drawing light and strength and inspiration from and matching the inspired Book are
the unanswerable proofs of its inspiration.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell, of Labrador, tells us that when a student in the University in England he lived
with a professor who was a lecturer on the evidences of Christianity. This lecturer was in frequent
controversy with infidels, but never converted one of them. They would meet in public debate, each
supported by his friends and followers, who were confirmed in their opinions, but there was no
changing of sides, no converts were made. It was heady, a rivalry of wits, a struggle for mastery, an
intellectual fisticuffs to no profit. But one day one of the most doughty of these infidel debaters was
stricken with fatal illness. His friends had no words of comfort, and left him to himself. Then a sweet,
humble sister-Salvationist stepped in and nursed the dying man. She could not and she did not argue
with him, but she revealed to him a redeemed, Christlike life. Love was in her face, tenderness was
in her touch, grace was on her lips, peace and joy in Jesus radiated from her, and lo! what
encyclopedic knowledge which puffeth up, and vast learning and brilliant argument and eloquent
speech had failed to do, a humble, inspired life did do. He was converted and died in the faith.
An infidel challenged a man of God to debate about religion. 'I accept your challenge on this
condition,' replied the man of God, 'that I bring one hundred men with me to testify what faith in
Christ has done for them, and you bring one hundred men to testify what atheism has done for
them.' The challenger was nonplussed, withdrew the challenge, and there was no debate.
Meek and lowly, but glad and bold witnesses, who witness by lip and life and shining look, are the
strongest, the unanswerable proof of the inspiration of the Book by which they live. The final proof
will be given when the risen Jesus appears with crowns and thrones and kingdoms, honour, glory,
and immortality for those who have believed and loved and followed Him to the end, and opens the
dark gates of doom and banishes into 'indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish every soul of
man that doeth evil.'
Birds Of Prey
Against the entire sanctification of believers Satan brings to bear all his devices, his sophistical
arguments, and the full force of his powerful will; but the resolute soul, determined to be all the
Lord's, will find him a conquered foe, with no power but to deceive. The way to overcome him surely
is to will to steadfastly believe and agree with God, in spite of all Satan's suggested doubts.
In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, we have an account of Abraham's sacrifice, which is very
suggestive to the seeker after full salvation.
Abraham took certain beasts and birds, and offered them to God. But after he had made the
offering, and while he was waiting for the witness of God's acceptance, birds of prey came to snatch
away the sacrifice. Abraham drove them away. This continued until the evening, and then the fire of
God consumed the offering.
Just so, he who would be entirely sanctified must make an unreserved offering of himself to God.
This act must be real, not imaginary -- a real transfer of self, with all hopes, plans, prospects,
property, powers of body and mind, time, cares, burdens, joys, sorrows, reputation, friends, to God,
in a "perpetual covenant not to be forgotten." When he has thus given himself to God, to be
anything or nothing, go anywhere or stay anywhere for Jesus, he must, like Abraham, patiently,
trustingly, expectantly wait for God to witness that he is accepted.
"Though the vision tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry ... but the just shall
live by his faith" (Hab. ii. 3, 4).
Now, during this short or long period of waiting, the devil will surely send his birds of prey to snatch
away the offering.
He will say, "You ought to feel different if you have given yourself wholly to God." Remember, that is
the devil's bird of prey -- drive it away. Feeling is always produced by some appropriate object. To
have the feeling of love, I must think of some loved one; but the very moment I get my thought off
the object of my love, and begin to examine the state of my feelings, that moment my feelings
subside.
Look unto Jesus and pay no attention to your emotions; they are involuntary, but will soon adjust
themselves to the fixed habit of your faith and will.
"But, maybe," something suggests, "your consecration is not complete; go over it again and be sure."
Another evil bird of prey -- drive it away.
Satan becomes exceedingly pious just at this point, and wants to keep you eternally on the treadmill
of consecration, knowing that, as long as he can keep you examining your consecration, you will not
get your eyes on the promise of God, and, consequently, will not believe; and without faith that your
offering is now accepted, it is only so much dead works.
"But you do not have the joy, the deep and powerful emotions that others say they have." That is
another bird of prey -- drive it away.
A woman recently said to me: "I have given up all, but I have not the happiness I expected."
"Ah, sister," said I, "the promise is not unto them that seek happiness, but, to them "which hunger
and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled." Seek righteousness, not happiness."
She did so, and in a few moments she was satisfied, for with righteousness came fullness of joy.
"But faith is such an incomprehensible something, you cannot exercise it; pray to God to help your
unbelief."
The devil's bird of prey -- drive it away.
Faith is almost too simple to be defined. It is trust in the word of Jesus, simple confidence that He
means just what He says in all the promises, and that He means all the promises for you. Beware of
being "corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 3).
I tell you, dear comrade, everything that is contrary to present faith in the promise of God for full
salvation is one of the devil's birds of prey, and you must resolutely drive it away if you ever get
saved.
Quit reasoning with the devil! "Cast down reasonings (2 Cor. x. 5, margin), and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God," and trust. Reason with God. "Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord" (Isa. i. 18). At one of our watch-night services, a man knelt at the
table with quite a number of others, seeking a clean heart. He was told to give himself wholly to
God, and trust. Finally, he began to pray, and then he said: "I do give myself to God, and now I am
going to live and work for Him with what power I have, and let Him give me the fullness of the
blessing and power just when He chooses. He has promised to give it to me, and He will do it, will He
not?"
"Yes, my brother; He has promised, and He will surely perform," I replied.
"Yes, yes; He had promised it," said the man. Just then light shot through his soul, and his next words
were: "Praise the Lord! Glory to God! "He reasoned together with God, and, looking to the promise,
was delivered. Others about him reasoned with the devil, looked to their feelings, and were not
sanctified.
But after you have taken the step of faith, God's plan is for you to talk your faith. The men of
character, of force and influence, are the men who put themselves on record. The man who has
convictions, and who is not afraid to announce them to the world and defend them, is the man who
has true stability. It is so in politics, in business, in all moral reforms, in salvation. There is a universal
law underlying the declaration: "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." If you are
sanctified, and would remain sanctified, you must at the earliest opportunity put yourself on record
before all the devils in Hell and all your acquaintances on earth and all the angels in Heaven. You
must stand out before the world as a professor and a possessor of heart purity, of "Holiness unto the
Lord." Only in this way can you burn all the bridges behind you; and until they are destroyed, you are
not safe.
The other day a lady said to me: "I have always hesitated to say, 'The Lord sanctifies me wholly'; but
not until recently did I see the reason. I now see that I secretly desired a bridge behind me, so that I
might escape back from my position without injury to myself. If I profess sanctification, I must be
careful lest I bring myself into disrepute; but if I do not profess it, I can do questionable things and
then shield myself by saying, 'I do not profess to be perfect.' "
Ah, that is the secret! Be careful, dear reader, or you will become a religious fence rider, and the
devil will get you; for all who are astride the fence are really on the devil's side. "He that is not for
Me is against Me." Get away over on God's side, by a definite profession of your faith. But the devil
will say: "You had better not say anything about this, till you find out whether you will be able to
keep it. Be careful, lest you do more harm than good."
Drive that bird of prey away quickly, or all you have done thus far will be of no avail. That bird has
devoured tens of thousands of offerings just as honestly made as yours. You are not to "keep the
blessing" at all; but you are to boldly assert your faith in the Blesser, and He will keep you.
Only yesterday a brother said to me: "When I sought this experience, I gave myself definitely and
fully to God, and told Him I would trust Him; but I felt as dry as that post. Shortly after this, a friend
asked me if I were sanctified, and before I had time to examine my feelings, I said 'Yes'; and God that
minute blessed me and filled me full of His Spirit, and since then He has sweetly kept me."
He talked his faith, and agreed with God.
"But you want to be honest, and not claim more than you possess," says Satan.
A bird of prey!
You must assert that you believe God to be honest, and that He has promised that "What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24).
Count God faithful.
A former soldier of mine gave herself to God, but did not feel any difference, and so hesitated to say
that God had sanctified her wholly.
"But," she said, "I began to reason over the matter thus: I know I have given myself wholly to God. I
am willing to be anything, do anything, suffer anything for Jesus. I am willing to forego all pleasure,
honor and all my cherished hopes and plans for His sake, but I do not feel that God sanctifies me;
and yet He promises to do so, on the simple condition that I give myself to Him and believe His
Word. Knowing that I have given myself to Him, I must believe or make Him a liar; I will believe that
He does now sanctify me. But," said she, "I did not get any witness that the work was done just then.
However, I rested in God, and some days after this I went to one of the holiness conventions, and
there, while a number were testifying, I thought I would rise and tell them God sanctified me. I did
so, and between rising up and sitting down, God came and witnessed that it was done. Now I know I
am sanctified."
And her shining face was a sufficient evidence that the work was, indeed, done.
Dear reader, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Give yourself wholly to God, trust Him,
then confess your faith. "And the Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the
Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: behold He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts"
(Mal. iii. 1).
Confessing Other People's Sins
'Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?' asked the
Lord of Adam in the Garden of Eden. And Adam replied, 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that
thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.' Thus they confessed
the sins of others and ignored their own, and the curse fell upon them instead of blessing.
Nothing more surely makes manifest a man's spiritual blindness and deadness and hardness of heart
than this hiding behind others and confessing their faults instead of his own, and nothing will more
surely confirm him in his blindness and sin. It is a deadly kind of hypocrisy. It is an endeavor to shift
on to others responsibility for a man's own evil heart and life, and it can meet only with God's
displeasure.
'He that covereth his sins shall not prosper,' said Solomon; 'but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy,' and there is no more dangerous way of trying to cover one's sins than by
blaming somebody else and calling attention to his faults instead of humbly confessing our own.
An incident in the life of King Saul makes this plain. 'Samuel said unto Saul, Thus saith the Lord of
Hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel..... Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy
all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and
sheep and ass. ..... But Saul and the people spared Agag (the king) and the best of the sheep and of
the oxen and of the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy
them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly....
'Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be
king, for he is turned back from following Me, and hath not performed My commandments.....And
Saul said..... I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then
this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said..... I
have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me..... but the people
took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed.'
Thus Saul tried to cover his own sin by confessing the sins of others; but Samuel answered him,
'Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king.' So Saul
lost his kingdom.
And men still lose their crown of peace and salvation and God's favor by sinning, by disobeying, and
by confessing the sins of others instead of their own.
'Confess your faults one to another,' wrote James. ' If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,' wrote John.
'I have sinned!' cried David, and again he said, 'I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever
before me.' We can hear the sob of a broken and penitent heart, through the open and humble
confession. And God put away his sin.
'God be merciful to me a sinner!' prayed the publican; and 'this man went down to his house
justified.'
'Are you saved? ' I asked a little woman in one of our Prayer Meetings.
No, I am not,' she replied with emphasis.
'Were you ever saved?' I asked.
'Yes, I was.'
'And what did Jesus do that you turned your back on Him and started for Hell? ' I questioned. 'A man
who called himself a Christian slapped my husband in the face,' said she; but she did not tell me the
fact (which I learned later) that the man confessed his wrong, and apologized.
'Well, that was too bad,' I replied; 'but you shouldn't have turned your back on Jesus for that. You
know they slapped Jesus in the face, they "smote Him with the palms of their hands.'' And she
opened wide her eyes and looked at me. 'And you know they spat in His face also, and not content
with that, they crushed a crown of thorns on His head; but that did not satisfy them, so they bared
His back, and tied His hands to His feet, and whipped His poor bare back till it was all cut and torn
and bleeding -- that was the way the Roman soldiers, under Pilate, scourged Him; and then they
smote Him on the head and mocked Him; but not content with that, they then placed a great cross
on His shoulders, and it must have pressed heavily upon the poor, wounded back. But He carried it,
and there on Calvary they crucified Him; they drove great nails through His hands and feet, and
lifting the cross they let it fall heavily into its place. This must have rent and torn His hands and feet
very terribly, but He prayed, "Father, forgive them." And there He hung in agony and pain, while
they robbed Him of His only suit of clothes, and gave Him gall and vinegar to drink, and wagged their
heads and mocked Him. Then He bowed His head and died. And this He suffered for you, my sister,
but you turned your back upon Him because some one ill-treated your husband!
And as I talked she saw Jesus; the sin of the other man faded from her sight and her own sin grew
big before her eyes, until she was in tears; then rising, she rushed, sobbing, to the penitent-form to
confess her own sin to the Lord, and, I trust, to be restored once more to His favor.
When a man gets this vision of Jesus, he ceases to blame other men, and looks only at his own sin,
which he can no longer excuse. He blames himself, pleads guilty, and confesses his wrongdoing with
a broken and contrite heart; then, looking into the pitying face of his suffering Saviour, he trusts,
receives pardon, enters into peace, and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.
This is the vision and faith that begets love to the Saviour, that produces obedience in the heart, that
saves from all sin, and that gives love and skill to save others also.
Oh, my brother, my sister, let me beg of you to take your eyes off other people and fix them upon
yourself and upon Jesus; then you will get the 'beam' out of your own eye, and see clearly how to
get the 'mote' out of your brother's eye!
And you that have to deal with people who are always confessing other people's sins, let me beg of
you to deal with them very tenderly, though very firmly, lest you forget 'the hole of the pit whence
ye are digged,' and lest you become severe with your brother for a fault from which you may think
yourself delivered, but are not entirely free.
Remember Paul's words: 'Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore
such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.' I have seen
men fall themselves through failing to be gentle with those who have fallen. Remember the words of
Jesus: 'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.' How hard is that sweet lesson of meekness
and lowliness of heart! But that is the first lesson Jesus sets us to learn.
Deal Gently
Recently in my regular Bible reading I came to that tender appeal of King David to his generals as
they were going forth to fight with Absalom: "Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with
Absalom" (2 Sam. 18:5), and my heart was touched with its likeness to Jesus.
Absalom was in rebellion against David the king, his father, and had driven him forth from his
throne, had outraged his father's marital ties, had sacrificed filial affection and trampled upon filial
and civic duty, and was now seeking his father's life. But David knew him only as his wayward boy,
loved him still, and commanded his warriors to deal gently with him in the coming battle. He would
have the rebellion crushed, but the rebel saved; the sin destroyed, but the sinner rescued.
How like Jesus that is! Is not that the way Jesus feels toward the most desperate backslider, the
most careless sinner? Does not His heart yearn over them with unutterable tenderness? And is not
this written for our admonition? Does He not say to us, "Deal gently for my sake"?
The battle went against Absalom that day, and hardhearted, willful, stubborn old Joab slew him
deliberately in spite of the king's wish. And so it often is today. Joab's tribe has increased, and while
Jesus would have the backslider and sinner dealt with gently, Joab rises up and thrusts him through
with reproaches and bitter words and sharp looks, slays him utterly, and the heart of Jesus is broken
afresh, as was the heart of David. The elder brother, with his ungenerous jealousy and cruel words
and hardness of heart, as surely grieved the loving old father as did the prodigal with his riotous
living.
There are many reasons why we should deal gently.
1. That we may be like Jesus. When Peter denied Jesus and cursed and swore, Jesus loved him still,
and turned and gave him a tender look that broke his heart, and he went out and wept bitterly. And
after the resurrection Jesus did not rebuke and reproach Peter, but tenderly asked him, "Lovest thou
Me?" and then commissioned him to feed His lambs and sheep.
Should we, then, who at our best are only "sinners saved by grace," despise the example of our Lord
and deal roughly with His sheep that have gone astray? Since He has freely forgiven us our ten
thousand talents, shall we not forgive our brother a hundred pence? (Matt. 18:23-35.)
2. We should deal gently with them lest we ourselves grieve the Spirit and become backsliders. Paul
wrote to the brethren in Galatia, saying, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in fault, ye which are
spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted." (Gal. 6:1.) I have noticed that when professing Christians bear hard upon backsliders it is
usually only a question of time when they themselves shall backslide. In fact, it is pretty certain that
they are already backsliders in heart. In the very act of killing the rebellious Absalom Joab himself
rebelled against the expressed wish and command of his king, though he did it under the cloak of
loyalty.
And so men today who are severe in their dealings with sinners and backsliders under the cloak of
zeal for righteousness and loyalty to truth are themselves rebelling against the example and spirit of
Jesus, and unless they repent, the world shall surely soon witness their fall.
I have in mind now two prominent religious leaders who were unsparing in their criticisms and
judgment against a notorious backslider until their spirit became as surely un-Christlike as was his in
spite of their loud profession and fair outward appearance. At last one of them fell through gross
immorality and the other was caught in the same snare, and practically followed in the footsteps of
the man he had so fiercely condemned. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed" to his way
and spirit in dealing with those who are away from Jesus, "lest he fall" We can only save ourselves as
we keep the sweet spirit that impels us to "deal gently" for Jesus' sake.
3. We should deal gently that we may save the backslider. Jesus loves him still, is married to him,
seeks him continually and waits to forgive him and cleanse him and restore to him the joy of
salvation the moment he returns, and we must not hinder, but help. But we shall not do so unless
we deal gently. Harsh dealing would not win us, nor will it win him.
Paul wrote to Timothy, "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle toward all men, apt to
teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil." (2 Tim. 2:24-26.) But this gentleness is not inconsistent with great firmness
and unswerving loyalty to the truth. In fact, it is only when it is combined with these sturdy virtues
that it commends itself to the judgment and conscience of the wrongdoer, and is likely to really win
him from the error of his ways.
Firmness of manner may unite with great gentleness of spirit. I may be as tender in spirit in warning
and commanding my child to beware of the fire, as I am in soothing him after he is burned.
While harshness and severity will only harden the wanderer from God on the one hand, a gospel of
gush will fill him with indifference or contempt on the other. The soul-winner, then, must not have
the hardness and brittleness of glass or cast iron, nor the malleability of wrought iron or putty, but
rather the strength and flexibility of finest steel that will bend but never break, that will yield and yet
retain its own form.
It is generally true that holy mothers have more influence with and win more willful boys and girls
than do the fathers, not because the mothers are more ready to compromise principle and sacrifice
truth, but rather because while unwavering in their fidelity to righteousness, they mingle mercy with
judgment and a passion of gentle, unfailing love and tenderest solicitude with firmness and loyalty
to the claims of God's perfect and holy law.
But how shall one who has not this spirit of perfect gentleness secure it? There is but one way. It is a
fruit of the Spirit, and is to be had only down at Jesus' feet.
Jesus is like a "lamb slain," mutely gentle, and yet again He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" -- firm
and strong. He combines the strength of the lion with the gentleness of the lamb.
You, then, that would have His Spirit, confess wherein you have it not. Are you hard, harsh, critical,
severe and unrelenting? Tell Him and ask Him to destroy this carnal mind and give you His mind.
(Phil. 2:5.) And as you ask, believe. "All things are possible to him that believeth."
To maintain this spirit you must walk in the footsteps of Jesus and feed on His words. Only to those
who seek Him day by day with the whole heart, and that with joy, is it given to be like Him in these
heavenly tempers and dispositions.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Amen!
Death Of 'The Old Man'
The Son of God came into this world, and lived, and toiled, and taught, and suffered, and died and
rose again in order to accomplish a twofold purpose. The Apostle John explains this twofold work. In
I John iii. 5, speaking of Jesus, he says, 'Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins. This is
His justification, and regeneration, which are done for us and in us. In verse 8 he adds, 'For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.' That is entire
sanctification, which is a work done in us. Now upon an examination of experience and scripture, we
find this is exactly what man needs to have done for him.
First, he needs to get rid of his own sins, and have a new principle of life planted in him. 'For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God' (Rom. iii. 23), and when any man comes to God, he
comes burdened with a sense of his own wrongdoings and tempers. His sins condemn him; but,
thank God, Jesus came to take away our sins. When a man comes with a penitent heart,
acknowledging himself a sinner, and puts his trust in Jesus, he will find himself suddenly freed from
his sins. The sense of guilt will vanish. The power of evil will be broken. The burden will roll away.
Peace will fill his heart. He will see that his sins were laid on another, even on Jesus, and he will
realize that 'with His stripes we are healed ' (Isa. liii. 5).
This is a result of that free pardon, that free justification for all past offenses, that God gives to every
one who surrenders himself heartily to, and trusts in, Jesus. At the same time God plants in the
man's heart a new life. The man is born of God, and receives what Paul calls the washing of
regeneration, which washes away all the man's guilt, and all the sin for which he is responsible.
At this time, too, there will be planted in the man's heart love, joy, peace and the various fruits of
the Spirit, and if his experience is very marked, as such experiences frequently are, he will probably
think there is nothing more to be done. But, if he walks in 'humbleness of mind' (which, by the way,
is a much-neglected fruit of the Spirit), if he speaks often and freely with those who love the Lord,
and if he carefully searches the word of God and meditates therein day and night, he will soon find
that sin's disease is deeper and more deadly than he thought, and that behind and below his own
sins are the 'works of the devil,' that must also be destroyed before the work of grace in his soul can
be complete.
He will find a big, dark something in him that wants to get mad when things are against him;
something which will not be patient; something that is touchy and sensitive; something that wants
to grumble and find fault; something that is proud and shuns the shame of the Cross; something that
sometimes suggests hard thoughts against God; something that is self-willed and ugly and sinful. He
hates this 'something' in him and wants to get rid of it, and probably condemns himself for it and
maybe will feel that he is a greater sinner now than he ever was before he was converted. But he is
not. In fact, he is not a sinner at all so long as he resists this something in himself.
Now, what is the trouble with the man? What is the name of this troublesome 'something'? Paul
calls it by several names. In Rom. viii. 7 he calls it ' the carnal mind,' and he says it is 'enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' You cannot fix it up. You cannot
whitewash it over. You cannot make it better by culture or growth, or by any effort whatever. It is an
enemy of God, and cannot be anything else.
In the seventh chapter ([[verse 24 >> Bible:Rom 7:24]]) he calls it 'the body of this death' and
wonders how he can get deliverance from it. In Eph. iv. 22, and in Col. iii. 9, he calls it 'the old man.'
In Gal. v.17, he calls it 'the flesh.' James calls it 'superfluity of naughtiness,' which is also well
rendered, 'the remainder of iniquity' (Jas. i. 21).
John calls it 'sin,' as distinct from 'sins,' and the 'works of the devil.' In Ezek. xxxvi. 26 it is called a
'stony heart.' The theologians call it 'inbred sin,' 'original sin' and 'depravity.' Whatever you wish to
call it, it is something evil and awful, that remains in the heart after a man has been converted.
Some say that it is dealt with at conversion, but I never saw any people who found it so, and John
Wesley, who was a much wiser man than I am, and who had a far wider range of observation,
examined thousands of people on this very point, and he said he never knew of one who got rid of
this troublesome thing at conversion.
Some people say that growing in grace is the remedy. Others say you never get rid of it while you
live. It will remain in you and war against you till you die. They are not altogether prophets of
despair, for they say the new life in you will overcome it and keep it down, but that you will have to
stand on guard and watch it, club and repress it, as you would a maniac, till death relieves you.
Personally, this subject once gave me great concern. These warring opinions perplexed me, while
the 'old man ' made increasing war against all my holy desires and purposes. But while I found man's
teachings and theories were perplexing, God's teachings were plain and light as day.
1. God does not admit that we get rid of this at conversion, for all His teachings and exhortations
concerning it are addressed to Christians. And those who hold this doctrine will have to admit one of
two things either that it is not removed at conversion, or that a great number of earnest professors
who claim to be converted have never been converted at all. Personally, I cannot admit the latter for
an instant.
2. God does, by the mouth of Peter, exhort us to grow in grace, but that simply means to grow in
favor with God, by obedience and faith, and does not touch the subject in hand. Corn may grow
beautifully and delight the farmer, but all its growth will not rid the field of weeds, and the farmer
will have to look to some other method to get rid of those troublesome things.
3. Neither does God anywhere teach that this thing need be bothering us till death, or that death will
destroy it.
4. Nor do I find any warrant in the whole Bible for purgatorial fires being the deliverer from this evil.
5. But I do find that God teaches very plainly how we are to get rid of it. Paul says, 'Put off . . . the old
man" (Eph. iv. 22). James says, ' . . . lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness' (Jas. i. 21).
John says, '. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin' (I John i. 7), not part or
some, sin, but 'all sin.'
And again, John says, Jesus 'was manifested' to 'destroy the works of the devil'; (I John iii. 8), and
God says through Ezekiel, 'I will take away the stony heart' (Ezek. xxxvi. 26).
All these passages teach that we are to get rid of something that bothers us and hinders our spiritual
life and show plainly that this work is not to be a slow, evolutionary process, but an instantaneous
work, wrought in the heart of the humble believer by the Holy Ghost. Blessed be God! And the Bible
further teaches that the one thing needful on our part to secure this operation of the Holy Spirit is
an obedient faith that laughs at impossibilities, and cries "It shall be done."'
If this Bible teaching is true, then it is a matter that can be proved by experience. If one man proves
it to be so, that establishes the Bible testimony against all the doubters in the world. All men used to
believe the world was flat. Columbus rose up and said it was round, and he proved it against them
all. There may be some ignorant old fogies yet who believe the world is flat, but they can prove it to
be round, if they will take the trouble, and whether they prove it or not, their purblind unbelief does
not change the fact.
Just so, the greater part of mankind believe that 'the old man' is destined to live to the end. But as
Paul asks, ' . . . shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? '(Rom. iii. 3) and humble
men and women are rising up every day to declare it is possible, and that all men can prove that he
can be destroyed, if they will meet the conditions.
Oh, that we could get men to understand this! Oh, that we could get them to take counsel with faith
and not with unbelief! Oh, that we could get them to see what Jesus really came to do!
I proved this fifteen years ago, and ever since I have been walking in a day that has no setting sun,
and everlasting joy and gladness have been on my head and in my heart. Glory be to God!
It is no little salvation that Jesus Christ came to work out for us. It is a 'great salvation,' and it saves.
Hallelujah! It is not a pretense. It is not a 'make believe.' It is a real salvation from all sin and
uncleanness; from all doubt and fear; from all guile and hypocrisy; from all malice and wrath. Bless
God!
When I begin to consider it and to write about it, I want to fill the page with praises to God. The
hallelujahs of heaven begin to ring all through my soul, and my heart cries out with those four
mystical beasts before the throne, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,' (Rev. iv. 8) and in spirit I fall
down with 'the four and twenty elders,' and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, who has
taken away my sins and destroyed the works of the devil out of my heart, and come to dwell in me.
Finally, 'Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief ' 'And to whom
sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they
could not enter in because of unbelief.' 'For we which have believed do enter into rest' (Heb. iii. 12,
18, 19, and [[iv. 3 >> Bible:Heb 4:3]]).
Don't Argue
"The servant a" the Lord must not strive (2 Tim. ii. 24).
In seeking to lead a holy, blameless life, I have been helped at one point by the advice of two men
and the example of two others.
1. -- COMMISSIONER DOWDLE
Some years ago, in Boston, I attended an "all-night of prayer." It was a blessed time, and scores of
people sought the blessing of a clean heart that night. The Scriptures were read, many prayers were
offered, many songs were sung, many testimonies and exhortations were given; but of all the many
excellent things said that night, there is only one I now remember: that burned itself into my
memory never to be forgotten. Just before the meeting closed, Commissioner Dowdle, speaking to
those who had been to the Penitent-form, said, "Remember, if you want to retain a clean heart,
don't argue!"
There were twenty years of practical holiness behind that advice, and it fell on my ears like the voice
of God.
2. -- PAUL OF TARSUS
In writing to young Timothy, the aged Apostle poured out his heart to one he loved as a son of the
Gospel. He sought to fully instruct him in the truth, so that, on the one hand, Timothy might escape
all the snares of the devil, and walk in holy triumph and fellowship with God, and thus save himself;
and, on the other hand, be "throughly furnished" (2 Tim. iii. 17) to instruct and train other men, and
to save them. Among other earnest words, these have deeply impressed me: "Of these things put
them in remembrance ... that they strive not about words, to no profit, but to the subverting of the
hearers (2 Tim. ii. 14).
I take it that Paul means by this, that instead of arguing with people and so losing time, and maybe
temper, we are to go right for their hearts, and do our best to win them for Christ, and get them
converted and sanctified.
Again, he says: "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And
the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves" (2 Tim. ii. 23-25).
Plainly, the Apostle thought this advice important for he repeats it in writing to Titus (iii. 9): "Avoid
foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are
unprofitable and vain."
I am certain that Paul is right in this. It takes fire to kindle fire, and it takes love to kindle love. Cold
logic will not make a man love Jesus, and it is only he that loveth that "is born of God" (I John iv. 17).
3. -- MARQUIS DE RENTY
We who have had the Gospel taught us in such simplicity and purity can scarcely realize the awful
darkness through which some men have had to struggle, even in so-called Christian countries, to find
the true light.
Some hundred years ago, among the luxurious and licentious nobility of France, and in the midst of
the idolatrous forms and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church, the Marquis de Renty attained a
purity of faith and a simplicity of life and character and a cloudless communion with God that greatly
adorned the Gospel, and proved a blessing, not only to the people of his own community and age,
but to many people of succeeding generations. His social position. his wealth and his great business
ability led to his being associated with others in various enterprises of a secular and religious
character, in all of which his faith and godly sincerity shone with remarkable luster.
In reading his life a few years ago, I was struck with his great humility, his sympathy for the poor and
ignorant and his zealous, self-denying efforts to instruct and save them, his diligence and fervor in
prayer and praise, and his constant hungering and thirsting after all the fullness of God. But what
impressed me as much, or more, than all the rest was the way he avoided all argument of any
nature, for fear he should grieve the Holy Spirit and quench the light in his soul. Whenever matters
of a business or religious nature were being discussed, he carefully thought the subject over, and
then expressed his views, and the reasons upon which he based them, clearly, fully and quietly, after
which, however heated the discussion might become, he declined to be drawn into any further
debate whatever. His quiet, peaceful manner, added to his clear statements, gave great force to his
counsels. But whether his views were accepted or rejected, he always went to his opponents
afterward and told them that, in expressing sentiments contrary to their own, he acted with no
intention of opposing them personally, but simply that of declaring what seemed to him to be the
truth.
In this he seems to me to have been closely patterned after "the meekness and gentleness of Christ"
(2 Cor. x. 1), and his example has encouraged me to follow a like course, and so "keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3), when otherwise I should have been led into wranglings
and disputes which would have clouded my soul and destroyed my peace, even if the Holy Spirit
were not utterly driven from my heart.
4. -- JESUS
The enemies of Jesus were constantly trying to entangle Him in His words, and involve Him in
arguments, but He always turned the subject in such a way as to confound His ides and take every
argument out of their mouths.
They came to Him one day ([[Matt. xxii. >> Bible:Mat 22:15-21) and asked whether it was lawful to
pay tribute to Caesar or not. Without any discussion whatever, He asked for a coin. He then asked
whose image was on the coin.
"Caesar's," they replied.
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's," said Jesus.
Again, they brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. His loving heart was touched with
compassion for the poor sinner; but instead of arguing with her captors as to whether she should be
stoned or not, He simply said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her"
(John viii. 7). And the whole crowd of hypocrites were so convicted and baffled by His simplicity, that
they sneaked out one by one till the sinner was left alone with her Saviour.
And so, all through the Gospels, I fail to find Jesus engaged in argument, and His example is of
infinite importance to us.
It is natural to the "carnal mind" to resent opposition. But we are to be "spiritually-minded." By
nature we are proud of our persons and vain of our opinions, and we are ready to stoutly resist him
who sets himself against either us or our principles. Our object at once is to subdue him -- by force of
argument or force of arms, but by some means subdue him. We are impatient of contradiction, and
are hasty in judging men's motives and condemning all who do not agree with us. And then we are
apt to call our haste and impatience "zeal for the truth," when, in fact, it is often a hotheaded,
unkind and unreasoning zeal for our own way of thinking. Now, I am strongly inclined to believe that
this is one of the last fruits of the carnal mind which grace ever subdues.
But let us who have become "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet. i. 4) see to it that this root of
the carnal nature is utterly destroyed. When men oppose us, let us not argue nor revile nor
condemn, but lovingly instruct them -- not with an air of superior wisdom and holiness, but with
meekness, solemnly remembering that "the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient" (2 Tim. ii. 23-25).
I find that often, after having plainly, fully and calmly stated my views to one who is opposing the
truth as I see it, I am strongly tempted to strive for the last word; but I also find that God blesses me
most when I there commit the matter into His hands, and by so doing I most often win my
adversary. I believe this is the way of faith and the way of meekness. While it may seemingly leave us
defeated, we generally in the end win our foe. And if we have true meekness, we shall rejoice more
over having won him to an "acknowledging of the truth" (2 Tim. ii. 25) than in having won an
argument.
Encouraging One Another
Over and over again when Moses was preparing to give up his command to Joshua, he encouraged
Joshua and exhorted him to 'be strong and of a good courage.' And so important was this matter,
that when Moses was dead, God Himself spoke to Joshua and said, 'Be strong and of a good
courage'; and again, 'Only be thou strong and very courageous'; and a third time, 'Have I not
commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the
Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.' (Joshua i. 6, 7, 9.)
Centuries after, we hear David chanting his glorious psalm and singing, 'Wait on the Lord; be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.' (Psalm xxvii. 14.)
Hundreds of years later we hear Jesus saying to His little flock, confronted by a proud, fierce Jewish
priesthood and a world weltering in sin and heathenism: 'Fear not, little flock,' 'Be of good cheer.
Later still we find Paul, a prisoner of the Lord, when waiting to face the monstrous Nero, writing to
Timothy from Rome, and saying, 'My Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.' And to the
Ephesians he wrote, 'Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.'
We get a most impressive lesson from the story of the twelve spies sent by Moses to spy out the
land of Canaan. Caleb and Joshua returned with cheery hearts, full of courage, and exhorted the
people to go up at once and take the land; but ten of the spies gave an evil report; and the people
said, 'Our brethren have discouraged our heart,' and they, disheartened and afraid, turned back into
the wilderness, and wandered to and fro for forty years, till all of them perished there, except Joshua
and Caleb and the children who were not responsible for the unbelief and disobedience of the
multitude.
Thus we learn from the example of our Lord, of Moses, David, Paul, and from the bad effect of the
spies' gloomy report, the importance of encouraging rather than discouraging one another. How
shall we do this?
1. By keeping in such close touch and communion with God that our faces shine with inward peace,
and that the joy in our hearts bubbles out in hearty, happy, helpful testimony, not only in Meetings,
but wherever we meet a comrade.
2. By talking more about our victories than our defeats; by thinking and meditating more upon our
triumphs than our trials; by counting our blessings, naming them one by one, and praising God for
what He has done and what He has promised to do.
We should not ignore the dark side of things, but we should not magnify it and refuse to see the
silver lining to the cloud that is so dark. God is not dead nor dying, and He does not forget His people
who cry to Him night and day, who wait upon Him and do His will. He can open the Red Sea for His
people and drown their enemies in its floods. He can make Jericho's walls tumble down before His
people who go faithfully about their work and who shout when the time comes. He can make the
valley of dry bones teem with an army of living men. (Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-14.) Oh, He is a wonderful
God, and He is our God! There is nothing too hard for Him. (Jeremiah xxxii. 17.) Therefore, we should
trust Him, and encourage our comrades to trust Him and to make their prayer unto Him in faith and
without ceasing.
3. By dwelling more upon the good than the bad in other people. If we would encourage each other,
we should talk more about Sister Brown, who is always in full uniform, who sells 'War Crys,' asks for
an increase in her Self-Denial Target, and teaches a Company every Sunday, than about Sister Bangs
who won't do anything she ought to do, wears feathers in her hat, and goes to moving picture
shows.
We should think and talk more about Captain Smith, who by much prayer to God and visitation of
the people and faithful dealing, is having souls saved at his Corps, than about Jones who has got
embittered in his heart and has left the Work.
4. By trying to comprehend something of the vast responsibilities and burdens which press upon our
leaders. What a multitude of perplexities harass their minds and try their patience! Therefore we
should not be too quick to criticize, but be more ready to pray for them and give them credit for
being sincere and doing the best they can under the circumstances -- probably as well or better than
we ourselves would do if we were in their place. They are helped by encouragement even as we are.
I know an Officer who received his target for a special effort and, without praying over it or looking
to the Lord at all, immediately sat down and wrote to his Divisional Officer a sharp letter of protest
and complaint which discouraged him and made it much harder for him to go happily about his
work. I know another old Officer in that same Division who got his target, which seemed fairly large.
He saw his Divisional Officer, and said, Major, 'I think you ought to do me a favor.' The poor Major's
heart began to get heavy, but at last he asked, 'Well, what is it?' To his amazement and joy, the dear
Officer replied, 'Major, I love The Army and its work, and I think you ought to increase my Target.' He
encouraged his burdened brother, the Major. He is an old Officer, who goes from one average Corps
to another, but through all the years and amid all the changes and trials and difficulties, he has kept
cheery and trustful and sweet in his soul, and God makes him a blessing.
'They helped every one his neighbor and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.' (Isaiah
xli. 6.) Shall you and I not take that text for a motto, my comrades? We shall save our-selves as well
as our brother from discouragement if we do.
The influence of one gloomy soul can throw a shadow over a whole family. One Soldier in a Corps
who persistently represents the difficulties of every undertaking can slow down the pace of all. At
best they go forward burdened with his weight, rather than quickened by his example. The glorious
work of encouraging others is within the capacity of all. The weakest of us can at least say with
loving zeal, and earnest testimony:
'Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard
me, and delivered me from all my fears. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man
that trusteth in Him.' ([[Psalm xxxiv. >> Bible:Psa 34]]) Hallelujah!
Always he was the dullard, always he Failed of the quick grasp and the flaming word That still he
longed for. Always other men Outran him for the prize, till in him stirred Black presage of defeat, and
blacker doubts Of love and wisdom regnant; and he styled Himself disciple of the obvious,
Predestined failure, blundering foot, and smiled.
But with the smile went heartbreak. Then one day A little lad crept wailing to his knee Clasping a
broken toy. 'I slipped and fell And broke it. Make another one for me.' Whereat the answer: 'I am
but a fool, I can make nothing.' 'You can mend it then.' 'At least I'll try.' And patiently and slow He
wrought until the toy was whole again.
And so he learned his lesson. In the world, The bustling world that has no time to spare For its hurt
children, all compassionate He sought, and seeking found them everywhere. And here he wove
again a shattered dream, And there bound up a bruised and broken soul; And, comrade to the fallen
and the faint, He steadied wavering feet to reach their goal.
Forgotten were his dreams of self and fame; For ever gone the bitterness of loss; Nor counted he his
futile struggles vain, Since they had taught him how to share the cross Of weaker brother wisely; and
henceforth He knew no word but 'service.' In it lay Ambition, work, and guerdon, and he poured His
whole soul in the striving of the day. And when at last he rested, as Love led, So now it crowned him.
And they came with tears Those sorrowing hearts that he had comforted Bearing the garnered
triumphs of their years. 'Not ours, but His, the glory. Dreams come true. Temptations conquered,
lives made clean again, All these and we ourselves are work of him Whom God had set the task of
mending man.'
Evil-Speaking
'Speak evil of no man' (Titus iii. 2)
This is a command of God, and should be meditated upon and obeyed. A failure to do this leads to
innumerable evils. Myriads of souls have backslidden; multitudes, almost persuaded, have turned
back into darkness; many revivals have been quenched; and many houses of God have become
spiritual sepulchers, all because of evil-speaking.
I. What is evil-speaking?
It is evil to tell lies about any man, or slander him in any way. 'Thou shalt not bear false witness'
(Exod. xx. 16), God says. A man's reputation and character are sacred in the sight of God, and just as
He forbids one man to rob another of his property, or take his life, so He forbids him to lie about
another, or rob him of his good name. This is a holy commandment, and commends itself to every
man's conscience.
It is evil to retail the faults and infirmities of others. This is a very common form of evil-speaking, but
love will cover up such faults and infirmities. Just as it is beautiful in children to never speak about or
appear to notice the club-feet or hunch-back or cross-eyes of a little playmate, so it is lovely and
Christ-like in us to pass by faults and infirmities, and is evil not to do so.
It is evil to tell of any man's sins and actual wrongdoing where and when it will do no good.
II. Why should we speak evil of no man?
Because in speaking evil we wrong the man. It is a grievous wrong to speak evil of any man. You do
not like any one to speak evil of you, and you consider it wrong for anyone to do so. But why? When
you have answered you have given yourself a reason why you should not speak evil of any man.
Because in speaking evil of any man we wrong those to whom we thus speak. It fills their minds with
unholy, unjust prejudice. It excludes good thoughts, and it tempts them to think and speak evil.
Because we wrong our own souls by evil-speaking. It destroys all generous and kindly thoughts in us,
and quenches love. It opens our hearts for the devil to enter, and he will make haste to come in. It
prevents us from praying in faith and love for the person, which would be infinitely better than
speaking evil of him, and which he especially needs, if he is in any way wrong.
Because in speaking evil of any man we grieve the Holy Spirit and break the commandment of God.
The Holy Spirit leads us to love all men -- even our enemies; leads us to love them -- even as Jesus
loved them, but evil-speaking destroys love. The Holy Spirit leads us to pray for all men, especially
for those who are faulty and sinful, but evil-speaking quenches the spirit of prayer as water
quenches fire.
Because in speaking evil of any man we wrong Jesus. He died for that man. He bought him with His
Blood, and even though the man may be a sinner, a backslider, a hypocrite, and refuses to obey God
and love and trust Jesus, yet Jesus loves him and spares him, and is wronged when he is evil spoken
of. Jesus identifies Himself with the sinner to whom we give a cup of cold water in His name, and
says the good we do is done unto Him, and so He will identify Himself with the sinner whom we
wrong by evil-speaking, and in the Judgment will face us with the wrong as done to Himself unless
we hastily and heartily repent.
III. What is the remedy?
If he is bad or faulty in any way, consider the fact that he may have secret trials and temptations that
you know nothing about. He may have business troubles and cares that lead him to wrong, or he
may have family trials to which you are a stranger, or he may have had very faulty early training
which has marred him for life. Not that these things will excuse him in the Day of Judgment, but they
should lead you and me to pity rather than to abuse him by speaking evil of him.
Think about your own evils. This will be far more profitable to you than to think about his, and will
be infinitely more likely to make a better man or woman of you.
I often see in my own thoughts, When they lie nearest Thee,
That the worst men I ever knew Were better men than me.
One of the chief dangers to ourselves in evil-speaking is that we come to under-estimate everybody
else, and to esteem ourselves more highly than we ought. We come to look at our own virtues and
other people's faults, when we ought to look long at their virtues and at our own faults.
Yes, they have caught the way of God, To whom self lies displayed
In such clear vision as to cast O'er other's faults a shade.
If we want to be like Jesus, we must obey the command, 'In lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves' (Phil. ii. 3), but this will be impossible where evil-speaking is indulged in.
Consider how Jesus loves him. If Jesus loved him enough to die for him; if He still loves him enough
to spare him, in spite of all his faults and sins, and to save him the moment he repents, trusts and
obeys, how dare we speak evil of him! And if he is a follower of Jesus and a child of God, even
though he may be very imperfect, how dare we speak evil of him! Would we dare speak evil of an
angel by the Throne of God and expect God to be deaf and allow our sin to go unpunished? Would
we not rather expect His holiness to flame out in terrible wrath and consume us? And is any poor
sinful soul that has looked to Jesus for salvation, any less dear to the heart of God than the shining
angels around His Throne?
'Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast
out the mote out of thy brother's eye' (Matt. vii. 5). Get a clean heart, full of the Holy Ghost, full of
love, and you cannot speak evil of any man. With a heart flaming with love, you will pray for the
wrong-doer, and if you see evil in him, you will go to him in love and try to correct him, just as you
would go to a blind man walking toward a precipice, and try to turn him from certain death.
I need Thy mercy for my sin; But more than this I need
Thy mercy's likeness, in my soul, For others' sin to bleed.
All bitterness is from ourselves, All sweetness is from Thee;
Sweet God, for evermore be Thou Fountain and fire in me.
Faith Is What You Want
Once in one of our holiness meetings I met a sister who was evidently in great spiritual distress, with
intense hunger for full salvation. After a few moments' conversation, I felt assured that she was
ready to accept the blessing, and so we knelt in prayer; but for some reason our prayers did not
prevail. I then asked her if she was sure her consecration was complete. She at once declared it was;
she was willing to die for it.
'Then,' said I, 'sister, there are three things you must believe. First, do you believe God is able to
sanctify you wholly?'
'Yes.'
'Second. Do you believe He is willing?'
'Yes.'
'Then, with your perfect consecration, there is but one other step to take, and the wonder work of
grace will be done. Will you believe that He doeth it? For the promise is: "What things soever ye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive (are receiving) them, and ye shall have them' (Mark xi.
24). Will you believe this?'
'But I don't feel that He does.'
'That makes no difference, sister; your faith must precede all feeling.'
'But I can't believe that He has done it.'
'I don't ask you to believe that He has done it, but that He is doing it, in answer to your present faith.
You must believe that He doeth it, if ever you are to get the witness of the Spirit. Say, "I will believe
God."
'Well, I will try.'
'No, that won't do; you must believe, not try to believe.'
'Well, I am determined to struggle on till the blessing comes.'
'No, sister, your struggles will do no good unless you believe; and, until you do this, you are making
God a liar.'
'But won't I be lying to say I will believe, when I don't feel like it?'
'No, for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. x. 17), and the word of
God to you is, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John xv. 3). "Ask,
and ye shall receive" ' (John xvi. 24).
That evening I saw the sister again. She said, 'I have committed myself to God, and shall trust Him,
till the witness of my acceptance comes.'
The next day she was in the meeting, and related her experience, telling us that in the night God
awoke her with an assurance of His love, and gave her the clear witness of the Spirit that she was
entirely sanctified, putting glory in her heart, and hallelujahs on her tongue.
Entire consecration is not entire sanctification. You are commanded to 'present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God' (Rom. xii. 1). This is entire consecration; but it is also said, 'For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation' (Rom. x. 10). So then, there must be entire consecration, unwavering faith, and a frank,
artless confession of both to Jesus. This is man's part, and, when these simple conditions are met
and steadfastly maintained, against all contrary feelings, God will suddenly come into His Holy
temple, filling the soul with His presence, purity, and power. This twofold work by man and God
constitutes the one experience of entire sanctification. When this experience is yours, at your very
earliest opportunity confess it before men.
Faith: The Grace And The Gift
"Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Heb.
vi. 12).
"Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and
that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. xi. 6).
"Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
For yet a little while, and He that shell con" will come, and will not tarry" (Heb. x. 36, 37).
There is an important difference between the grace of faith and the gift of faith, and I fear that a
failure to note this difference and to act accordingly has led many people into darkness, and possibly
some have even been led to cast away all faith and to plunge into the black night of skepticism.
The grace of faith is that which is given to every man to work with, and by which he can come to
God.
The gift of faith is that which is bestowed upon us by the Holy Ghost, at the point where we have
made free use of the grace of faith.
The man who is exercising the grace of faith, says: "I believe God will bless me," and he seeks God
with his whole heart. He prays secretly and publicly. He searches the Bible to know God's will. He
talks with Christians about the ways of God's dealings with the soul. He takes up every cross, and at
last, when he has reached the limits of the grace of faith, God suddenly, by some word of Scripture,
some testimony, some inward reasoning, bestows upon him the gift of faith, by which he is enabled
to grasp the blessings he has been seeking, and then he no longer says: "I believe God will bless me,"
but he joyfully exclaims: "I believe God does bless me!" Then the Holy Spirit witnesses that it is done,
and he shouts for joy and declares: "I know God blesses me!" and then he would not thank an angel
to tell him that it is done, for he knows it is done, and neither men nor devils can rob him of his
assurance. Indeed, what I have here called the gift of faith might be called, and probably is by some,
the assurance of faith. However, it is not the name but the fact that is important.
Now the danger lies in claiming the gift of faith before having fully exercised the grace of faith. For
instance, a man is seeking the blessing of a clean heart. He says: "I believe there is such a blessing,
and I believe God will give it to me." Now, believing this, he should at once seek it from God, and if
he perseveres in seeking, he will surely find. But if some one comes up and gets him to claim it
before he has by the grace of faith fought his way through the doubts and difficulties he has to meet,
and before God has bestowed upon him the gift of faith, he will probably drift along for a few days
or weeks and then fall back, and probably come to the conclusion that there is no such blessing as a
clean heart. He should be warned, instructed, exhorted and encouraged to seek till he gets the
assurance.
Or suppose he is sick, and he says: "There are some people who have been sick, and God has healed
them, and I believe He will heal me." Having this faith, he should seek this healing from God. But if
someone persuades him to claim healing before he has, by the grace of faith, worked his way
through the difficulties that oppose him, and before God has bestowed upon him the gift of faith by
which he receives the healing, he will probably crawl out of bed for a short time, find out he is not
healed, get discouraged and, maybe, call God a liar, or possibly declare that there is no God, and cast
away all confidence for ever.
Or, again, suppose he is an officer or a minister and his heart is set on seeing souls saved, and he
reasons with himself that it is God's will to save souls. Then he declares: "I am going to believe for
twenty souls tonight"; but night comes, and twenty souls are not saved. Then he wonders what was
the matter, the devil tempts him, and he gets into doubt and, probably, is at last landed into
skepticism.
What was the trouble? Why, he said he was going to believe before he had earnestly and
intelligently wrestled and pleaded with God in prayer, and listened for God's voice till God wrought
in him the assurance that twenty souls should be saved. "God is ... a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him."
"But," says some one, "should we not urge seekers to believe that God does the work"?
Yes, if you are certain that they have sought Him with all their hearts. If you feel sure they have
exercised the grace of faith fully and yielded all, then urge them tenderly and earnestly to trust
Jesus; but if you are not sure of this, beware of urging them to claim a blessing God has not given
them. Only the Holy Ghost knows when a man is ready to receive the gift of God, and He will notify
that man when he is to be blessed. So, beware not to attempt to do the work of the Holy Ghost
yourself. If you help seekers too much, they may die on your hands. But if you walk closely with God
in a spirit of humility and prayer, He will reveal to you the right word to say that will help them
through.
Again, let no one suppose that the grace of faith will necessarily have to be exercised a long time
before God gives the assurance. You may get the blessing almost at once, if you urge your claim with
a perfect heart, fervently, without any doubt, and without any impatience toward God. But, as the
prophet says, "Though it (the vision) tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry"
(Hab. ii. 3). "Yet a little while, and He will come; He will not tarry." If the blessing should tarry, do not
think because it is delayed that, therefore, it is denied; but, like the Syro-phoenician woman (Mark
vii. 26) who came to Jesus, press your claim in all meekness and lowliness of heart, with undaunted
faith. He will in love soon say to you: "O man, O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as
thou wilt."
Finance
The soul-winner, to be successful, must not be over anxious about finance, but must laugh at the
devil and all his fears, and count God faithful and trust Him to supply all his needs. He should again
and again read over the last part of the [[sixth chapter of St. Matthew, beginning with verse 19 >>
Mat 6:19-34]]. What could be stronger and more positive than the assurance of Jesus that his needs
shall be supplied?
When I was a little fellow I never worried my head or heart about my next pair of shoes, or where
my breakfast was to come from. My father was dead, so my mother did all that worrying, and I
played and trusted her and had a good time. Well, now, Jesus says we are to take no thought (by
that He means no anxious thought see Revised Version) what we shall eat or what we shall put on.
"Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment?" And if God gives you life, which is the
greater, will He not give you meat to sustain life? And if He allows you still to live in your body for a
season, will He not give you raiment to protect your body? "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we
drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of
all these things."
Jesus would have me trust my Heavenly Father as I did my mother. Then I call be a child again, bless
the Lord! and all I have to do is to pray and obey and trust the Lord, and have a good time before the
Lord, and He will supply my needs and the needs of my little ones whom He has given me. Yes, that
is what He means, for He says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things shall be added unto you." And this freedom from worrying anxiety is the privilege and duty of
all soul-winners, from the carefree worker who has only to get bread for his own mouth to him who
has a large family to feed and clothe, or the man with a thousand-fold financial responsibility like
Moses, or George Mueller, or Hudson Taylor, or our God-honored and beloved General. Faith -simple faith, unmixed faith in God's promise -- can no more exist in the same heart with worry than
can fire and water, or light and darkness, consort together; one extinguishes the other. Faith in the
plain, unmistakable promise of God, begotten by the Holy Ghost, so links the soul-winner to Jesus,
so yokes them up and unites them in partnership together, that the burden and care is the Lord's,
since "the cattle on a thousand hills and the silver and the gold are His;" and He would have His child
trust Him, walk the waves with Him, never doubt Him, shout the victory through Him and triumph
over all fear and all the power of the enemy in Him. I do declare that according to the Word of God
this is His will for the soul-winner, and this secret every true soul-winner must and does know.
Hallelujah!
God does not send the soul-winner to a warfare at his own charges, but according to Paul, "will
supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
God's commissary department is abundantly full and runs on schedule time, but the worried and
anxious unbeliever wants Him to run ahead of schedule time. No, no! He may in order to test and
strengthen faith, not provide the second suit until the first one is ready to be laid aside, and
sometimes after supper he may allow you to go to bed not knowing where the breakfast is to come
from, but it will come at breakfast time. "He knoweth that ye have need of these things," so trust
Him, as does the sparrow. The wee thing tucks its tiny head under its little wing and sleeps, not
knowing where it will find its breakfast, and when the day dawns it chirps its merry note of praise,
and God opens His great hand and feeds it. "The eyes of all wait upon Thee and Thou givest them
their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."
said the Psalmist (Ps. 145:15, 16), and "Ye are of more value than many sparrows," said Jesus.
O my anxious brother, trust Him! He will not fail you. In this, as in all other things, the assurance
holds good, that there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation
make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13.) Hallelujah! I have proved this in
times past, and I may have to prove it again, but "God is faithful." Glory! Glory! Glory! And the devil
is a liar and always will be.
Finney's clothes got threadbare, but he was so intent on getting souls saved that he didn't notice it
until someone came along and measured him for a new suit. I had an almost similar experience
once. God knew when the old suit needed replacing by a new one, and He sent it along on time.
Who can read Muller's "Life of Trust," without seeing God's hand in the supply of all our needs? And
if the experiences of the officers of The Salvation Army were written, it would make a book equally
interesting, showing the unfailing faithfulness of God in supplying daily need. Oh, that soul-winners
would not lose their simplicity and forget these mercies and past faithfulness, which are certain
pledges of future ones!
Many a man loses his love for souls and his power to win them by allowing covetousness or financial
anxiety to crowd childlike trust out of his heart. "Who is there among you that would shut the door
for nought? neither do ye kindle a fire upon mine altars for nought," cried the Lord to the
backslidden, covetous prophets of old. They would do nothing until they knew they should be well
paid for it. It was not souls, but money they worked for.
Contrast with this Paul's unselfish, disinterested devotion. He says: "I have coveted no man's silver
or gold or apparel; yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities
and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to
support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to
give than to receive." And again he says: "I seek not yours but you." He even goes so far as to say
when they gave him anything, "Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your
account." It was not the benefit that he derived from receiving, so much as the benefit they would
derive from giving that rejoiced his heart. In writing to the Philippians, who had sent him a donation,
he gives us a bit of his inner experience. He says, "I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last
your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful but ye lacked opportunity. Not
that I speak in respect o f want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased and how to abound; everywhere and in all things have I learned the
secret" (R. V.) "both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me." And in writing to Timothy, he says: "A bishop must
not be greedy of filthy lucre," and Peter says we are to "feed the flock of God not for filthy lucre but
of a ready mind."
In all this I do not contend that God would not have the soul-winner amply supported and relieved
of financial burden and care by the people for whom he gives his life. God says: "The laborer is
worthy of his hire;" and He forbade the muzzling of the ox that trod out the corn; and by the tithing
system, which all Christians ought to adopt, every Jew was to assist in the support of the ministry.
But what I do contend for is, that the soul-winner must not be anxious about his bread, but must
beware of covetousness, must seek to save souls, and if they do not support him as he would wish,
must still love them unto death and seek their salvation, and cheerfully and triumphantly trust the
God who fed Elijah and rained manna from heaven for forty years to feed a million Israelites to find a
way to feed him. I maintain against all devils and all unbelief, that God will not disappoint him, but
will "feed him with the finest of the wheat and satisfy him as with marrow and fatness."
First Things First
One of the outstanding ironies of history is the utter disregard of ranks and titles in the final
judgments men pass upon each other. And if this be so of men, how much more must it be so of the
judgments of God.
Nero and Marcus Aurelius sat upon the throne of Rome clothed with absolute power and
worshipped as gods, but what a difference! Nero, a monster of iniquity and utter cruelty, execrated
of all men Aurelius, a vigorous administrator and benign philosopher, writing meditations which the
wise and learned still delight to read and ponder and which, after two millenniums, are a guide to
safe and useful living.
Washington and Napoleon were two great statesmen and military leaders. But what a difference!
One a ruthless conqueror, building a glittering and evanescent empire on an ocean of blood, dying
an exile on a lonely isle with a character for heartless selfishness which sinks lower and yet lower
every year in the estimation of all right thinking men. The other refusing a crown, but laying the firm
foundations of a State destined to be infinitely greater than Napoleon's empire, and dying at last
honored by his former foes, with a character above reproach, revered and beloved of all men.
John and Judas were two Apostles. But what a difference! One was a devil betraying his master with
a kiss for a paltry handful of silver, and getting to himself a name that is a synonym for all infamy and
treachery. The other pillowed his head on the Master's bosom, and with wide, open eyes was
permitted to look deep into Heaven, behold the great white throne and Him that sat upon it, the
worshipping angel-hosts, the innumerable multitudes of the redeemed, the glory of the Lamb that
was slain, and the face of the everlasting Father; while his name became a synonym for reverence
and adoring love.
This summing up and final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank and title
a man has borne or the office he has held, but only for the quality of his deeds and the character of
his mind and heart.
The haughty patricians of Rome doubtless passed by with contemptuous indifference or scorn as the
scarred, hooked-nose Jewish prisoner, Paul, with sore eyes and wearied feet, went clanking by in
chains to the dungeon, but their names have perished, while his name is enshrined in millions of
hearts and embalmed in colleges, in cathedrals and cities, and libraries of books are reverently
written about his character, his sufferings, and his work.
Who remembers the Lord Bishops of England in Bunyan's day? But what unnumbered Christian
hearts have turned with tears of deepest gratitude and tenderest affection and sympathy to the
humble, joyous, inspired tinker, who, from the filthy, verminous Bedford jail, sent forth his immortal
story of Pilgrim fleeing from the city of Destruction, and with hopes and fears, and tears and prayers,
and sighs, and songs, pressing on over hills of difficulty, through sloughs of despond, past bewitching
bowers of beguiling temptations and giants of despair and castles of doubt, till at last he beholds the
delectable mountains, views not far away the city of the great King, hears the music of celestial
harpers harping on their harps of gold, and, passing through the swelling river, is received with glad
welcome on the other shore!
These men whom history acclaims, posterity reveres, and God crowns are the MEN WHO PUT FIRST
THINGS FIRST.
To no living men and women is it more important than to us of The Salvation Army, that first things
should have first place always in all our thoughts and plans, our affections, and activities.
And what shall be first with us? Many hands stretch out toward us, and many voices plead with us
for first place. Which shall have the primacy? Which shall have our last thoughts when falling asleep
at night and our first thoughts on awaking in the morning?
There are many things that make so subtle and apparently so reasonable an appeal, that if we do not
watch and pray and keep in the Spirit, they will without right usurp first place, and we shall some day
wake up and find that we have been bowing down to an idol instead of the living God.
I. We may put our work first. Is it not commanded, 'Do with thy might what thy hands find to do'?
And are we not exhorted to be 'not slothful in business'? And are we not assured that 'a man diligent
in his business shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men'? Is not our work God's
work? And can anything equal it in importance? Are we not warned that if we are careless we shall
be cursed? If we are slothful, our talent shall be taken from us, given to another, and we ourselves
cast out into outer darkness as wicked and slothful servants, where we shall fruitlessly weep and
gnash our teeth. Is not our work the building of God's kingdom on earth, the rescue of men from sin
and its eternal woe? Yes, yes, yes, it is all that, and no words can express the infinity of its
importance. But it must not have first place. If it does, we ourselves shall be lost. 'Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out
devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you.' Solemn words these, spoken by the Master.
Many years ago I was billeted with one of the most brilliant and capable Staff Officers I have known.
We had had a great Meeting that night and got to bed late and wearied, but, according to my
custom, I was up early next morning, seeking God, reading my Bible, and praying. The blessing of the
Lord came upon me and I burst into tears. My comrade woke up and found me praying, weeping,
rejoicing. He was much moved, and confessed to me that he did not often realize that he had found
God when praying, and explained that he was so busy, so pressed with his work, so absorbed and
fascinated with it, that when he prayed his mind wandered to things he should do during the day,
and so he seldom got into real touch and fellowship with God. I earnestly warned him of the danger
this meant to his own soul and eventually to his work, the dryness and spiritual barrenness that
must come upon him if, through the multiplicity of cares and the pressure of work, God was
crowded out or pushed into the background of his life. He admitted the truth of all I said, but he still
put his work first. He rose rapidly in rank and important command, then suddenly dropped out of
The Army over some trifling matter, and has long been dead. Did his exceptionally bright and
promising career end in darkness because he failed to put first things first? I have feared so.
2. It is possible for an Officer to so far lose sight of first things that he comes at last to do much if not
all his work with an eye to his own promotion and his future career. He may become embittered
toward his leaders and jealous toward his comrades if he is not promoted as rapidly as others, or if
his appointments do not correspond to what he or his wife considers his merits. It is a most subtle
danger, and through it many an Officer's splendid spiritual career has come to an end, while he still
went on in a perfunctory performance of his official duties, beating time, moving but not
progressing, doing no vital and lasting work for God and souls; of whom it could be written, 'Thou
hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.' I have met Officers who spent more time repining and
complaining and inwardly rebelling about not being promoted than they did in studying and working
and fitting themselves for the work that promotion would thrust upon them. 'For men to search
their own glory, is not glory,' wrote Solomon, but such men quite overlook such texts as that, and
while they may attain the desire of their heart, they miss the glory that God gives.
Personally, an awful fear has shaken me at times in the thought that a man may get in this world all
the honor and glory that he seeks, and find in the next world that there is nothing further coming to
him, like a man who draws his salary in advance and at the end of the week or month or year has
nothing to receive. Abraham said to the rich man 'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst
thy good things'; and there was nothing due to him in that new world to which his soul had been so
suddenly snatched away. He had not put first things first, and he who proudly scorned the poor
beggar Lazarus at his gate now found himself an eternal pauper and beggar in Hell.
3. An Officer may gradually put his family first. It has been said that until forty-five a man says, 'What
can I do to advance myself?' After forty-five he says, 'What can I do to provide for and advance my
children? ' But to an Officer this may become a deadly snare. Sometimes it is the wife and mother
whose ambition or anxiety overrides the sober judgment of the father and husband, and he bends
before her insistence and falls from his splendid integrity and devotion to God's cause. Oh, the pity
of it! 'He that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,' said Jesus.
4. A man may put his own culture first. This is not a widespread danger among us, and yet it may
become to some a very subtle danger. Study, reading, travel, the cultivation of the mind and the
gratifying of taste, may lead to the neglect of God's work and the drying up of the fountains of
spiritual power. Personal culture is not to be despised, but rather coveted. The better informed, the
wiser and more cultivated we are, provided we are dedicated wholly to God and set on fire with
spiritual passion, the more effectually can we glorify God and serve our fellow-men. It is true that
'God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; the weak things of the world
to confound the mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence.' But He also chose Moses, educated in all the learning of Egypt -- Moses, the
most cultured man of his age; and Paul, educated at the universities of Tarsus and Jerusalem, for the
great work of the ages. Not many such has God chosen, because not often do such cultured men
choose Christ and the Cross. But God can and does use culture, when dedicated wholly to His
service, and we should not despise it, but covet it and take every legitimate opportunity to secure it.
But woe to the man who puts it first in his thought and effort. God will laugh at him and pass him by
and give his crown to some little illiterate nobody who loves, and trusts, and shouts, and sings, and
knows nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and counts not his life dear unto
himself that he may win the souls for whom the Savour died.
If we would put first things first, we must be ready at any moment to lay aside our books, our music,
our studies, our business, our own pleasure and profit, to save souls.
The Founder, on the train in Switzerland, was writing an article when members of his Staff called him
to look at the Alps towering upward into the blue heavens, gleaming in white, majestic splendor, but
his heart and mind were so absorbed with his work and the greater splendors of the spirit, and of
redeeming love, that he would hardly lift his eyes from the work in which he was lost. Again and
again I have had to practice this kind of stern self-denial in my world travels if I would keep first
things first.
Museums which house the symbols of a nation's history and the products of its genius and labor are
a medium of culture. I once spent two weeks within two or three stone-throws of one of Europe's
national museums, and passing it on several occasions, longed to run in and spend some time among
its strange and ancient treasures. But a mighty work of the Spirit was going on, my time was short,
and hungry souls so thronged me, both in the Meetings and between Meetings, that I had to deny
them or deny myself the pleasure and instruction I might have found in that treasure-house of
science and art and natural wonders. To some it might have made no appeal. To me it did, but it was
denied in order that first things might have first place, and any regret for my loss is swallowed up in
the joy of my greater gain and the gain of those precious souls to whom I ministered.
This demand that first things shall have first place in The Army and in religion is not simply a demand
of the spiritual life, but of all life, of every profession and activity. The soldier must not entangle
himself with the secular affairs of life. The lawyer must make law his mistress and give her his full
devotion. The physician must put the profession of healing before all business or pleasure. The
student must deny himself and hold everything secondary to his studies. The true lover must forsake
all others for her who is enshrined in his heart's best affections.
What, then, shall be first in our thoughts, our affections, our life? That must be first, the loss of
which is the loss of all. To lose God is the sum of all loss. If we lose Him we lose all. If we lose all and
still have Him, we shall in Him again find all. 'What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ,' wrote Paul. 'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ, . . . for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.' And yet this poor man,
persecuted, hated, hunted, stripped of all things, cries out to his brothers in like poverty: 'All things
are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or
things to come; all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Hallelujah!
'Seek ye Me, and ye shall live,' is God's everlasting plea to you and me.
'Uzziah sought God' -- and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper -- 'he was
marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his
destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God.'
In these words what a grim, revealing glimpse we have down the long, dim vista of three
millenniums into the secret of that old king's glory and doom! And 'they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.'
Many years ago I heard the Founder, in an impassioned plea to his people to wait on God, cry out,
'Men are losing God every day, and I should lose Him if out of my busy life I did not take time every
day to seek His face.' And in a letter quoted by Harold Begbie, he wrote: 'I wish I could have a little
more time for meditation on eternal things. I must not let my soul get dried up with secular affairs,
even though they concern the highest earthly interests of my fellows. After all, soul matters are of
infinite importance and are really most closely concerned with earthly advantages.' If it was so with
King Uzziah and with our revered Founder, it is so with us, O my comrades! These men, though dead,
yet speak to us; and though they came back to us as Dives besought Abraham that Lazarus might
come back with warning to his brethren, yet they could have no other message, they could not
speak otherwise. They have spoken their final word, and to me, at least, it is the word of the Lord.
'When thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,' wrote the
Psalmist.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.
Let us pray!
Fools For Christ's Sake
To the natural heart and the unsanctified mind the commands of God are foolishness. 'Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee'
(Gen. xii. 1), said God to Abraham. How foolish to leave home and wealth and greatness to go to a
land that he knew not! But Abraham believed and obeyed and became heir of the world.
'I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of
Egypt' (Exod. iii. 10), was God's word to Moses. What folly for this poor shepherd, who forty years
before had fled from the face of Pharaoh a hunted murderer and vagabond, to seek to deliver a
nation of slaves from the iron hand of the haughtiest, mightiest monarch of earth! But he believed
and obeyed and the proud king was humbled to the dust and the nation of slaves was freed.
'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these
things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee
from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me' (Acts
xxvi. 16-18), said the Lord to Paul. Think of it! One lone man belonging to a conquered, despised,
hated people, sent to the proud, idolatrous utterly godless nations with the message that a crucified
Jew was the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and that there was no salvation except in His
name.
What foolhardiness for this man without wealth, national prestige, political power or social favor to
start out in the face of bitter religious hatred and contempt, and national and political antagonism,
to convert a lost world to this new faith of a day! But he was 'not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision.' He went and the Holy Ghost went with him. He went to unparalleled toils and sufferings, but
he won unparalleled victories and heavenly joys and consolations.
They whipped him time and again; they stoned him; they thrust him into dark, loathsome dungeons,
reeking with slime and filth; three times he suffered shipwreck, he made many long and tedious
journeys when there were no ocean greyhounds and no lightning express trains with Pullman
coaches and dining-cars. He was in perils from the water, from robbers, from his own countrymen,
from the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea, and, worst of all, among false brethren.
He suffered from weariness and painfulness; from watchings often when it would have been death
to him to go to sleep; from hunger and thirst, from fastings often when his spirit was so engaged
with his tremendous labors and difficulties that his body refused food; from cold and nakedness,
besides the care of all the churches with their young converts just saved from heathenism and
continually beset by false teachers within, as well as suffering the most dreadful persecutions from
without.
But none of these things moved him, and God helped him to do more to bring the world to God than
any other man who ever lived.
Does your call to work for God seem foolish, unreasonable, impossible? 'Have faith in God' (Mark xi.
22). Obey like Abraham and Moses and Paul, and you will yet praise Him for all the way He led you
and for the part He gave you to do in winning the world from Satan back to God.
An officer now by my side had been a soldier for some years; at last he felt he would some time have
to go into the work. The call came while his hammer was lifted to strike a blow. He was not
disobedient to the call of God. The blow was not struck, and before noon he had sold his kit of tools
and for years he has been a successful officer and is daily increasing in the gifts and graces of those
God calls to be leaders.
Does God call you? Be not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Stay not in the order of your going. Let
nothing hinder you. Go and God will be with you as He was with Moses and Paul, and as the years
speed by you will increasingly thank God that no business prospects, no fond friendships, no lust of
power or love of secluded ease kept you from the battle's front with its burdens and bitter conflicts
and fierce sorrows and soul-satisfying triumphs. One soul joining in the anthem of the redeemed
ones around the Throne, saved from Hell through your labors, will pay you for all your toils; one look
at the face of Jesus will reward you for all your privations. What care Peter and John and Paul now, if
they did lose all to follow Jesus, and did suffer and die for the men they sought to save? And what
will you care?
Freedom From Sin
The most startling thing about sin is its power to enslave. Jesus said, 'Whosoever committeth sin is
the servant of sin' (John viii. 34), and everyday life and experience prove the saying to be true. Let a
boy or a man tell a lie and he is henceforth the servant of falsehood unless freed by a higher power.
Let the bank clerk misappropriate funds, let the business man yield to a trick in trade, let the young
man surrender to the clamor of lust, let the youth take an intoxicating glass, and henceforth he is a
slave. The cord that holds him may be light and silken, and he may boast himself free, but he
deceives himself; he is no longer free, he is a bondman.
We may choose the path in life we will take; the course of conduct; the friends with whom we will
associate; the habits we will form, whether good or bad. But, having chosen the ways of sin, we are
then swept on without further choice with a swiftness and certainty down to hell, just as a man who
chooses to go on board a ship is surely taken to the destined harbor, however much he may wish to
go elsewhere. We choose and then we are chosen. We grasp and then we are grasped by a power
stronger than ourselves -- like the man who takes hold of the poles of an electric battery; he grasps,
but he cannot let go at his will; like the man who took the baby boa-constrictor and trained it to coil
about him, but when grown it crushed him; like the lion trainer, who put his head in the lion's
mouth, but one day the lion closed its mouth and crushed his head as he might an egg-shell.
Just so the sinner is in the grasp of a higher power than his own. He chooses drink, dancing,
gambling, worldly pleasure, or human wisdom and fame and power, but soon finds himself captive,
only to be surely crushed and ruined for ever, unless delivered by some power outside himself. What
shall he do? Is there hope? Is there a deliverer? Yes, thank God, there is. Jesus said : 'If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 36).
Some years ago, as I was passing out of a church near Boston, one Sunday night, a young man, an
artist, stopped me and said, 'Brother Brengle, do you mean to say that Jesus can save a man from all
sin?'
'Yes, sir,' I replied, ' that is exactly what I mean to say.'
Well, if He can,' said he, 'I want Him to save me, for I am the victim of a habit that masters me. I
struggle and vow and make good resolutions, but fall again, and I want deliverance.'
I pointed him to Jesus. We prayed, and the work was done. Glory to God! He remained in and
around Boston for six months, shining and shouting for Jesus, and then went to California. Eleven
years later I went to San Francisco. One day, I heard a knock on my door. A young man entered,
looked at me and inquired, 'Do you know me?'
I replied, ' Yes, sir; you are the young man that Jesus saved from a bad habit about twelve years ago,
near Boston.'
'Yes,' said he, 'and He saves me still.'
Whom the Son maketh free is free indeed.
He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoner free.
This freedom is altogether complete. Jesus told the disciples to loose a colt that was tied and bring it
to Him. Mark tells us that He loosed the tongue of a dumb man and he spake plain. John tells us that
when Lazarus came forth from the grave he was 'bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and his
face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go' (John xi. 44).
Now John uses exactly the same Greek word when he says of Jesus, 'For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that He might destroy (loose) the works of the devil' (I John iii. 8).
In other words, he whom Jesus makes free is loosed from the works of the devil -- unhitched from
them -- as fully as was the colt from the post to which it was tied, or as was Lazarus from his grave
clothes. Hallelujah! The sinner is bound to his guilty past, but Jesus forgives and forgets it, and he is
no longer subject to the penalty of the broken law.
The converted man is bound to his inbred sin, Jesus looses him and he is free indeed. It is a complete
deliverance, a perfect liberty, a Heavenly freedom that Jesus gives, by bringing the soul under the
law of liberty, which is the law of love.
Future Punishment And The Bible
Joseph Cook, one of America's soundest and clearest thinkers, said to me a generation ago, 'Let the
Churches banish from their pulpits the preaching of Hell for a hundred years, and it will come back
again, for the doctrine is in the Bible, and in the nature of things.' And he said in his great lecture on
the 'Final Permanence of Moral Character': 'The laws by which we attain supreme bliss are the laws
by which we descend to supreme woe. In the ladder up and the ladder down in the universe, the
rungs are in the same side pieces. The self-propagating power of sin and the self-propagating power
of Holiness are one law. The law of judicial blindness is one with that law by which the pure in heart
see God.'
There is but one law that can save me from 'the law of sin and death,' that is 'the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus.' If I refuse to submit to that law, I abide eternally under the law of sin and death
and endure eternally its dread penalties.
'Every sinner must be either pardoned or punished.'
I once heard these words uttered by The Army Founder in the midst of an impassioned appeal to
men to make their peace with God; and they have remained in my memory, always representing a
tremendous truth from which we can never get away.
The Atonement opens wide the door of pardon, of uttermost Salvation, and of bliss eternal to every
penitent sinner who will believe on Christ and follow Him, while it sweeps away every excuse from
the impenitent sinner who will not trust and obey Him.
The Atonement justifies God in all His ways with sinful men.
The holiest beings in the universe can never feel that God is indifferent to sin, when He pardons a
believing sinner, lifts up his drooping head and introduces him to the glories and blessedness of
Heaven, because Christ has died for him. On the other hand, the sinner who is lost and banished to
outer darkness, cannot blame God nor charge Him with indifference to his misery, since Christ, by
tasting death for him, flung wide open the gateway of escape. That he definitely refused to enter in
will be clear in his memory for ever, and will leave him without excuse.
We do not often encounter now the old-fashioned Universalist, who believed that all men, whether
righteous or wicked, enter into a state of blessedness the moment they die. But others, with errors
even more dangerous, because seemingly made agreeable to natural reason and to man's inborn
sense of justice, have come to take his place and weaken men's faith in the tremendous penalties of
God's holy law; in fact, there seems to be a widespread and growing tendency to doubt the
existence of Hell and the endless punishment of the wicked.
A theory often advanced is the annihilation, or extermination, of the wicked. It is said that there is
no eternal Hell; and that the wicked do not enter into a state of punishment after death, but are
immediately or eventually blotted out of existence.
Then there is the doctrine of 'eternal hope.' This asserts that the wicked will be punished after
death, possibly for ages, but that in the end they will all be restored to the favor of God and the bliss
of the holy. The words of our Lord to the traitor appear to be an unanswerable refutation of this
doctrine. If all are to be saved at last, would Jesus have said of Judas, 'It had been good for that man
if he had not been born '? For what are ages of suffering when compared to the blessedness and
rapture of those who finally see God's face in peace and enjoy His favor to all eternity?
There is something so awful about the old doctrine of endless punishment, and such a seeming show
of fairness about these new doctrines, that the latter appeal very strongly to the human heart, and
enlist on their behalf all the sympathies and powerful impulses of 'the carnal mind' which is enmity
against God,' and which is 'not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.'
In forming our opinions on this subject we should stick to the Bible. All we know about the future
state is what God has revealed and left on record in 'the law and ..... the testimony,' and 'if they
speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.' Human reason, as well as
human experience fails us here, and we can put no confidence in the so-called revelations of
spiritualism nor in the dreams of sects who pretend to be able to probe the secrets of eternity. If the
Bible does not settle the question for us, it cannot be settled.
The Bible teaches that there is punishment for the wicked after death, and that of this punishment
they are conscious. In the record of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus says: 'The rich man also died,.....
and in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. And he cried and said,..... Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and
cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.'
Some labor hard to strip this Scripture of its evident meaning and to rob it of its point and power, by
declaring that it is only a parable. On the contrary, the Saviour's statements are given as facts. But
even though we admit the account to be a parable, what then? A parable teaches either what is or
what may be, and in that case these words lose none of their force, but stand out as a bold wordpicture of the terrible doom of the wicked.
Over and over Jesus speaks of the wicked being cast into 'outer darkness,' where 'there shall be
weeping' and 'wailing and gnashing of teeth.' Three times in one chapter He speaks of the worm that
dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.
Paul says, 'Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,' shall come upon the wicked. And John, in
the Revelation, says they are in torment.'
What can all this mean but conscious punishment?
Let a man who never before saw the Bible, read these words for the first time, and he would at once
declare that the Bible teaches the conscious suffering of the wicked after death. He might not
believe the teaching, but he would never think of denying that such was the teaching of the Bible.
The punishment mentioned in the Bible must be felt, must be conscious, otherwise it is not
'torment,' 'tribulation and anguish.' The 'second death,' the death of the soul, must be something
other than the destruction of its conscious existence.
Jesus has defined for us eternal life as the knowledge of God: 'This is life eternal, that they might
know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.' (John xvii. 3.) If then this
blessed knowledge constitutes eternal life, what is the death which sin imposes but just the absence
of this knowledge, with consequent wretchedness and misery? To lose God, to sink into outer
darkness, to lose all fellowship with pure and loving souls, to be an outcast for ever, this is 'the
second death,' this is 'torment and anguish,' this is 'Hell,' and this is 'the wages of sin.'
The Bible further teaches that the punishment of the wicked after death will be endless.
There are distinguished teachers and preachers who have declared that the Bible does not teach the
eternity of sin and of punishment. But if we examine for ourselves, we find this teaching as clear as
human language can make it. In the Revised Version we read: 'Whosoever shall blaspheme against
the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin,' and eternal sin will surely be
followed by eternal woe. While sin lasts misery lasts.
The strongest terms that can be used have been used to teach eternal punishment. When we say a
thing will last for ever we have put it strongly, but when we duplicate the phrase and say it will last
for ever and for ever, we cannot add to its strength -- we have said all that can be said. This is just
what the Bible does in speaking of the punishment of the wicked.
The phrase 'for ever and ever ' is the strongest term by which the idea of eternity is expressed in the
Bible. It is the phrase used to express the eternal life and glory of the righteous: 'And they shall reign
for ever and ever.' Paul used these words when he prayed for the continuance of God's glory: 'To
whom be glory for ever and ever.' (Galatians i. 5; see also Philippians iv. 20; 2 Timothy iv. 18;
Hebrews xiii. 21.) It is also the very phrase used to assert the eternal existence of God Himself -Who 'liveth for ever and ever.' (Revelation iv. 9, 10; x. 6; xv. 7.)
This phrase, which is used to declare the endless life and glory of the righteous and the existence of
God Himself, is also used to declare the endless punishment of Satan: 'The Devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.' (Revelation xx. 10.) In [[verse 15 >> Bible:Rev 20:15]] we
are told that the wicked are to share the punishment of the Devil himself. And Jesus, in foretelling
the sentence of the wicked at the Judgment Day, declares: 'Then shall He also say to them on the left
hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels '; thus
showing that the wicked are to share the punishment of the Devil, which is 'for ever and ever.
Did not Jesus mean to teach endless punishment when, three times in six short verses, He warned
His hearers in the most solemn manner to cut off hands and feet and pluck out eyes, rather than to
go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched'? (Mark ix. 43- 48.)
Is not endless punishment implied in the parable of the cruel and unforgiving servant, who, owing
ten thousand talents (or one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds), with nothing
with which to pay, was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due? Does not
Jesus mean to teach that his debt was beyond his power to cancel; and that, since he proved
wickedly unworthy of mercy and forgiveness, he was buried for ever beneath the burden and
torment of his vast debt? And this parable but pictures the moral and spiritual debt of the sinner -illimitable and ever increasing, unless, in penitence and obedient faith, he finds release through the
Blood of Christ before the final sentence of judgment is passed and the prison gates have closed
upon him.
We learn from Josephus, the Jewish historian, that the Jews believed in endless punishment; and
when the Son of God came into the world to teach men the truth, He did not deny and combat that
belief, but spoke fearfully plain words which would confirm and strengthen it.
Well does one writer say: 'They who deny that any of the words used of future punishment in Holy
Scripture express eternity, would do well to consider whether there is any way in which Almighty
God could have expressed it, which they would have accepted as meaning it.'
God did not trifle when He inspired those dreadful warnings. Take heed, then, that you do not trifle
when you read them, but rather fear and tremble at the Word of the Lord. For just in proportion as
you, in the secret of your own heart, doubt the endless punishment of the wicked, in that proportion
you will lose power to resist sin and desire to save your own soul or that of others around you.
Two powerful motives which the Holy Ghost uses to lead men to accept the Saviour and renounce all
sin, are the hope of everlasting blessedness and the fear of eternal woe. These motives may, in time,
in the heart of a Christian be swallowed up in a higher motive of love and loyalty to God, but they
always remain as a frame work. No preacher through all the ages has appealed so simply, so
constantly, so powerfully, and with such even balance to these motives as did the Saviour. The
whole of [[Matthew xxv. >> Bible: Mat 25]] is an illustration of His method of appeal.
Eternity furnishes these motives. They balance each other like the two wings of a bird, the two
wheels of a carriage, right and left, upper and lower, right and wrong, and this balance is never lost,
but evenly held throughout the Bible from the blessing and cursing of Deuteronomy ([[xxx. 19 >>
Bible:Deut 30:19]]) to the final fixedness of moral character as ' filthy or ' holy ' in Revelation ([[xxii.
11 >> Bible:Rev 22:11]]). Deny one of them and your strength against sin is gone. You may live a life
most beautiful in its outward morality, but those secret girdings of the will which in the past
impelled you to resist sin unto death, will weaken, and you will find yourself making secret
compromises with sin. You will lose your power to discern 'the exceeding sinfulness of sin.' You will
be ensnared by Satan as 'an angel of light,' and some day you will become 'a servant of sin.'
The sinner is not alarmed by the thought that death ends all. He will say, 'Let us eat, drink, and be
merry, for tomorrow we die.' It is not death he fears, but that which follows death. Nor does he care
for punishment after death if he can only believe it will end sometime he will still harden himself in
sin and mock God. But preach to him the faithful Word of God, until the awful fact of endless
punishment, set over against the endless blessedness of God's approval and favor, pierces his guilty
conscience and takes possession of his soul, and he will go mournfully all his days until he finds Jesus
the Saviour.
Such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with
the fire-touched lips of holy men and women. But let men in their folly imagine themselves wiser
and more pitiful and just than God, and so begin to tone down this doctrine, then conviction for sin
ceases, the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at, the supernatural element
in religion is called fanaticism, the Holy Ghost is forgotten, and the work of God comes to a standstill.
But some one objects that God is not just to punish a man for ever for the sins he commits in the
short period of a lifetime. And thus speaking he thinks of certain acts of sin such as lying, cheating,
swearing, murder, or adultery. But it is not for these sins that men are sent to Hell. God has
pardoned multitudes who were guilty of all these sins, and has taken them home to Heaven. All men
are sent to Hell by the weight and pull of their self-chosen evil and discordant nature and character,
because they will not repent and turn from sin to God, but choose to remain filled with unbelief,
which begets pride and self-will; consequently they are out of harmony with, and are in antagonism
to God and all His humble, obedient servants; they will not come to Jesus, that they may be saved
from sin and receive a new heart and life. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and they refuse the
Life-Giver. Jesus says: 'Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.' Again He says: 'This is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.'
If sinners would come to Christ and receive the gracious, loving life He offers, and allow Him to rule
over them, God would not impute their trespasses to them, but would forgive all their iniquities, and
their sins would drop off as the autumn leaves from the trees in the field.
But men will not come. They refuse the Saviour; they will not hear His voice; they turn away from His
words; they remain indifferent to His entreaties; they laugh or mock at His warnings; they walk in
disobedience and rebellion; they trample on His holy commandments; they choose darkness instead
of light; they prefer sin to holiness, their own way to God's way; they resist the Holy Spirit: they
neglect and reject Christ crucified for them -- and for this they are punished.
All this stubborn resistance to God's invitations and purposes may be linked to a life of external
correctness and even apparent religiousness. Not until all His judgments and warnings, His
entreaties and dying love have failed to lead sinners to repentance and acceptance of the Saviour,
and not until they have utterly refused the eternal blessedness of the holy, does God cease to strive
with sinners and to follow them with tender mercies.
By obstinate persistence in sin men come to hate the thing that God loves, and to love the thing that
God hates; thus they become as dead to God's will, to holiness, and to His plans for them, as the
child destroyed by smallpox or diphtheria is dead to the hopes and plans of its mourning father and
mother. And as such parents in sorrow put away the pestilence-breeding body of their dead child, so
God puts sinners, in their utter spiritual corruption, away from His holy presence 'and from the glory
of His power.'
How could God more fully show His estimate of sin, together with His love and pity and longing
desire to save the sinner, than by dying for sinful man?
God in Christ Jesus has done that. Bless His holy name! But the sinner tramples on Christ's Blood,
rejects His infinite mercy, resists His infinite love, and so hardens himself into an eternal sinner;
hence he deserves eternal punishment, which will follow sin as surely as night follows day.
Is sin only a mild infirmity that we need not fear, and that will yield to gentle reproof? Was the Son
of God only playing at being a Saviour when He came down and died for us? Or is sin an awful crime
against God and all His creatures, that can only be remitted by the shedding of blood? Is it a crime
for which men are responsible, and of which they ought to repent? Is it a crime that tends to
perpetuate itself by hardening men in evil, and that culminates in eternal guilt when men finally
resist the Holy Ghost, and totally and for ever turn from Jesus the Crucified, rejecting Him as their
Saviour and Lord?
If sin is such a crime -- and the Bible teaches that it is -- then God, as moral Governor of the universe,
having provided a perfect way, and having done all He could to persuade men to turn from sin, is
under obligation, if He meets only with determined resistance, to place sinners under sentence of
punishment, to oppose them and put them away for evermore from His holy presence, and from the
society of holy men and angels, where they can no more breed moral and spiritual pestilence, nor
disturb the moral harmony of God's government and people. And when God does so my conscience
takes God's part against my sensibilities, against my own soul, and against a guilty world, and
pronounces Him just and holy.
We live in a stern universe where fire will not only bless us but burn us; where water will both
refresh and drown us; where gravitation will either protect or destroy us; we must not look at things
sentimentally. If we love God and serve Him all things will work for our good; but if we despise or
neglect Him we shall find all things working for our eternal undoing and misery. God does not send
people to Hell who are fit for Heaven. The standard of fitness is made plain in the Bible, and God's
tender and pitying love has provided for every sinner pardon for past sins through the death of
Jesus, and purity, power, and abundant help for the present and future through the gift of the Holy
Spirit; so that there will be excuse for none. If one whom I love commits some terrible crime,
violating all the righteous and gracious laws that safeguard society, and consequently is cast into
prison, my sorrow -- if I myself am the right kind of a man -- will spring not from the fact that he is in
prison, but rather from the fact that his character makes him unfit to be out of prison; and if he
should go to Hell, my sorrow would be due, not to the fact that he was in Hell, but rather to the fact
that he so neglected and despised infinite love and mercy that he was unfit for Heaven. Such a
person would possibly be more unhappy in Heaven than in Hell, just as a man who has terribly
inflamed eyes is more unhappy in the light of broad day than in the darkness of midnight.
Finally, for a man to say, 'I believe in Heaven, but I do not believe in Hell,' is much as though he
should say, 'I believe in mountains, but not in valleys; in heights, but not in depths.'
We cannot have mountains without valleys, we cannot have heights without depths, and we cannot
have moral and spiritual heights without the awful possibility of moral and spiritual depths; and the
depths are always equal to the heights. The high mountains are set over against the deep seas, and
so Heaven is set over against Hell. If Heaven is topless, Hell is bottomless.
Every road leads two ways. The road which leads from New York to Boston also leads from Boston to
New York. A man can go either way as he chooses; so with the roadway of life. The man who
chooses the things God chooses, loves the things God loves, and hates the things God hates, and
who, with obedient faith, takes up his cross and follows Jesus, will go to the heights of God's holiness
and happiness and Heaven; but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark, bottomless
abysses of Hell. Every man chooses his own way.
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood,
for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by for ever
'twixt that darkness and that light.
Joseph Cook closed his address, at the Chicago 'Parliament of Religions,' on 'The Certainties of
Religion,' with these words, 'I bought a book full of the songs of aggressive evangelical religion, and I
found in this little book words which may be bitter indeed when eaten, but which, when fully
assimilated, will be sweet as honey. I summarize my whole scheme of religion in these words, which
you may put on my tombstone
Choose I must, and soon must choose,
Holiness, or Heaven lose.
If what Heaven loves I hate,
Shut for me is Heaven's gate.
Endless sin means endless woe,
Into endless sin I go,
If my soul from reason rent
Takes from sin its final bent
As the stream its channel grooves,
And within that channel moves;
So does habit's deepest tide
Groove its bed and there abide. Light obeyed increaseth light;
Light resisted bringeth night.
Who shall give me will to choose,
If the love of light I lose?
Speed, my soul, this instant yield,
Let the light its sceptre wield
While thy God prolongs His grace,
Haste thee to His holy face.
'HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION?'
'WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP.'
Gideon's Band
(Judges [[vi. >> Bible:Judges 6]] and [[vii. >> Bible:Judges 7]])
One hundred and twenty thousand Midianites had come up to fight against Israel, and thirty-two
thousand Israelites rose up to fight for their wives, their children, their homes, their liberty, their
lives. But God saw that if one Israelite whipped nearly four Midianites he would be so puffed up with
pride and conceit that he would forget God, and say, "Mine own hand hath saved me" ([[vii. 2 >>
Bible:Judges 7:2]]).
The Lord also knew that there were a lot of weak-kneed followers among them, with cowardly
hearts, who would like an excuse to run away, so He told Gideon to say: "Whosoever is fearful and
afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead." The sooner fearful folks leave us the
better. "And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten
thousand" ([[vii. 3 >> Bible:Judges 7.3]]). They were afraid to show the enemy their faces, but they
were not ashamed to show them their backs.
But the Lord saw that if one Israelite whipped twelve Midianites he would be all the more puffed up,
so He made a still further test.
He said unto Gideon: "The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try
them for thee there." God often tries people at the table and the tea-pot. "And it shall be, that of
whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say
unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto
the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a
dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to
drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred
men; but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said
unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into
thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. So the people took victuals in
their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and
retained those three hundred men" (Judges vii. 4-8).
These three hundred men meant business. They were not only unafraid, but they were not selfindulgent. They knew how to fight, but they knew something even more important -- they knew how
to deny themselves. They knew how to deny themselves, not only when there was very little water,
but when a river rolled at their feet. They were, no doubt, quite as thirsty as the others, but they did
not propose to throw down their arms and fall down on their faces to drink in the presence of the
enemy. They stood up, kept their eyes open, watched the enemy, kept one hand on shield and bow,
while with the other they brought water to their thirsty lips. The other fellows were not afraid to
fight, but they must drink first, even if the enemy did steal a march on them while prostrate on the
ground satisfying their thirst. Number one must be cared for, if the army were crushed. They were
self-indulgent and never dreamed of denying themselves for the common good; so God sent them
home along with the fellows that were afraid, and with the three hundred He routed the Midianites.
That was one to four hundred. No chance of self-conceit there! They won the victory and became
immortal, but God got the glory.
There are fearful people who cannot face a laugh or a sneer, much less a determined foe. If they
cannot be led to lay hold of the strength and boldness of the Lord, the sooner they quit the field the
better; let them go back to their wives and babies and sweethearts and mothers.
But there are many who are not afraid. They rather enjoy a fight. They would as soon wear uniform,
sell The War Cry, march the streets, face a mob, sing and pray and testify in the presence of
enemies, as stay at home, perhaps rather. But they are self-indulgent! If they like a thing they must
have it, however much it may hurt them and so unfit them for the fight.
I am acquainted with some people who know that tea and cake and candy injure them, but they like
these things, and so they indulge themselves, at the risk of grieving the Spirit of God, and destroying
their health, which is the capital God has given them to do His work with.
I know some people who ought to know that a big supper before a meeting taxes the digestive
organs, draws the blood from the head to the stomach, makes one drowsy and dull and heavy, and
unfits the soul to feel spiritual realities keenly and to stand between God and the people, pleading
with God, in mighty, believing, Elijah -- like prayer, and prevailing with the people in clear testimony
and burning exhortation. But they are hungry, they like such and such things, and so they tickle their
palate with the things they like, punish their stomachs, spoil their meetings, disappoint the starving,
hungry souls of the people, and grieve the Holy Ghost -- all to gratify their appetites.
I know people who cannot watch with Jesus through a half-night of prayer without buns and coffee.
Imagine wrestling Jacob ([[Gen. xxxii. >> Bible:Gen 32]]) stopping, in that desperate all-night of
prayer with the angel for the blessing before meeting his injured brother Esau in the morning, to
have buns and coffee! If his soul had been no more desperate than that, he could have had his buns,
but on his return to wrestle he would have found the angel gone; and next morning, instead of
learning that the angel who had disjointed his thigh, but left his blessing, had also melted Esau's hard
heart, he would have found an angry brother, who would have been ready to carry out his threat of
twenty years before and take his life. But Jacob was desperate. He wanted God's blessing so much
that he forgot all about his body. In fact, he prayed so earnestly that his thigh was put out of joint,
and he did not complain. He had gained the blessing. Glory to God!
When Jesus prayed and agonized and sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in the Garden, His
disciples slept, and He was grieved that they could not watch with Him one hour. And He must be
grieved today that so many cannot, or will not, watch with Him; will not deny their inmost self to win
victory over the powers of Hell and snatch souls from the bottomless pit.
We read of Daniel (Dan. x. 3) that for three long weeks he ate no pleasant food, but gave himself to
prayer during all the time he possibly could, so eager was he to know the will of God and get the
blessing. And he got it. One day God sent an angel to him who said "O man greatly beloved!" and
then told him all he wanted to know.
In Acts xiv. 23 we read that Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted -- not feasted -- that the people
might be blessed before they left a certain corps. They were greatly interested in the soldiers they
left behind them.
We know that Moses, and Elijah, and Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days, and immediately after
mighty works were done.
And so, all mighty men of God have learned to deny themselves and keep their bodies under, and
God has set their souls on fire, helped them to win victory against all odds, and bless the whole
world.
A man should not deny himself food and drink to the injury of his body. But one night of watching
and fasting and praying can starve no one; and the man who is willing to forget his body occasionally
for a short time, in the interest of his soul and the souls of others, will reap blessings which will
amaze himself and all who know him.
But this self-restraint must be constant. It will not do to fast all night and feast all next day. The
Apostle writes of being "temperate in all things" (I Cor. ix. 25); and he might have added, "at all
times."
Again, Gideon's band did some night work, or early morning work. They got ahead of their enemies
by getting up early.
People who indulge their bodies in food and drink also usually indulge them in sleep. They eat late at
night, and sleep heavily and lazily next morning, and usually need a cup of strong tea to clear their
heads. Getting up late, the work of the day crowds upon them, and they have almost no time to
praise the Lord, pray and read the Bible. Then the cares of the day press upon them, and their hearts
get full of things other than the joy of the Lord. Jesus must wait till they have done everything else
before He can catch their ear; and so their day is spoiled.
Oh, that they knew the advantage, the luxury, the hilarious joy of early rising to fight the Midianites!
It seems that Gideon, the captain, was up and about all night, and he roused his people early, and
they had the Midianites all whipped and scattered before day-dawn.
Four hundred devils cannot stand before the man who makes it the rule of his life to get up early to
praise the Lord and plead for God's blessing on his own soul and on the world. They will flee away.
John Fletcher used to mourn if he knew of a laborer getting out to his daily toil before he himself
was up praising God and fighting the devil. He said: "What! does that man's earthly master deserve
more ready service than my Heavenly Master?" Another old saint lamented greatly if he heard the
birds singing before he got up to praise God.
We read that Jesus arose early and went out alone to pray. Joshua got up early in the morning to set
battle in array against Jericho and Ai.
John Wesley went to bed sharp at ten -- unless he had an all-night of prayer -- and got up promptly
at four. Six hours of sleep was all he wanted. And when eighty-two years old, he said he was a
wonder to himself, for during the twelve years previous he had not been sick a day, nor felt weary,
nor lost an hour's sleep, although he traveled thousands of miles each year, in winter and summer,
on horseback and in carriages, and preached hundreds of sermons, and did work that not one man
out of a thousand could do -- all of which he attributed to the blessing of God on his simple, plain
way of living and to a clear conscience. He was a very wise and useful man, and he considered the
matter of such grave importance that he wrote and published a sermon on Redeeming the Time
from sleep.
A Captain wrote me the other day that he had begun to do his praying in the morning when his mind
was fresh and before the cares of the day had got the start of him.
It means more to belong to Gideon's band than most people ever dreamed of; but I have joined it,
glory to God! and my soul is on fire. It is a joy to live and belong to such a company.
Health
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul
prospereth." (3 John 2.)
The soul-winner must take the best care he knows how of his body, yet without everlastingly
coddling and petting and pitying himself. This is his sacred duty. The body is the instrument through
which the mind and the soul work in this world. A good body is as essential to the soul-winner as is a
good instrument to the musician, or a stanch boat to the strong rower, and should be no more
despised and neglected than is his gun by the huntsman or his axe by the woodsman. "Know ye not,"
said St. Paul, "that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" and "if any man defile" (margin
"destroy") "the temple of God, him will God destroy." As the most skillful musician is dependent
upon his instrument for the richness and sweetness of the music he makes, so men, in every walk of
life, are in a large measure limited by and dependent upon the quality of the body through which
their mental and spiritual powers must work.
Most men who have made a mark in the world, though there are some striking exceptions, have had
a splendid basis of physical force and power. When Moses died on Mount Nebo at 120 years of age,
"his eyes were not dimmed nor his natural force abated," and that notwithstanding the fact that for
forty years he had had the tremendous task of of organizing, legislating for, judging and ruling a
great nation of slaves just delivered from 400 years of bondage and wandering like sheep in a
mountainous wilderness. Paul must have had a robust constitution and fairly good health to have
endured the stonings and whippings, imprisonments and shipwrecks, hungerings and thirstings,
fighting with fierce beasts and contentions with yet fiercer men, besides the care of all the churches
which fell to his lot daily.
John Wesley was a little man, weighing only about 120 pounds, but his health was superb, and
seems to have been due not so much to natural vigor of constitution, though, doubtless he had that,
as to the regular habits and healthful plan of living which he adopted. He was one of nineteen
children, and his father was a poor clergyman. For several years he had nothing to eat but bread,
which may have accounted for his small size, but which he himself said probably laid the foundations
of good health which he afterward enjoyed. It must have been whole-wheat bread, however, and
not the white, starchy stuff of modern bakers. In after years he always ate sparingly, and only ate a
few articles of food at any one meal. He lived much out of doors, preached almost daily and
sometimes several times a day in the open air. At the age of 73 he makes this remarkable entry in his
journal: "I am 73 years old and far abler to preach than I was at three and twenty. What natural
means has God used to produce so wonderful an effect?
1. "Continual exercise and change of air by traveling about 4,000 miles a year." (It is well to
remember that he did his traveling on horseback and in a buggy through winter's storms and
summer's heat.) "
2. Constant rising at four o'clock.
3. The ability, if ever I want, of sleeping immediately.
4. The never losing a night's sleep in my life." (He mentions several all nights of prayer in his
journal, however.) "
5. Two violent fevers and two deep consumptions. These, it is true, were rough medicines, but
they were of admirable service, causing my flesh to come again as the flesh of a little child.
6. May I add, lastly, evenness of temper? I feel, I grieve, but by the grace of God I fret at
nothing, but still the help that is done upon the earth God doeth it Himself; and this He
doeth in answer to many prayers."
A similar entry was made in his journal in 1782. He says: "I have entered into my eightieth year, but,
blessed be God! my time is not 'labor and sorrow.' I find no more pain or bodily infirmity than at five
and twenty."
And beside the reason given above he adds: "This I will impute, first, to the power of God, fitting me
for what He calls me to do, and, second, to my constant preaching, particularly in the morning." The
morning sermon was preached at five o'clock in the summer and six o'clock in the winter.
Young people are usually prodigal of their health and strength, and nature will allow them to make
large drafts upon these treasures, but keeps strict account, and will surely require interest and
principal in due time. It is a rather remarkable fact that often those who have had poor health in
youth so learn to take care of themselves and obey the laws of health and not impose upon their
bodies, that they outlast and outwork many who started out with a greater physical capital.
Those who desire good health, long life and a cheerful old age should live simply and regularly; they
should seek enough sleep and at the same time be careful not to take too much sleep. Mr. Wesley
could get along with six hours' sleep at night, though he had the happy faculty of taking naps
through the day, even sleeping on horseback. Napoleon frequently got along with three hours' sleep,
but General Grant said that when in the midst of his heaviest campaigns he required nine hours. I
have heard General Booth say that he needed eight hours at least. Women usually need at least an
hour more of sleep than men. No rule can be laid down to fit every case, however, so that the soulwinner who is a conscientious man must find out for himself what is best for himself, make his own
rule and keep it religiously as unto the Lord.
There is a danger of lying in bed too long as well as too short a time. The Duke of Wellington said:
"When you find that you want to turn over, you ought to turn out." Lying in bed relaxes the whole
system, and if indulged in to excess tends to a general weakening of the system. George Mueller, the
great philanthropist of Bristol Orphanage fame, found the nerves of his head weak and painful, and
thought to strengthen them by taking a nap after dinner each day, but instead of getting stronger
they got weaker, and he suffered increasing pain. He finally decided that the relaxation of sleep
produced the weakness, and substituted a cold bath for his head, and found immediate and
increasing benefit from it.
Sleep should be taken in a room that is as well ventilated in winter as in summer. All good physicians
and hygienists insist upon this, and also that one should not sleep in any garment worn during the
day.
Benjamin Franklin declared that he had made a great discovery. He discovered that the sun came up
in the morning. He thought that it would be a great financial saving to the world if people could only
be brought to recognize this fact, and instead of turning night into day by artificial light, should go to
bed early and get up with the sun. No doubt there would be many dollars saved and also much
nervous energy. We have fallen on evil days, however, and it is not likely we shall ever get back to
the habits of our forefathers and go to bed with the birds. The soul-winner, though, ought
conscientiously to go to bed as quickly as possible after meeting. This can be done, unless he
foolishly prefers to sit up and indulge in small talk and late suppers, in which case, if he does not
destroy his health, he will at least greatly injure it and cripple his soul-saving power.
Exercise is also very necessary for health. A Salvation Army officer who does the regulation amount
of visiting, WAR CRY selling and open-air meetings will get a great deal of exercise in the walking
done, and if he throws back his shoulders and breathes deeply, will require very little additional
exercise. But as the human body, like a chain, is not stronger than at its weakest point, a little
general systematic exercise is useful to keep every organ of the body in good health and vigor.
Caughey went to England, and in six years saw 20,000 sinners saved and 10,000 Christians seeking
holiness, then broke down, and for thirty years or more was an invalid. This may have been God's
will for him, but I can hardly believe it is His will, generally speaking, for soul-winners, and am
persuaded that if Caughey had obeyed the injunction, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,"
and had religiously taken one day in seven for relaxation, refreshment and rest, he need not have
spent those thirty years in retirement. Work is absolutely necessary for health, but so also is rest.
The heart of man works for ninety years and in some instances even longer, but it rests one half the
time. Experience has proved that to rest more than one-seventh of the time is not well, as in that
case the man rusts out, and to rest less than one-seventh results in wearing out.
The man who never relaxes, however religious he may be, is likely to become morose, irritable,
impatient and a source of anxiety and perplexity to his dearest friends; or become melancholy and
full of gloom, get into the dumps, and doubt his call to preach.
There is a legend that when the Apostle John was nearly 100 years of age, he was visited by a man
who was anxious to see the beloved disciple of the Lord. The man found the old apostle playing with
some little children, rebuked the aged saint and told him it ill fitted an apostle of the Lord, at his age,
to be indulging in childish games. The old man replied in substance: "A bow that is never unstrung
will lose its power; unloose the string and it retains its vigor; so I relieve the tension of my soul by
indulging in innocent games with the little ones."
The emotions, the sympathies, and every power of mind and soul, and all the nervous energies of
the body have heavy drafts made upon them in soul-saving work, and the mighty tension of the soul
and body at their highest point of efficiency must be entirely relaxed periodically in order to
maintain this efficiency. In other words, there must be rest. I have found that when I get very tired
and am least fit to do anything, that I then feel an imperative necessity for doing something, and
then it is that I must put on the brakes and rest by sheer force of will, if need be. A friend of mine
who is an unusually successful soul-winner, has a very sensible wife, who, when she finds him
nervous and worn, insists upon his going to bed for a whole day and vegetating. The next day he
finds his nervous force restored and is ready for any amount of hard work.
Sir Isaac Holden, the noted English Methodist, was a very delicate little man, but by careful attention
to the laws of diet, ventilation of room, etc., lived to be ninety years of age. Mr. Stead says of him:
"It was his way when ill to nurse his strength by keeping silent." Few people realize the waste of
physical force there is in constant small talk.
"Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," said Paul. Eating and
drinking do not seem to have anything to do with soul-saving, but nevertheless they have. "Threefourths of the diseases that Americans are afflicted with," said a recent writer, "can be traced to
improper eating and drinking." "The fewer the sweetmeats, the sweeter the temper. If you doubt it
and have a bad temper, my friend, let me implore you to try it," wrote a wise hygienist.
Several years ago a friend took me to visit Neal Dow, "the Father of Prohibition," who was then over
ninety years of age, and in good health. My friend asked him the secret of his long life and splendid
health. The old man replied: "First, I didn't sow any wild oats in my youth; I never used tobacco nor
whisky, nor stimulants of any kind. Second, I have always gone to bed early, slept well and gotten up
early. Third, I have always taken an active interest in public morals and in the welfare of my fellow
men. Fourth, I never eat anything that I have found out by experience hurts me. I am very fond of
baked beans, but they do me harm, therefore, I do not eat them." Baked beans may not hurt
everybody, but a soul-winner who puts God's interests and that of other souls before his own
pleasure, ought to show the good sense of Neal Dow, and not eat anything that hurts him, however
much he may like it.
I know a minister who was afflicted with gastritis. He wanted some meat for supper; it was on the
table in the form of mince pie. He ought to have known, and probably did, that with the kind of
stomach he had, mince pie was no diet for him, but he liked it. He ate it, and he nearly died that
night.
Rich, fatty suppers should not be eaten. Cold bread is preferable to hot bread. It is wise to follow a
rule of Gladstone's: "Give thirty-two bites to every mouthful," that is, give every tooth a taste.
Rev. Daniel Waldo once said: "I am an old man now; I have seen nearly a century. Do you want to
know how to grow old slowly and happily? Let me tell you. Always eat slowly, masticate well, go to
your occupation smiling, keep a good nature and temper everywhere."
Dr. Hanaford in writing to a public singer who was afflicted with catarrh and sore throat, said: "I
attribute a part of the trouble to using rich pastry, often a prominent cause of catarrh. I suspect in
you the too free use of sugar, confectionery, salt and spices. I am fully convinced that a large per
cent of the sore throats, inflamed eyes and nasal passages, and the like, so often attributed to colds,
are due to stomach derangement resulting from large quantities of common food, and the too free
use of such heating things as sweets, fats and oils and starches, fine flour being prominent"
Here are some short rules for one who wants good health:
Don't worry. Paul says: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all
understanding shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus."
"Never despair. Lost hope is a fatal disease. One of the fruits of the Spirit is hope."
Work like a man, but don't worry yourself to death.
Court the fresh air day and night
Don't overeat. Don't starve. "Let your moderation be known unto all men."
"Feed a cold, and you will have to starve a fever."
Don't forget that "Cleanliness is next to godliness."
Finally. If you have poor health and a broken constitution, don't despair. Baxter, one of the mightiest
men of God that ever lived, the St. Paul and the General Booth of his day, was a lifelong invalid and
suffered almost intolerable things, but he praised God for it, for he declared it kept him alive to
eternal things, weaned him from the world and led him constantly to "preach as a dying man to
dying men." David Brainerd, the fragrance of whose holy life and apostolic labors and self-denial
have filled and inspired the church for almost two centuries, died of consumption before he was
thirty years of age. But few men in health and strength have been so used of God as he was in his
weakness.
Personally I have suffered much from broken health, exhausted nerves and sleepless nights, and at
one time feared that my work was done, but by prayer and care I have been so far restored to health
and strength that I can work six days in the week with all my might, sleep like a kitten, digest my
food fairly well, am full of the joy of the Lord, am happy as a lark and am altogether glad that I am
alive. Hallelujah!
Hindrances To Holiness
God has provided a salvation for us that is perfect in every particular, and that satisfies both the
heart and the mind. It makes its possessor 'more than conqueror' over the world, the flesh and the
devil, and enables him to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven. It is altogether worthy
of its Author. It is a 'great salvation.' It is not a mere set of beliefs, nor a poor pitiful little profession,
but a full, joyous, super-abounding, all-conquering life. Glory to God! This is the more abundant life.
Jesus said: 'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly' (John
x. 10). Praise the Lord, this life is mine, and has been for fifteen years.
And now, for the sake of those who have not obtained this crowning blessing, I wish to point out
some of the hindrances to its reception and the reason why so few comparatively, have it.
1. Many are ignorant of it. Vast multitudes of professing Christians have never heard of a second
work of the Holy Spirit that purifies the heart and perfects it in live. It is strange to say, an unpopular
theme and is not much spoken of outside Salvation Army Holiness Meetings, and so God could say
today, as He did of old, 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' (Hos. iv. 6). But this
ignorance is due, not altogether to the fact that it is a subject little spoken about, but also because
so few people go to God's Word for their standard of life and experience. It is all written out there so
plain that a fool need not err; but most professors of religion prefer to take their standard from the
people round about them rather than from God's Book. Paul says of such folks; 'But they measuring
themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise' (2 Cor. x.
12). And they never will be wise, unless they cease looking at poor, perishing men and look to Jesus
only. Wisdom is from above, and must be sought from God Himself and from the study of His word,
and not from the conduct of the people about us.
II. Unbelief. Many are familiar with the Word of God, but they have not an appropriating faith. They
read the exceeding great and precious promises, but it never occurs to them that on the fulfillment
of the conditions they can have and will have the things promised. It is said of these people: 'But the
word preached did not profit them. not being mixed with faith in them that heard it' (Heb. iv. 2).
Instead of crying to God to bring their experience up to the standard of the Bible, they explain the
Bible down to the level of their experience, and so never receive the glorious revelation of Jesus to
their hearts and the fullness of grace therein promised.
III. Some, seek the wrong thing. They expect the blessing of full salvation to bring deliverance from
temptations, infirmities, natural consequences of broken laws and the like. I once heard an educated
minister pray, 'Lord save us from our impurities and infirmities.' My heart said 'Amen' to the first
part, but not to the latter. Full salvation delivers always from impurity, but not always from
infirmities in this world. God uses our infirmities to bless us. Paul gloried in his infirmities because,
through them, the power of Christ rested upon him (2 Cor. xii. 9-10). We read also that Jesus was
'touched with the feeling of our infirmities' (Heb. iv. 15).
Infirmities and temptations are incorporated by our Heavenly Father into His educational and
disciplinary for us, and are for our highest good and we need not expect to be entirely free from
them while we are in the body If we were free from them we could not enter into the fellowship of
the sufferings of Jesus, nor sympathize with our brethren, and that would be an immeasurable loss
to us. It is because Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, and was touched with the feeling of
our infirmities, that He is able to sympathize with and succor us when we are tempted (Heb. ii. 18).
And it is only as we enter into the common temptations and trials and are afflicted with the common
infirmities of humanity, that we can be touched with tender sympathy for, and be largely used in
blessing, humanity. Thus, we should not seek for an experience that will save us from these things,
but rather should do as we are told, and 'count it all joy' when we 'fall into divers temptations' (Jas. i.
2).
Nor does this experience of full salvation save us from the natural consequences of broken laws. A
man may be enjoying the fullness of God's salvation but if he ignorantly break the laws of finance or
health he may expect to go into bankruptcy or lose his health as surely as the vilest sinner. And this
does not argue at all at his Heavenly Father is displeased with him morally, or that he has lost any
measure of his salvation.
Nor does this experience enable us to please everybody and appear perfect to all men. Our hearts
may be as pure as the heart of an archangel, and we may love with a perfect love, and yet our
conduct may be misjudged and we be accounted by others as being anything but fully saved. The
brethren of Jesus did not believe on Him (John vii. 5) and His critics called Him a glutton and a winebibber. His servants will hardly be above their Master, but should rejoice to be as their Master.
There are two reasons for this. One is that we 'have this treasure in earthen vessels' (2 Cor. iv. 7) -that is, the love of God in our hearts may be perfect and His salvation complete, but because of our
natural infirmities we may not be able to fully express in our conduct the holy affections and tender
sympathies of our hearts. Just as clear water in a blue bottle will look blue, or in a yellow bottle will
look yellow, so the pure, crystal-like salvation of God in our hearts takes on the color of our earthen
vessel.
The other reason is that, just as when you look at a landscape through smoked glasses everything
looks smoky, so the eyesight of many people is so distorted and blurred by sin, by prejudice, by
unbelief, that even if our conduct be perfect, they, looking at us through the medium of their own
sinfulness. will criticize us as they criticized our Lord before us. This being so, we need not expect the
experience of full salvation to make us appear perfect in the eyes of men, but must content
ourselves with having a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man, and in having His
assurance that our ways please Him.
Others are seeking a sort of 'third heaven' experience, similar to what Paul had, in which they will
see visions, hear voices, be visited by angels and constantly have tumultuous and rapturous joy. Like
Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, they say, 'Master, it is good for us to be here,' (Luke ix. 33),
not knowing that Jesus wants to lead them down into the valley to cast out devils. Far be it from me
to discourage any soul from seeking any experience mentioned in the Bible! Has not my own heart
almost burst with fullness of joy and love? and cannot I, in the Spirit, say with Paul, 'Have I not seen
Jesus Christ our Lord?' (I Cor. ix. 1). Truly, the revelation Jesus gave me of Himself is unutterable, but
I got this revelation not by seeking some marvelous experience, but by humbling myself to walk with
Him, to wait for His counsel, to do His will and to believe what He said. Then He came to me and
took up His abode in my heart. He has shown me, however, that although I am to have His joy,
holiness does not consist so much in rapturous, sublimated experiences, as in lowly, humble,
patient, trustful love.
But while some people put the experience up among the clouds, others leave it down among the
fogs, and so fail to get it. They think that it consists in simply being free from condemnation,
forgetting that a justified man is not condemned. For instance, a man has been condemned about
the use of tobacco, or a woman about the feathers in her hat. Each feels that such things are not
consistent with a Christian life, and, after a struggle with pride and habit, yields and casts away the
offending thing. Of course there is now no longer any condemnation, and that soul feels justified;
but it may not yet be sanctified, and it is not, unless, when the tobacco and feathers went out and
off, the Holy Ghost came in, destroying every root of bitterness and sin out of the heart. Holiness is a
thing of the heart; it is the purging away of the dross of the soul; it is the renewing of our whole
nature so that we are made 'partakers of the Divine nature' (2 Pet. i. 4). It makes 'the tree good.'
My little eight-year-old boy had the nature of holiness revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. Some time
ago he professed to get saved, and I think he did get saved, though he is not so saintly as I feel
confident he yet will be. One evening, not long since, however, he said to his mother: 'Mamma, I'm
tired of living this way.' His mamma, of course, queried, 'Why, darling, what's the matter now?' 'I
want to be good all the time,' said George. 'You tell me to go and do things, and I go and do them,
but I feel angry inside. I want to be good all the time.' The next morning, as soon as he woke up, he
said, 'Mamma, I want you to put that text, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," in my text book.'
And then when he prayed he pleaded the prayer of the royal Psalmist,' Search me, O God, and know
my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me' (Ps. cxxxix. 2324).
Now, holiness makes one good all the time; not only in conduct, but also in character; not only in
outward act, but also in inward thought and wish and feeling, and those who are content with
anything below this, will miss the blessing.
IV. Another hindrance is the failure to rightly 'consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus who was faithful . . .' (Heb. iii. 1-2), and to appropriate the grace He offers us.
The other day an earnest Christian woman was complaining to me at her breakfast table about her
pride and her temper, which she had found unconquerable. I suggested that she should consider
Jesus, and asked her how she could be proud in the presence of His deep humility. I requested her to
imagine Him, the King of kings, the Lord of life and glory, humbling Himself and meekly carrying His
Cross up Calvary, amid the mocking crowd, while she walked by His side or followed His train in
pride, with high and haughty head. She saw the point, and while we were at family prayers, she said
she could never forget that lesson in humility. If people would but study the life and spirit of Jesus,
and gladly let His mind be in them, the subject of holiness would be greatly simplified. Paul said: 'Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus' (Phil. ii. 5), and then he goes on to show us that
this mind is one of deepest humility, which led Jesus to empty Himself of His glory and humble
Himself to die on the Cross as the vilest of men, and it is this humble, self-forgetful, loving mind Paul
pleads with us to have.
Holiness is not some lofty experience, unattainable except to those who can leap to the stars, but it
is rather a lowly experience, which lowly men in the lowly walks of life can share with Jesus, by
letting His mind be in them. Bless God for ever!
Hindrances To Obtaining The Blessing
Holiness has not legs and does not go walking about visiting idle people, as a lazy Christian seemed
to think who told me that he thought the experience would "come" to him "some day." A sister aptly
remarked: "He might as well expect the hall to come to him."
The fact is, there are hindrances in the way of holiness with most people; but you that are seeking
the experience must put from you, for ever, the thought that any of these hindrances are in God, or
in your circumstances, for they are not, but are altogether in yourselves. This being true, it is the
extreme of folly to sit down with indifference and quietly wait, with folded hands, for the blessed
experience to come to you. Be sure of this, it will not come, any more than a crop of potatoes will
come to the lazy fellow who sits in the shade and never lifts his hoe, nor does a stroke of labor
through all the spring and summer months. The rule in the spiritual world is this: "If any would not
work, neither should he eat," and, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. vi. 7).
Therefore, the part of wisdom is to begin at once, by a diligent study of God's word, much secret
prayer, unflinching self-examination, rigid self-denial, hearty obedience to all present light and a
faithful attendance at the meetings of God's people, to find out what these hindrances are, and, by
the grace of God, to put them away, though it cost as much pain as to cut off a right hand or to pluck
out a right eye.
Now, the Bible tells us -- and the testimony and experience of all holy people agree with the Bible -that the two great practical hindrances to holiness are: First, imperfect consecration; and, second,
imperfect faith.
Before a watchmaker can clean and regulate my watch, I must give it unreservedly into his hands.
Before a doctor can cure me, I must take his medicine in the manner and at the time he requires.
Before a captain can navigate me across the trackless ocean, I must get on board his ship and stay
there. Just so, if I would have God cleanse and regulate my heart with all its affections, if I would
have Him cure my sin-sick soul, if I would have Him take me safely across the ocean of time into that
greater ocean of eternity, I must put myself fully into His hands and stay there. In other words, I
must do what He tells me to. I must be perfectly consecrated to Him.
A Captain knelt with her soldiers, and sang: "Anywhere with Jesus I will go," adding: "Anywhere but
to H____, Lord." Her consecration was imperfect, and today she is out of Salvation Army work. There
were some things she would not do for Jesus, and therefore Jesus would not cleanse or keep her.
The other day, a poor backslider told me that he knew, at one time, that he ought to give up
tobacco. God wanted him to do so, but he held on to it and used it secretly. His imperfect
consecration kept him from holiness and led to his downfall, and today he walks the streets a
common drunkard, on the open road to Hell.
In his heart was secret disloyalty, and God could not cleanse or keep him. God wants perfect loyalty
in the secret of your own heart, and He demands it, not only for His glory, but also for your good;
for, if you can understand it, God's highest glory and your highest good are one and the same thing.
This consecration consists in a perfect putting off of your own will, your disposition, temper, desires,
likes and dislikes, and a perfect putting on of Christ's will, Christ's disposition, temper, desires, likes
and dislikes. In short, perfect consecration is a putting off self and a putting on Christ; a giving up
your own will in all things and receiving the will of Jesus instead. This may seem well-nigh impossible
and very disagreeable to your unsanctified heart; but if you mean business for eternity, and will
intelligently and unflinchingly look at this strait gate through which so few enter, and tell the Lord
that you want to go through that way, though it cost you your life, the Holy Spirit will soon show you
that it is not only possible, but easy and delightful thus to yield yourself to God.
The second hindrance in the way of him who would be holy is imperfect faith. When Paul wrote to
his corps of Salvationists in Thessalonica, he praised them for being "ensamples to all that believe in
Macedonia and Achaia," and added, "in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad" (I
Thess. i. 7, 8). That was the best believing corps in all Europe, and so real and sturdy was their faith
that they could endure much persecution, as we see from chaps. [[i. 6 >> Bible:1 Thes 1.6]], [[ii. 14
>> Bible:1 Thes 2.14]], and [[iii.[2-5 >> Bible:1 Thes 3.2-5]]; so that Paul says, "We were comforted
over you, in all our affliction and distress by your faith" (iii. 7 >> Bible:1 Thes 3.7]]). Strong faith that,
but it was not perfect, for Paul adds, "Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your
face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith" (iii. 10 >> Bible:1 Thes 3.10]]). And
because of their imperfect faith they were not sanctified; so we find the Apostle praying, "And the
very God of peace sanctify you wholly" (v. 23 >> Bible:1 Thes 3.23]]).
All who are born of God and have the witness of His Spirit to their justification know full well that it
was not through any good works of their own, nor by growing into it, that they were saved, but it
was "by grace through faith" (Eph. ii. 8). But very many of these dear people seem to think that we
are to grow into sanctification, or are to get it by our own works. But the Lord settled that question,
and made it as plain as words can make it, when He told Paul that He sent him to the Gentiles to
"open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in Me" (Acts xxvi. 18). Not by works, nor by growth, but by faith were they to be made holy.
If you will be holy you must come to God "with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. x. 22),
and then, if you will wait patiently before Him, the wonder-work shall be done.
Consecration and faith are matters of the heart, and the trouble with most people is there; but, no
doubt, there are some people whose trouble is with the head. They fail to get the blessing because
they are seeking something altogether too small.
Holiness is a great blessing. It is the renewal of the whole man in the image of Jesus. It is the utter
destruction of all hatred, envy, malice, impatience, covetousness, pride, lust, fear of man, love of
ease, love of human admiration and applause, love of splendor, shame of the Cross, self-will and the
like. It makes its possessors "meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. xi. 29), as Jesus was; patient, kind, full
of forbearance. pitiful, full of tender compassion and love; full of faith, benevolent and zealous in
every good word and work.
Now I have heard some people claim the blessing of holiness because they had given up tobacco,
feathers or something of that sort; while they were still impatient, unkind or absorbed with the cares
of this life. The result was, they soon got discouraged, concluded there was no such blessing, and
became bitter opponents of the doctrine of holiness. Their trouble was in seeking too small a
blessing. They gave up certain outward things, but the inward self-life was still uncrucified. The gold
miner washes the dirt off his ore, but he cannot wash the dross out of it. The fire must do that, and
then the gold will be pure. So the laying aside of outward things is necessary; but only the baptism of
the Holy Ghost and of fire can purify the secret desires and affections of the heart and make it holy.
And for this you must earnestly seek by perfect consecration and perfect faith.
There are other people who fail to obtain the blessing because they are seeking something
altogether distinct from holiness. They want a vision of Heaven, of balls of fire, of some angel; or
they want an experience that will save them from all trials and temptations and from all possible
mistakes and infirmities; or they want a power that will make sinners fall like dead men when they
speak.
They overlook the verse which declares that "the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (I Tim. i. 5); which teaches us that holiness
is nothing more than a pure heart filled with perfect love, a clear conscience toward God and man,
which comes from a faithful discharge of duty and simple faith without any hypocrisy. They overlook
the fact that purity and perfect love are so Christ-like and so rare in this world, that they are in
themselves a great, great blessing.
They overlook the fact that while Jesus was a great Man, King of kings and Lord of lords, He was also
a lowly Carpenter and "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant ...
and humbled Himself" (Phil. ii. 7, 8). They overlook the fact that they are to be as Jesus was, "in this
present world," and that "this present world" is the place of His humiliation, where He is "despised
and rejected of men"; a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"; with "no (outward) beauty
that we should desire Him" (Isa. liii. 2, 3). "In this present world" His only beauty is that inward
"beauty of holiness" (I Chron. xvi. 29), that humble spirit of gentleness and love, that "ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price" (I Pet. iii. 4).
Is your soul hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of perfect love? Do you want to be like
Jesus? Are you prepared to suffer with Him and to be "hated of all men for His name's sake" (Matt.
x. 22)? Then, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset" you (Heb. xii. 1);
present your body "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service"
(Rom. xii. 1), and "run with patience the race which is set before you, looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of your faith" (Heb. xii. 1, 2). Come to the Lord with the same simple faith that you did
when you were saved; lay your case before Him, ask Him to take away all uncleanness and to perfect
you in love, and then believe that He does it. If you will then resist all Satan's temptations to doubt,
you will soon find all your hindrances gone, and yourself rejoicing "with joy unspeakable and full of
glory" (I Pet. i. 8).
"The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who
also will do it" (I Thess. v. 23, 24).
Holiness -- How To Get It
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea iv. 6).
"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent" (John xvii. 3).
Said an old professor of over eighty years, in a certain holiness meeting: "I believe in holiness; but I
don't think it is all got at once, as you people say. I believe we grow into it."
This is a very common mistake, second only to that which makes death the saviour from sin and the
giver of holiness, and it is one which has kept tens of thousands out of the blessed experience. It
does not recognize the exceeding sinfulness of sin (Rom. vii. 13), nor does it know the simple way of
faith by which alone sin can be destroyed.
Entire sanctification is at once a process of subtraction and addition.
First, there are laid aside "all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings"
(I Pet. ii. 1); in fact, every evil temper and selfish desire that is unlike Christ, and the soul is cleansed.
In the very nature of the case this cannot be by growth, for this cleansing takes something from the
soul, while growth always adds something to it. The Bible says, "Now ye also put off all these; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth" (Col. iii. 8). The Apostle talks as
though a man were to put these off in much the same way as he would his coat. It is not by growth
that a man puts off his coat, but by an active, voluntary and immediate effort of his whole body. This
is subtraction.
But the Apostle adds: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering" (Col. iii. 12). No more does a man put on
his coat by growth, but by a similar effort of his whole body.
A man may grow in his coat, but not into his coat; he must first get it on. Just so, a man may "grow in
grace," but not into grace. A man may swim in water, but not into water.
It is not by growth that you get the weeds out of your garden, but by pulling them up and vigorously
using your hoe and rake.
It is not by growth that you expect that dirty little darling, who has been tumbling around with the
dog and cat in the backyard, to get clean. He might grow to manhood and get dirtier every day. It is
by washing and much pure water that you expect to make him at all presentable. So the Bible speaks
of "Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood" (Rev. i. 5). "The Blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John i. 7). And it is just this we sing about:
To get this blest washing I all things forgo;
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
There is a Fountain filled with Blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Those facts were told to the old brother mentioned above, and he was asked if, after sixty years of
Christian experience, he felt any nearer the priceless gift of a clean heart than when he first began to
serve Christ. He honestly confessed that he did not.
He was asked if he did not think sixty years were quite long enough to prove the growth theory, if it
were true. He thought they were, and so was asked to come forward and seek the blessing at once.
He did so, but did not win through that night, and the next night came forward again. He had
scarcely knelt five minutes before he stood up, and, stretching out his arms, while the tears ran
down his cheeks and his face glowed with Heaven's light, he cried out, "As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath He removed my "transgressions from" me (Ps. ciii. 12). For some time after, he
lived to witness to both small and great this wondrous grace of God in Christ, and then went in
triumph to the bosom of that God whom without holiness no man can see.
"But," said a man to me, as I urged him to seek holiness at once, "I got this when I was converted.
God didn't do a half work with me when He saved me. He did a thorough job."
"True, God did a thorough work, brother. When He converted you, He forgave all your sins, every
one of them. He did not leave half of them unforgiven, but blotted them all out as a thick cloud to be
remembered against you no more for ever. He also adopted you into His family and sent His Holy
Spirit into your heart to tell you that blessed bit of heavenly news; and that information made you
feel happier than to have been told that you had fallen heir to a million dollars, or been elected
governor of a state, for this made you an heir of God and a joint heir of all things with our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Glory to God! It is a great thing to be converted. But, brother, are you saved
from all impatience, anger and like sins of the heart? Do you live a holy life?"
"Well, you see, I don't look at this matter exactly as you do," said the man. "I do not believe we can
be saved from all impatience and anger in this life." And so, when pressed to the point, he begged
the question, and really contradicted his own assertion that he had got holiness when he was
converted. As a friend writes, he "would rather deny the sickness than take the medicine."
The fact is, that neither the Bible nor experience proves that a man gets a clean heart when he is
converted, but just the contrary. He does have his sins forgiven; he does receive the witness of
adoption into God's own family; he does have his affections changed. But before he has gone very
far he will find his patience mixed up with some degree of impatience, his kindness mixed with
wrath, his meekness mixed with anger (which is of the heart and may not be seen of the world, but
of which he is painfully conscious), his humility mixed with pride, his loyalty to Jesus mixed with a
shame of the Cross, and, in fact, the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh, in greater or less
degree, are all mixed up together.
But this will be done away with when he gets a clean heart, and it will take a second work of grace,
preceded by a whole-hearted consecration and as definite an act of faith as that which preceded his
conversion, to get it.
After conversion, he finds his old sinful nature much like a tree which has been cut down, but the
stump still left. The tree causes no more bother, but the stump will still bring forth little shoots, if it
is not watched. The quickest and most effective way is to put some dynamite under the stump and
blow it up.
Just so, God wants to put the dynamite of the Holy Ghost (the word "dynamite" comes from the
Greek word "power," in Acts i. 8) into every converted soul, and for ever do away with that old
troublesome, sinful nature, so that he can truly say, "Old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new" (2 Cor. v. 17).
This is just what God did with the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Nobody will deny that they were
converted before Pentecost, for Jesus Himself had told them to "rejoice, because your names are
written in Heaven" (Luke x. 20), and a man must be converted before his name is written in Heaven.
And again He said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John xvii. 16), and this
could not be said of unconverted men. So we must conclude that they were converted, yet did not
have the blessing of a clean heart until the day of Pentecost.
That they did receive it there, Peter declares about as plainly as it is possible to do in Acts xv. 8, 9,
where he says: "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost,
even as He did with us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."
Before Peter got this great blessing he was filled with presumption one day and with fear the next.
One day he declared that, "Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be
offended ... Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee" (Matt. xxvi. 33, 35). And shortly
after, when the mob came to take his Master he boldly attacked them with the sword; but in a few
hours, when his blood had cooled a little and the excitement was over, he was so frightened by a
maid that he cursed and swore, and denied his Master three times.
He was like a good many soldiers, who are tremendously brave when there is a "big go" and
everybody is favorable, or who can even stand an attack from persecutors, where muscle and
physical courage can come to the front; but who have no moral courage to wear the uniform alone
in their shop where they have to face the scorn of their mates and the jeers of the street urchin.
These are soldiers who love dress parade, but do not want hard fighting at the front of the battle.
But Peter got over that on the day of Pentecost. He received the power of the Holy Ghost coming
into him. He obtained a clean heart, from which perfect love had cast out all fear; and then, when
shut in prison for preaching on the street and commanded by the supreme court of the land not to
do so any more, he answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more
than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts
iv. 19, 20). And then, just as soon as he was released, into the street he went again to preach the
blessed good news of an uttermost salvation.
You could not scare Peter after that nor could he be lifted up with spiritual pride either. For one day,
after he had been used of God to heal a lame man and "the people ran together ... greatly
wondering," Peter saw it and said, "Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so
earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God ...
of our fathers hath glorified His Son Jesus ... And His name through faith in His name hath made this
man strong ... yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness" (Acts iii. 12, 13,
16).
Nor did the dear old apostle have any of that ugly temper he showed when he cut off that poor
fellow's ear the night Jesus was arrested, but armed himself with the mind that was in Christ (I Pet.
iv. 1) and followed Him who left us an example that we should follow His steps.
"But we cannot have what Peter obtained on the day of Pentecost," wrote someone to me recently.
However, Peter himself, in that great sermon which he preached that day, declared that we can, for
he says: "Ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you" Jews, to whom I am talking -"and to your children," and not to you only, but "to all that are afar off" -- nineteen hundred years
from now -- even as many as the Lord our God shall call," or convert (Acts ii. 38, 39).
Any child of God can have this, if he will give himself wholly to God and ask for it in faith. "Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find ... If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him"
(Luke xi. 9, 13).
Seek Him with all your heart, and you shall find Him; you shall indeed, for God says so, and He is
waiting to give Himself to you.
A dear young fellow, a candidate for Salvation Army work, felt his need of a clean heart, went home
from the holiness meeting, took his Bible, knelt down by his bed, read the second chapter of Acts,
and then told the Lord that he would not get up from his knees till he got a clean heart, full of the
Holy Ghost. He had not prayed long before the Lord came suddenly to him and filled him with the
glory of God; and his face did shine, and his testimony did burn in people's hearts after that!
You can have it, if you will go to the Lord in the Spirit and with the faith of that brother; and the Lord
will do for you "exceeding abundantly above all that" you "ask or think, according to the power that
worketh ... in us (Eph. iii. 20).
Holiness -- What Is It?
"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom, of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. vii. 21).
Now, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification ... For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness" (I Thess. iv. 3, 7). Without holiness, "no man can see the Lord" (Heb.
xii. 14). Therefore, "Be ye holy!" (I Pet. i. 16). Any one who reads his Bible in sincerity, "not handling
the word of God deceitfully" (2 Cor. iv. 2), will see that it plainly teaches that God expects His people
to be holy, and that we must be holy to be happy and useful here and to enter the kingdom of
Heaven hereafter.
When once a true man is convinced that the Bible teaches these facts and that this is God's will, he
will next inquire, "What is this holiness? When can I get it, and how?"
There is much difference of opinion on all these points, although the Bible is simple and plain on
each one to every honest seeker after truth.
The Bible tells us that holiness is perfect deliverance from sin. "The Blood of Jesus Christ ... cleanseth
us from ALL sin" (I John 1:7). Not one bit of sin is left, for your old man is crucified with Him, "that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. vi. 6), for we are
"made free from sin" (Rom. vi. 18).
And we are henceforth to reckon ourselves "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus
Christ our Lord" (Rom. vi. 11).
The Bible also tells us that it is "perfect love," which must, in the very nature of the case, expel from
the heart all hatred and every evil temper contrary to love, just as you must first empty a cup of all
oil that may be in it before you can fill it with water.
Thus, holiness is a state in which there is no anger, malice, blasphemy, hypocrisy, envy, love of ease,
selfish desires for good opinion of men, shame of the Cross, worldliness, deceit, debate, contention,
covetousness, nor any evil desire or tendency in the heart.
It is a state in which there is no longer any doubt or fear.
It is a state in which God is loved and trusted with a perfect heart.
But though the heart may be perfect, the head may be very imperfect, and through the
imperfections of his head -- of his memory, his judgment, his reason -- the holy man may make many
mistakes. Yet God looks at the sincerity of his purpose, at the love and faith of his heart -- not at the
imperfections of the head -- and calls him a holy man.
Holiness is not absolute perfection, which belongs to God only; nor is it angelic perfection; nor is it
Adamic perfection -- for, no doubt, Adam had a perfect head as well as a perfect heart before he
sinned against God. But it is Christian perfection -- such perfection and obedience of the heart as a
poor fallen creature, aided by almighty power and boundless grace, can give.
It is that state of heart and life which consists in being and doing all the time -- not by fits and starts,
but steadily -- just what God wants us to be and do.
Jesus said, "Make the tree good, and his fruit good" (Matt. xii. 33). Now, an apple-tree is an appletree all the time, and can bring forth nothing but apples. So holiness is that perfect renewal of our
nature that makes us essentially good, so that we continually bring forth fruit unto God -- "the fruit
of the Spirit," which "is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance" (Gal. v. 22, 23), with never a single work of the flesh grafted in among this heavenly
fruitage.
Glory to God! It is possible, right down here, where sin and Satan have once ruined us, for the Son of
God thus to transform us, by enabling us to "put off the old man" with his deeds, and to "put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. iv. 22, 24), being
"renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him"
But some objector says, "Yes, all you say is true, only I don't believe we can be holy till the hour of
death. The Christian life is a warfare, and we must fight the good fight of faith until we die, and then
I believe God will give us dying grace."
A great many honest Christians hold exactly this view, and hence put forth no real effort to "stand
perfect and complete in all the (present) will of God" (Col. iv. 12) for them. And though they pray
daily, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matt. vi. 10), yet they do not
believe it is possible for them to do the will of God, and so they really make Jesus the author of a
vain prayer, which it is only idle mockery to repeat.
But it is as easy for me to be and to do what God wants me to be and to do in this life, every day, as
it is for Gabriel to be and do what God wants of him. If this is not so, then God is neither good nor
just in His requirements of me.
God requires me to love and serve Him with all my heart, and Gabriel can do no more than that. And
by God's grace it is as easy for me as for the archangel. Besides, God promises me that if I will return
unto the Lord and obey His voice ... with all my heart, and with all my soul, that He will circumcise
my heart ... to love Him with all my heart, and all my soul (Deut. xxx. 2, 6). And again, He promises
that He would "grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve
Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life" (Luke i. 74, 75).
This promise in itself ought to convince any honest soul that God means us to be holy in this life.
The good fight of faith is a fight to retain this blessing against the assaults of Satan, the fogs of
doubt, and the attacks of an ignorant and unbelieving church and world.
It is not a fight against ourselves after we are sanctified, for Paul expressly declares that "we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places" (Eph. vi. 12; marginal reading).
Again, in the whole word of God, there is not one sentence to prove that this blessing is not received
before death; and surely, it is only by accepting from God's hands His offered living grace that we
can hope to be granted dying grace.
But the Bible declares (2 Cor. ix. 8) that "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye,
always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" -- not at death but in this
life, when grace is needed and where our good works are to be done.
Holiness And Duty
If holiness delivers us from worry, it increases the sense of duty and of personal responsibility. It was
the holiness of His heart that led the twelve-year-old boy Jesus to say to His mother, 'Wist ye not
that I must be about My Father's business?' To Him the world was not a playground only, but a field
of labor. His Father had given Him work to do, and He must do it before the night came in which no
man can work.
By this I do not understand that He was continually engaged in ceaseless, grinding toil, with no hours
of recreation and rest. 'We know that in after years He went away with His disciples to rest awhile.
He took time to enjoy the flowers, to consider the lilies, to watch the sparrows, to view the grass of
the field. But He neglected no duty; He did not slight or shirk His work, He was no trifler; He was
honest; what He did He did well, and with His might, And this spirit always accompanies true
holiness of heart.
Most people divide the work of the world into what they call sacred and secular work, Preaching,
praying, reading the Bible, conducting meetings, and the like, they consider to be sacred work; but
washing and ironing and learning, building houses and making shoes, practicing law or medicine,
working in mines and mills, in shops and stores, and on shipboard, that they call secular work.
But why make such a distinction? It is not the work, but the heart and purpose behind the work, that
God looks at. The Salvation Army Officer, or minister, or missionary who works for the salary he gets,
or for the social position he enjoys, or for an opportunity for study and travel and personal culture,
has a secular heart, and makes his work secular; while the farmer or lawyer, washerwoman or cook,
shoemaker or miner, or stenographer who has a holy heart, and who does good work as unto the
Lord, makes his or her work sacred.
The time was when a man built his own house, made his own shoes, sheared his sheep, and gave the
wool to his wife, who dyed it, spun and wove it, and made it into clothes for her household. He
raised corn and meat, and prepared it for food, and so they lived independent of the world on the
fruits of their own toil. But times have changed. Society is now a great organism in which there are a
thousand different occupations, and people must needs divide the work between them. And now
God wants each to be faithful and holy and happy where he is, doing his own work faithfully as Jesus
would do it.
A poor German woman in Massachusetts used to say, 'I am a scrubbing-woman and a missionary by
the grace of God.' She went to the homes of the rich to scrub and clean, and she testified of Jesus
everywhere she went. She scrubbed to pay expenses, and preached the Gospel, and she scrubbed
well that the Gospel might not be despised or blamed.
They tried to arrest Paul in Damascus after his conversion, but he was let down through a window by
the wall in a basket, and so escaped. Someone has said that possibly one of the early Christians
made the rope that held the basket, and that by making a good rope, he saved Paul's life; and so in
his humble way, without knowing it, helped in all the mighty missionary labors and salvation warfare
of Paul. But what if he had carelessly made a poor rope, that had broken with Paul!
We know not what part of our work God is going to use in His plans for saving the world; therefore,
let it all be good and true.
We are God's tools. He is the Workman. I took an axe to cut down a tree; but I took a tiny gimlet to
bore a hole in a piece of furniture I wished to mend. I could not cut down the tree with the gimlet,
nor bore the hole with the axe, and yet both pieces of work were important. So the Lord has
different kinds of work, for which He must have different kinds of workmen.
The General stirs the world and lifts it towards God. You, perhaps, teach a few ragged boys. Do not
despise your work or be discouraged. You are as important to God as the gimlet was to me. Do your
duty. Do it as though Jesus were in the class you teach, by the bench where you work, in your
kitchen, office, store, or mill. Do it without murmuring. Do it gladly, and He may take it up, and make
it a part of His great plan, long after you have laid it down, as He did the rope which saved Paul.
Never mind what your work is. Moses tended sheep. Jesus was a carpenter. Paul was a tent-maker.
Gideon was a farmer's man. Dorcas was a dressmaker; Martha a housekeeper; Luke a doctor; Joseph
and Daniel were governors and statesmen; in every relation of life and in all duty they were faithful,
or we should not have heard of them.
If you are true, you will 'adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,' you will have the sweet
approval of your own conscience, the smile of God, and however humble your work may have been,
if you are steadfast unto the end, you will some day hear Him say, 'Well done. good and faithful
servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.' Hallelujah!
True promotion which is from God, both in this world and that which is to come, is the reward of
faithfulness over little things and few, as well as over great and many, and if you have the experience
of holiness yon will be faithful.
You must not, however, be anxious about the reward. This is largely deferred into the next world. It
is your duty and mine to be faithful, to be faithful unto death. If reward is delayed, it will be all the
greater when it comes, be assured of that. God will see to it that your treasure which you lay up with
Him bears compound interest. What a surprise to the man who made that rope, if he finds at the
Judgment Day, that he had a share in the wealth piled up by Paul's labors!
There is one part of the reward, however, that is never delayed, that is, happiness and contentment
and God's favor.
In service which Thy love appoints, There are no bonds for me:
My happy heart has learned the truth That makes Thy children free;
A life of self-renouncing love Is a life of liberty.
Holiness And Humility
Those who oppose holiness often say that we who profess it are proud, and that the doctrine tends
to spiritual pride. But the truth is, that holiness goes down to the root of all pride, and digs it up
utterly. A holy man is one who has found himself out, and pronounced judgment against himself,
and comes to Jesus to be made every whit whole. And so long as he keeps the blessing, he is deeply
humble.
God said to Israel by the Prophet Ezekiel, 'Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings
that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your
abominations.'
This is a certain effect of entire sanctification. The sinful heart apologizes for itself, excuses inbred
sin, favors it, argues for it. A man who still has the carnal mind says, 'I think one ought to have a little
pride. I would not give a snap of my finger for a man who had not some temper. A man who will not
stand up for his rights is weak.' And so he excuses, and argues in favor of, the sin in his own heart.
Not so the man who is holy. He remembers his former pride, and loathes himself for it, and longs
and prays to sink deeper and deeper into the infinite ocean of his Saviour's humility, until every trace
and stain of pride are for ever washed away. He remembers his hasty temper, and hates it, and cries
day and night for the perfect meekness of the Lamb of God, who, like a sheep dumb before her
shearers, 'opened not His mouth,' while His enemies worked their fiendish will; and, so far from
smiting back, would not even talk back, but prayed, 'Father, forgive them.'
He sees the beauty of God's holiness, and loves it. He sees the full extent of his former corruption,
and acknowledges and loathes it. Before, he thought man had some natural goodness, but now he
knows and confesses that 'the whole head is sick. and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the
foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.'
(Isaiah i. 5, 6.)
He sees his own evil ways. At one time he thought that there was not one holy man on earth, for he
could see a mote in every man's eye; but now he discovers that there are many holy men, and the
mote which he was sure he saw in his neighbor's eye, he now finds to have been the shadow of the
beam that was in his own eye.
An earnest, sanctified man once said to me, 'There are certain sins I once thought it was morally
impossible for me to commit, but the Holy Spirit has shown me the awful deceitfulness of my heart,
and I now see that before He cleansed me there were in me the seeds of all iniquity, and there is no
sin I might not have committed, and no depth of moral degradation to which I might not have sunk,
but for the restraining grace of God.'
One who has thus seen the plague of his own heart may be cleansed in the precious Blood, and may
have a holy heart, but he will never say to another, 'Stand thou there, for I am holier than thou;' but,
remembering his own former condition, he will point him to the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sins of the world.
True humility makes a person particularly attractive to God, Listen to what Isaiah says, 'Thus saith
the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to
revive the heart of the contrite ones' (Isaiah lvii. 15.)
Jesus said, 'Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted' (Matt. xxii. 12;); and James said, 'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble
(James iv. 6.)
'Do you wish to be great?' asks St. Augustine, 'then begin by being little.'
'Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,' said Jesus, 'the same is greatest' (not
shall be, but 'is greatest') 'in the kingdom of heaven.'
Here are some of the marks of a truly humble person.
1. A truly humble soul does not take offense easily, but is 'pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.' (James iii. 17.)
2. He is not jealous of his position and dignity, or quick to resent what seems to touch them. Before
the disciples were sanctified, they found a man who was casting out devils in the name of Jesus, and
they took offense because he did not follow them; and forbade him. Self is very sensitive. 'But Jesus
said, Forbid him not.' (Mark ix. 39.)
One day the Spirit of the Lord rested on two men in the camp of Israel in the wilderness, and they
prophesied. 'And there ran a young man, and told Moses..... And Joshua,..... the servant of Moses,
said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses' (the meekest of men) 'said unto him, Enviest thou for
my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit
upon them!'
3. A truly humble person does not seek great things for himself, but agrees with Solomon when he
says, 'Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.'
(Prov. xvi. 19.) He rejoices in lowly service, and is more anxious to be faithful to duty and loyal to
principle than to be renowned among men.
The disciples were often disputing among themselves which should be the greatest, but Jesus
washed their feet as an object lesson, and commanded them to become servants of one another, if
they would be great.
4. Humble people are modest in dress. They think more of 'the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit'
than of the clothes they wear. They will endeavor always to be clean and neat, but never fine and
showy.
5. They are also plain and simple in speech. They seek to speak the truth with clearness and accuracy
and in the power of the Holy Spirit, but never with 'great swelling words' and bombast, or with
forced tears and pathos that will arouse admiration for themselves. They never try to show off. To
them it is painful to have people say, 'You are clever,' 'That was a fine speech.' But they are full of
humble, thankful joy when they learn that through their word some sinful soul was saved, some
erring one corrected, or some tempted one delivered. They speak not to please men, but their
Heavenly Master; not to be applauded, but to feed hungry hearts; not to be admired of men, but to
be approved of God.
And, on the other hand, their humility keeps them from criticizing and judging those who have not
these marks of humility. They pray for such people, and leave all judgment to God, who in His own
time will try every man's work by fire. (I Cor. iii. 13.)
'Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.' (I Peter v. 5.)
Anger and sloth, desire and pride. This moment be subdued! Be cast into the crimson tide Of my
Redeemer's blood!
Holiness And Prayer
You are coming to a King, Large petitions with you bring:
For His power and grace are such, You can never ask too much.
Prayer is a puzzle to unbelievers, but a sweet privilege to us. A stranger will hesitate to approach a
king, but the king's child will climb on the king's knee, and whisper in the king's ear, and ask all sorts
of favors of the king; and get them, too, because he is his child. Now that is the secret of prayer.
When we have repented of sin, and given ourselves to God, and been born again, we are His dear
children, and we have a right to come to Him in prayer. The devil will try to hinder us, and if our faith
is weak, we may doubt and hesitate; but God invites, He wants us to come, to come with all our
wishes, cares, burdens, sorrows, perplexities, everything. Nothing that is of interest to us is too small
to interest Him. Many people do not believe this, but it is true. They think God is interested only in
big things; but the same God that made the flaming suns and mighty worlds, made the tiny insect,
and fashioned the lenses of its little eye, and painted with brightest colors its dainty wing. He is
interested in the little quite as much as in the great. Therefore we may bring everything to Him in
prayer.
I once heard a very intelligent old saint, past fourscore years of age, say, 'I moved into a flat by
myself, so that I could be alone with Jesus. He and I keep house together; and when I lose anything, I
ask Him to help me to find it, and He does.' She was right, and people who think God does not want
His children to be so familiar as that are wrong, and have much yet to learn.
We should be definite and pray for what we want. A Christian told me the other day that she could
come to God for a clean heart, but not for a new dress. She was wrong. If she seeks 'first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness,' she has just as much right to lay before the Lord her need of
a new dress, as of a spiritual blessing. Of course, spiritual blessings are far the most important, and
should be sought first; but Jesus wants us to talk to Him about everything, and bring to Him all our
wants. Let this sink deep into your heart, if you would be holy, and happy, and useful.
For many days there had been no rain in Ohio, the fields were parched and brown, and everything
cried out for water. The people were anxious, and knew not what to do. One Sunday, before his
sermon, Mr. Finney prayed for rain. One who heard that prayer reported it after twenty-three years,
and said it was as fresh in his mind as though he had heard it but yesterday. Finney told the Lord all
about their great need, and among other things said, 'We do not presume to dictate to Thee what is
best for us, yet Thou dost invite us to come to Thee as children to a father, and tell Thee what we
want. We want rain. Our pastures are dry. The cattle are lowing and wandering about in search of
water. Even the little squirrels in the woods are suffering for the want of it. Unless Thou dost give us
rain our cattle must die, for we shall have no hay for them for winter; and our harvests will come to
nought. O Lord, send us rain, and send it now! Although to us there is no sign of it, it is an easy thing
for Thee to do. Send it now, Lord, for Christ's sake!' And the Lord sent it. Before the service was half
over the rain came in such torrents that the preacher's voice could not be heard; so with tears of
wonder and joy and thanksgiving, they sang,
When all Thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I'm lost In wonder, love and praise.
Finney took God at His word, and dared to ask for what he wanted. He used to say, 'Lord, I hope
Thou dost not see that I can be denied.'
Many people pray for things they want; but James tells us that they do not get them because they
ask amiss, to consume them upon their lusts. They want things for worldly pleasure or profit, or for
sinful, selfish purposes. (James iv. 3.)
The secret of prevailing prayer is this; that we are so in love with Jesus, so at one with Him, that we
do not want anything to use or spend in any way that 'would grieve Him. I want a new suit of
clothes. What for? That I may strut around in pride, or to show myself off to the people I know? No,
no, but that I may be suitably clothed for my work for God. I want food. What for? To strengthen me
for sinful, selfish pleasures, and labors? No, no, but to glorify God. I want a clean heart What for?
That I may be happy, and get to heaven? No, no, not that alone, but that I may honor God, and help
Him to win others to love and trust and obey Him. When I want things in that spirit, then the Lord
can trust me with anything for which I ask Him, for I will not ask Him for anything that is not for His
glory. If I am in doubt about anything being for His glory, then I will ask Him to give it to me only if He
sees it is best to do so.
Again, we must pray in faith. It is sad, it is heartbreaking, the way people doubt God, the cold,
lifeless prayers they utter before Him! You would not want a friend to come to you for anything you
had promised to give, with such faithless asking, would you? God is much more willing to give good
things to us than we are to give good gifts to our children. And we should come with lively faith that
will not be denied. The promise is, 'What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them.' Bless the Lord!
Do you ask, 'How can I get faith?' I answer, through God's Word. Hunt up His promises, and go to
God with them, and say with David, 'Remember the word unto Thy servant upon which Thou has
caused me to hope.' That is what Finney did. He wanted rain, and he went to God with the promise,
'When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the
Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them?
But again, we must persevere in prayer. We must hold on to God, and not let go till the answer
comes, or until God shows us why it does not come. Sometimes the answer to prayer comes at once.
The first person I remember praying with after God sanctified me, got the blessing at once.
One morning I prayed for a suit of clothes which I very much needed. A great peace came into my
heart, and I got off my knees laughing, knowing that God had heard and answered my little request.
How and when the suit was to come I did not know. After breakfast I went out, and when I returned
a man was waiting for me to go to the tailor's, and be measured for the best suit in his shop. I knew
absolutely nothing about this when I prayed, but God did.
But sometimes the answer is delayed. At such times we must not fold our hands and idly conclude
that it is not God's will, but instead, search our hearts to make sure the hindrance is not in us, and
still continue to plead with God, and in due time the answer will come.
Hold on to God for the salvation and sanctification of your loved ones, and God will hear and answer
you. Wrestle with Him, give Him no rest, remind Him every day of His promise and your burning
desire, and He must hear and answer you.
A young man prayed for a friend for thirteen months, and finally died without seeing him saved. But
God was faithful and remembered the prayers of His child, and in due time that friend was
converted, and became a martyr for Christ in Africa.
Finally, we should mingle thanks with our prayers, even before we see the answer. 'In everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.' wrote Paul.
(Phil. iv. 6.) A mother got gloriously sanctified at an Army penitent-form, and then began to pray in
faith for the conversion of her daughter. For some time she prayed, but one day she said, 'Lord, I am
not going to pray for this any longer, but I am going to thank Thee for the salvation of my child.'
Within a week the girl was saved, 'and is now an Officer.
Holy people are in vital union and partnership with God, and their prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit
move all Heaven in their behalf. Then the only reason why they accomplish so little is because they
ask so little, and with such feeble faith 'Men ought always to pray, and not to faint,' said Jesus. Will
you, my Comrade, give yourself up to a life of glad, persevering, believing prayer? If so, you shall be
one of God's princes on earth.
Behold the throne of grace! The promise calls me near;
There Jesus shows a smiling face, And waits to answer prayer.
My soul! ask what thou wilt; Thou canst not be too bold:
Since His own Blood for thee He spilt, What else can He withhold?
Holiness And Self-Denial
One day John Wesley was to dine with a rich man. One of his preachers, who was present, said, 'Oh,
sir, what a sumptuous dinner! Things are very different to what they were formerly. There is but
little self-denial now among the Methodists.' Wesley pointed to the table and quietly remarked, 'My
brother, there is a fine opportunity for self-denial.'
Denial that is not self-imposed is not self-denial. It might have been self-denial on the part of the
host to present a less sumptuous table, but there would then have been no self-denial on the part of
the guest. Adverse circumstances or selfish people may deprive us of the luxuries and even of the
necessities of life. But our deprivation would not be self-denial. We deny ourselves only when we
voluntarily give up that which we like, and which we might lawfully keep. And I have no doubt that
God often allows us luxuries and abundance, not that we may consume them upon ourselves, but
rather that we may deny ourselves joyfully for His dear sake, and the sake of the needy ones about
us.
Often when urging upon well-to-do people the importance of denying themselves in dress and
furniture and equipage and the luxuries of life, I have had them turn to me and say, 'If God did not
mean me to have these things and enjoy them, why did He give me the means to get them?' And,
poor things! they thought they had crushed me with their logic.
But the answer is simple. God meant them to be stewards, but they considered themselves owners.
God meant them to have the greater blessedness of giving, for 'it is more blessed to give than to
receive' (Acts xx. 35), but they contented themselves with what they considered the blessedness of
receiving. God meant them to pass on His bounty to the multitudes of needy ones about them, but
they dammed up and diverted the streams of God's mercy and reveled in what they considered
God's special favor and license to unlimited self-indulgence, while the multitudes for whom God
really intended these blessings perished of want. They show unmistakably by their conduct that they
have not the Spirit of Jesus, Who, 'though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye
through His poverty might be rich' (2 Cor. viii. 9), and on the Judgment Day they will surely be found
wanting, and woeful will be their condemnation.
Why does God give a woman wealth? That she may spend it on feathers and flowers, and silks and
satins, and luxurious apartments? Nay, but that she may spend it upon those who are hungry and
cold and dying of bitter want.
Why does God give a mother brilliant, manly sons and lovely daughters? That she may enjoy their
presence and train them for society and a career before the world? Nay, but that she may train them
to be martyrs, slum angels, missionaries to the heathen and to the barefooted, debauched,
neglected, devil-ridden children of the saloons and brothels. Oh, as I have looked at my sweet baby
boy and girl and realized the almost infinite difference between their training and that of millions of
little ones who have the same rights in Jesus Christ that my children have; as I have realized the
tender care with which they are unceasingly watched and sheltered and trained for God and
righteousness, my heart has poured itself out to God in unutterable longings. Not that they might be
great, but that they might be good; not that they might fill the earth with their fame, but that they
might utterly sacrifice themselves for those who have never known the love and instruction of a
sainted mother and a Christian home.
Why does God give a man power and influence and fame? That he may be great in the eyes of men
and lord it over his fellows and clothe himself in purple and fine linen and live luxuriously? Nay; but
that he may throw every jot and tittle of his power and influence into the scale for righteousness of
conduct and holiness of character and hasten the utter establishment of the Kingdom of God upon
earth.
Self-denial almost ceases to be self-denial when practiced from such a high and holy motive. It is the
denial of the lower, base, earthly self; and the gratification of the higher and Heavenly self. It is a
turning from earth to Heaven; from that which is fleeting and temporal to that which is eternal. It
enlightens the mind, ennobles the character, perfects the heart and brings us into fellowship with
Jesus. Bless God! Hallelujah!
'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself; and take up his cross daily, and follow Me'
(Luke ix. 23).
I once read an illustration of Chas. Finney's that has had a marked influence on my life. In substance,
it was this: 'Suppose a man were traveling in a foreign land, and, being waylaid and captured by
brigands, he were sold into slavery, and a great ransom demanded for his release. At last, word
reaches his anxious wife, informing her of his sad state, and the only condition upon which he could
possibly be restored to her. His bondage is cruel, and is fast wearing his life away, but there is no
way of escape except the ransom be paid.
'All the love and affection and pity and sympathy of the wife's heart are aroused to the uttermost.
She fears for her loved one's life, she can feel the galling chain, she can see the cruel lash of the
slave-driver, she can realize the heart-loneliness and bitter bondage of her darling, and she wishes
she could fly to his side and share his burden and his sorrow, and no sacrifice seems too great to gain
his liberty. She sells all her property, she lays her case before her friends and neighbors and they
assist her, and yet she falls far below the amount of the ransom demanded. She labors and toils
early and late, and hastens to earn what money she can to add to what she already has; she denies
herself every luxury, and almost begrudges every necessity of life. She thinks of the hard fare of her
husband, the coarse, scanty food, the miserable hovel, the hard, filthy bed, the heavy, unremitting
labour; and the thought of selfish gratification is painful to her.
At last, a stranger hears her sad story, visits her, and gives her twenty pounds. She does not for an
instant think: "Now I shall be able to get me a new dress and bonnet in the latest fashion, or get a
nice piece of furniture for my rooms, or furnish my table better than in the past." No, no. She burst
into tears. She thanks the giver, and she cries: "Now I shall be able to ransom my love, and soon I
shall have him in my arms again."'
Now, when the Christian whose heart throbs with love for the Saviour, realizes that Jesus puts
Himself in the place of the prisoner in his lonely, dark cell; the slave toiling without recompense
under the lash, with the galling, clanking chain; the sick one on the bed of sleeplessness and pain;
the heathen, in his blindness and ignorance and superstition and fear; the helpless orphan and the
poor widow, and the outcast sinner, and says, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me' (Matt. xxv. 40), he must deny himself.
When he sees Jesus, lonely and full of toil and sorrow, again, in the person of these suffering ones,
he finds it easier to deny himself than to indulge himself; and self-sacrifice becomes a joy, while selfindulgence becomes a grief and a moral impossibility.
It is for this reason that I deny myself. It is for Jesus, and the souls for whom He died. For years I lived
for myself. All my hopes and ambitions centered in myself; even my desire to go to Heaven was
more a desire to escape from the pains of Hell than to enjoy the society of Jesus and redeemed
souls, and to do good and be holy. But at last all this was changed! My sins became a burden. I
loathed myself. The righteous indignation and wrath of God against evil-doers took hold upon me,
and I feared I should be lost for ever. But I found deliverance through Jesus; through Him I found
forgiveness of sins and freedom from the bondage of selfishness. He did not upbraid me, but loved
me freely, and won my heart, and filled me with a confidence and love toward Him that were
unutterable.
With that love to Him came a love for the whole world of saints and sinners. At first I groped about
somewhat blindly to know how to express that love, but true love will always finally express itself in
uttermost self-sacrifice for its object, and in so doing adds fuel to its flame. Since then, I have found
it easier to give than to withhold. I began by giving one-tenth of my income, but I could not stop
there. Any case of need, any appeal for help, wrung my heart with an anguish of desire to give, until
if it were not for the foresight of a prudent wife, who gets me to lay up money with her for a needed
suit, I should frequently be without suitable clothes to wear.
This is not natural. It is spiritual-supernatural. In the old days when I had plenty of money, I can
remember that it was rather grudgingly that I subscribed two dollars a year to the support of the
Gospel! I should be decidedly ashamed to tell this, but for the fact that I am now 'a new creature,'
and an honest confession is good for the soul.
How can I indulge myself while others suffer? How can I hoard up wealth and this world's goods
while others perish of want? Why can I not trust Him to supply my wants, who feeds the sparrows
with unfailing supply? Why did He speak so, if it was not to encourage one to cast abroad with an
open, liberal hand and trust Him for daily bread?
I want the 'full strength of trust to prove,' and how can I have such trust if I never once in my life give
away all I have, and boldly trust Him to supply my need and confound a taunting devil? I have done
it; glory to God! and He has not failed me. Instead of finding my feet on quicksands, I found them on
granite, and instead of starvation, I found plenty. Bless God for ever! Oh, there is a divine philosophy
in self-denial that the wise folks of this world never dream of!
Holiness And The Sanctification Of The Body
The Prophet Isaiah says that God inhabits eternity (Isaiah lvii. 15); and Solomon says, 'The heaven
and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.' (I Kings viii. 27.) But, wonder of wonders! Paul says
that we are a habitation of God. 'What!' says he, 'know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you?' (I Cor. vi. 19.)' And again, 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' (I Cor. iii. 16.)
This is a very solemn truth; but it ought to be a joy-giving one. It certainly adds dignity and honor to
us beyond anything that earthly rulers could possibly bestow, and it lifts our bodies from their
kinship to the beasts into a sacred fellowship with the Lord. This fact makes the sanctification of the
body both a glorious privilege and an important duty.
Many people think that sanctification, or holiness, has to do only with the soul. But the truth is, that
it has to do with every part of our nature, and every article of our possession. The body is to be
sanctified as well as the soul. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians as follows: 'The very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.' (1 Thess. v. 23.) By this he means that the body is to be set
apart and kept as a holy thing for the Lord.
We are to make a present of our bodies to the Lord. Paul says, 'I beseech you therefore, brethren,.....
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.' (Rom. xii. 1.) Just as the
soldier surrenders his personal liberty, and gives his body to his country, for hard campaigns, for
toilsome marches, for weary sieges, and, if need be, for death, so we are to present our bodies, to
the Lord. Jesus gave His body for us, and we are to give our bodies to Him.
Not only are we to present our bodies as a whole to the Lord, but each member as well; the eyes,
the ears, the hands, the feet, the tongue, each and all are to be given to Him. (See Rom. vi. 13.)
The eyes are to be turned away from the things that would wean the soul from God. The General
tells of a holy man he knew, who, when he walked the streets, kept his eyes straight before him, not
looking into the shop windows, lest his communion with God should be hindered, and his mind be
filled with worldly, foolish, and covetous, thoughts.
Some years ago, silver bracelets were very fashionable, and a girl who had plenty of money went to
buy a pair. But before she found any pretty and dainty enough to suit her she got saved, and then
she knew she had no right to spend her money foolishly, or to wear such things even if she had
them. But her eyes had got into the habit of searching shop windows in every city where she went,
for those bracelets, and she found that the habit was very bad for her soul. It made her care less to
pray, and hindered her thinking about Jesus when she was out walking, and actually lessened her
desire to get souls saved. So she had to give her eyes to God, to be kept from leading her away from
Jesus; and for years afterwards, she said she never went through a shopping street without praying
David's prayer, 'Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.'
It was a longing look toward the fertile plains of Sodom and Gomorrah that led to all the sorrows and
losses of Lot. It was a covetous look at the Babylonish garment and wedge of gold that led to the
utter ruin of Achan. It was a lustful look that led to the sad downfall and shame of David.
There are some things that a Christian should not look at, and if by chance his eyes should fall upon
them, they should be turned away quickly lest sin should get into his heart through Eye-gate,
Everyone who wishes to be holy will say with Job, 'I have made a covenant with mine eyes.'
Again, the ears are to be sanctified, The holy man will guard himself lest sin enter into his heart
through Ear-gate. 'Take heed what ye hear,' said Jesus; and again, 'Take heed how ye hear.' Just so
surely as the body can be poisoned or flourished and strengthened by the things we eat, according
to whether they be good or bad so surely can the soul be poisoned or nourished by the things we
hear. No pure-minded man or woman, boy or girl, will listen to an impure story, an obscene song, or
unclean talk.
Some time ago, two Salvation Army Officers were traveling by train. The railway carriage was
crowded, and they were separated. One of them sat down by an elderly man, and in a short time,
they were in conversation with a gentleman in front of them. Soon the elderly man looked about
and said, 'There are no women near, who can hear, are there? I want to tell a story.' The Officer was
at once on guard, and said, 'I am a Salvationist, sir. I do not wish to hear a story that would be unfit
for ladies to hear.' The old man looked ashamed, the gentleman in front looked a look of wonder,
and the nasty story was not told, and the Salvationist, no doubt, escaped a great temptation.
But while we should not listen to evil, neither should we speak it. Sometimes it is impossible to avoid
hearing wicked and filthy things, however much we may wish to do so, for we cannot control the
tongues of others. That was one of the sorrows of Lot in Sodom. His soul was 'vexed with the filthy
conversation of the wicked.' While we cannot control the tongues of others, we must control our
own, and while we may not be always able to avoid hearing wicked and evil and unclean things, we
can avoid saying them.
If we would be holy, and enjoy God's smile, we must sanctify our tongues, and keep our lips pure.
'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the use of
edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.' (Eph. iv. 20.) We must not forget, however,
that the heart is the fountain from which flows all our talk, and if that be clean the conversation will
be pure. Jesus said, 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' Therefore, 'keep thy
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.'
Take my voice, and let me sing Always, only for my King; Take my lips, and let them be Filled with
messages from Thee.
Let the feet also be given to the Lord, no longer to walk in the ways of sin, but to walk patiently and
gladly in the path of duty, and to run on errands of mercy.
Take my feet, and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee
The hands are to be used for holy service, and no longer to smite and pilfer.
Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love.
Thus the whole body is to be given to the Lord, and kept and used for Him. Since Jesus ascended to
Heaven, He has no body upon earth. So, will you prove your love to Him, my Comrade, by letting
Him have yours? If so, no sexual impurity is to be allowed, no unclean habit is to be indulged, no
appetite is to be permitted to gain the mastery, but the whole body is to be kept under, and made
the servant of the soul.
Athletes, football and cricket players, and prizefighters when in training, are exceedingly careful
about their health. They select their food with care, and eat nothing that would disagree with them,
omitting heavy suppers; they abstain from strong drink and tobacco; they bathe their bodies daily;
they go to bed and get up at regular hours; they sleep with open windows, and, of course, the have
plenty of fresh air and systematic exercise. This they do for months, and sometimes for years, simply
that they may beat some other fellows in contests of strength and skill. Now they do it, says Paul, 'to
obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.' And then he adds, 'I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway.' (I Cor. ix. 25-27.)
I know a man who noticed that when he ate too much he became irritable, and was subject to
various temptations from which a careful diet freed him. He had to control his appetite in order to
keep a clean heart.
Young people are likely to squander their health in all sorts of useless and careless ways, and are
tempted to laugh and sneer at their elders when they lift a warning voice. But they will some day
find that advance in holiness, progress toward Heaven, and happiness and usefulness, are more
dependent on the right care of the body than they supposed.
'Beloved. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul
prospereth.' (3 John 2.)
Let my hands perform His bidding,
Let my feet run in His ways,
Let mine eyes see Jesus only,
Let my lips speak forth His praise.
All for Jesus.
Let my lips speak forth His praise.
Holiness And Unconscious Influence
Some people often sing:
"Oh, to be nothing, nothing;"
but, in reality, to be something, to be useful, is one of the first and strongest desires that spring up in
the heart of a truly saved person. And one of the blessed things about a holy life is its supernatural,
constant, and often unconscious influence for good. A holy person does not have to resolve, and
struggle to be a blessing. Without conscious effort, his life and talk and looks inspire the
fainthearted, encourage the timid, instruct the ignorant, feed the hungry, and rebuke the proud, and
selfish, and wayward. He blesses people in all sorts of ways, without at the time knowing it, and is
often surprised to learn how the Lord has been blessing him.
Luke says that 'The whole multitude sought to touch Jesus; for there went virtue out of Him, and
healed them all.' And, just so, virtue goes out from holy people, as perfume floats from a rose, or
warmth from fire, or light from a flame.
A sanctified Officer said to a comrade who was deserting his post, 'I feel that woe is me, if I preach
not the Gospel.' Some weeks later an Officer said to him, 'I overheard you that day when you said,
"Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel," and it stirred my soul, and made me feel that way too.'
Those words had been said quietly, but God was in them, and they were with power. This fits
Solomon's saying, 'The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth
among fools.' (Eccles. ix. 17.)
A number of years ago in America, two sanctified Salvationists, a man and his wife, were followed
home from their meetings several nights by a nurse from the hospital near by. She could not get
away from her duties long enough to attend the meetings, but she said to herself, 'I will walk home
behind them, and maybe I shall get something for my soul.'
And she did. All unconscious that a hungry heart was feeding upon their words, the Salvationists
talked out of their clean hearts about Jesus, and His love, and His word, and His uttermost salvation,
and as a result, the nurse was so filled with desire to glorify God and save souls that she left her
work for people's bodies, and became a missionary, and is now in the far east. This strange story
came back to the two Salvationists from Korea, after many days, to surprise and gladden them, and
fill them with wonder at the unconscious power of holy conversation.
The very silence of a holy man is with power. I have known such silence to still the voice of slander
and foolishness, and hush the laugh of silliness and folly. An Officer with a clean heart aflame with
love, met a girl who had offered herself for the Slum Work. She was giggling and chattering in a way
that convinced him that instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit she was empty. He wanted to
speak to her about her soul, but hardly knew how to begin, so he was silent, and prayed in his heart
for her. Afterward she said, 'I looked at his face, and said to myself, "There is a holy man, a man dead
to sin. But I am alive yet." And that sight of his face led her to seek and find the blessing, and now for
years she has been a most useful and devoted Officer. The very presence of such a man is a rebuke
to sin and half-heartedness and folly, and is a mighty inspiration to goodness.
After the overthrow of Sisera and all his host, Deborah and Barak sang a song of triumph and
thanksgiving and closed it with these words, 'Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth
forth in his might.' (Judges v. 31.) Think of it! How mighty the sun is! how he floods the world with
light! how he melts the snow, and thaws the iceberg, and warms the whole earth, and quickens and
gladdens every living thing! None can stop him in his course; and so God means that it shall be with
holy men and women. They comfort those that are right, and convict those that are wrong, just as
the sun energizes everything that has life, and hastens the dissolution of everything that is dead.
But while holy people have power to bless and do good, they also have a strange influence often to
arouse persecution. They prove the saying of Jesus, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' (Matt. x.
34.)
But even this will turn to a blessing. God makes it work for good to them that love Him, and it often
leads to the salvation of the persecutors. The godly life and testimony of Joseph rebuked his unclean
brothers, and they sold him into slavery. But years after, when he ruled over all Egypt, and his
brothers were seeking his forgiveness and mercy, be said, "Fear not: as for you, ye thought evil
against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.'
(Gen. 1. 19, 20.) Thus persecution often leads to the salvation of many people.
This very power of a holy life to arouse hatred and persecution and opposition, is a part of the
unconscious influence of holiness, and is mightily used by God for the advancement of His Kingdom
on earth, so that many have been able to say with Paul when he was put into jail, that locking them
up had only made the Gospel spread more, and made other men bolder to preach it. (Phil. i. 12-20.)
'Come,' said a distinguished Scotch professor to a German skeptic, 'and I will show you a student
that will make you think of Jesus.'
'There is no difference between him and the Book,' said his fellow-townsmen of a Chinese convert.
'Ye are the light of the world,' said Jesus; 'ye are the salt of the earth,'
Such lives are full of healing, cleansing, helping, comforting power; and such may be your life, my
brother, my sister, no matter how dark your surroundings, if you will consecrate yourself entirely to
God, take up your cross and follow Jesus, and seek, ask for, and receive the Holy Spirit as your
Sanctifier.
Oh, that He may come into your heart right now, and nevermore be grieved, or allowed to depart!
Oh, make my life one blazing fire Of pure and fervent heart desire, The lost to find, the low to raise,
And give them cause Thy name to praise, Because, wherever I may go, I show Thy power to every
foe!
Holiness And Worry
Worry is a great foe to holiness, and perfect trust puts an end to worry. 'I would as soon swear as
fret,' said John Wesley. The murmuring and complaining of His children has ever been a great sin in
the sight of God, and has led to untold suffering on their part.
Most people do not see this to be a sin, but it is. It dishonors God, blinds the eyes to His will, and
deafens the ears to His voice. It is the ditch on one side of the pathway of trust. Lazy or heartless
indifference is the ditch on the other side. Happy is the Christian who keeps out of either ditch, and
walks securely on the pathway. Though it may be often narrow and difficult, it is safe. Praise the
Lord!
Worrying prevents quiet thought, and earnest believing prayer, and it is, therefore, always bad. If
circumstances are against us, we need quietness of mind, clearness of thought, decision of will, and
strength of purpose with which to face these circumstances and overcome them. But all this is
prevented or hindered by fret or worry.
First, we should not worry over things that we can help, but set to work manfully to put them right.
Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest of men, labored for eight years preparing the manuscript of
one of his great works when one day he came into his study, and found that his little dog, Diamond,
had knocked over a candle, and burned all his papers. Without a sign of anger or impatience, the
great, good man quietly remarked, 'Ah, Diamond, little do you know the labor and trouble to which
you have put your master!' and without worrying sat down to do that vast work over again.
Second, we should not worry over the things we cannot help, but quietly and confidently look to the
Lord for such help as He sees best to give. There is no possible evil that may befall us from which
God cannot deliver us, if He sees that that is best for us, or give us grace to bear, if that is best.
Holiness of heart enables us to see this. An accident befell a little child I heard of, which for twentyfour hours endangered its life. The sanctified mother did all she could, then committed her darling to
the Lord, and peacefully awaited the issue. Within twenty-four hours the danger was passed, and
the child was safe An old colored auntie who had witnessed the calm trust of the mother said, 'You
certain is de queeres' woman I ever see! Here dis chile been in danger ob its life for twenty-four
hours, and you not worried a bit!'
'Well, auntie,' said the mother, 'I couldn't trust the Lord and worry too; so I did what I could, and
trusted, and you see that all is well. And I have had the peace of God in my heart for twenty-four
hours.'
'Paul says, 'Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' Again, Isaiah says: 'Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.'
Our business is, then, always to pray, give thanks for such blessings as we have, and keep our minds
stayed on God, and worry about nothing.
Holiness makes a man so sure of the presence and love and care of God, that, while doing with his
might what his hands find to do, he refuses to worry, and sings from his heart:
I will trust Thee, I will trust Thee, All my life Thou shalt control;
and he is certain that while he trusts and obeys, neither devils nor men can do him real harm, nor
defeat God's purpose for him.
The heart realization of heavenly help, of God's presence in time of trouble, of angels encamping
round about them that fear Him, is the secret of a life of perfect peace, in which anxious care is not
shunned, but joyously and constantly rolled on the Lord, who 'careth for us,' and who bids us cast
our care on him. Are you poor, and tempted to worry about your daily bread? God sent the ravens
to feed Elijah, and later made him dependent upon a poor widow woman, with only enough flour
and oil to make one meal for herself and her child. But through long months of famine God suffered
not that flour to waste, nor that oil to fail.
The 'God of Elijah' is the God of those who trust in Him for evermore. Now, mind, such trust is not a
state of lazy indifference, but of the highest activity of heart and will, and it is both a privilege and a
duty. Of course, only such a perfect trust can save from undue anxiety, but this trust is an unfailing
fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling in a clean heart. And we can only keep this trust by always obeying
the Holy Spirit, strict attention to daily duty, watchfulness against temptation, much believing,
persevering, unhurried prayer, and by nourishing our faith on God's Word daily. The promises are
given us to believe, and so we may rest in God's love and care, and not worry and fret ourself with
useless anxiety.
Has someone talked unkindly or falsely about you? Don't worry, but pray, and go on loving them and
doing your duty, and some day God will 'bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noon-day.' (Ps. xxxvii 6.)
Are you sick? Don't worry, but pray. The Lord can raise you up (James v. 15) or make the sickness
work for good (Rom. viii. 28), as He did for a sister I knew in Chicago, who for five years was helpless
in bed with rheumatism, but had five big sons converted during that time, and was so happy that she
said she would not have had those five years spent in any other way.
Have your own wrong-doings brought you into trouble? Don't worry, but repent to the very bottom
of your heart, trust in Jesus, walk in your present light, and the Blood will cleanse you, and God will
surely help you.
Are you troubled about the future? Don't worry. Walk with God today in obedient trust, and
tomorrow He will be with you. He will never fail you, nor forsake you.
If our trust were but more simple. We should take Him at His word.
And our lives would be all sunshine In the sweetness of our Lord.
Holiness And Zeal For Souls
'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,' said Jesus to Peter and Andrew; and now as then
when Jesus saves a soul, that soul wants to catch men, wants to see others saved. Holiness increases
this desire, and makes it burn with a quenchless flame.
The zeal of other people blazes up, burns low, and often dies out, but the zeal of a man with a clean
heart, full of the Holy Ghost, increases year by year. Others run away from the prayer-meeting, but
he holds on. Others do not grieve if souls are not saved, but he feels that he must see souls saved, or
die. Others are zealous for 'big goes,' tea parties, ice-cream suppers, and musical festivals, but
nothing pleases him so much as a prayer-meeting where souls are crying to God for pardon and
cleansing, and others are shouting for joy.
And this zeal for the salvation and sanctification of men leads him to do something to reach them.
He lets his light shine, He speaks to people not only from the platform and the pulpit at long range,
but he buttonholes them, and speaks to them wherever he finds them. Holiness makes it easy for
him to do this. He loves to do it. He finds that, as he follows the Spirit, the Lord fills his mouth with
truth, and gives him something to say.
A number of years ago a young man full of the Holy Ghost stopped a few minutes at a watering
trough to give his horse a drink, and at the same time a stranger rode up to water his horse. For
about five minutes the young man with a heart overflowing with love told the stranger about Jesus.
Then they separated to meet no more in this world; but the stranger was converted to God as a
result of that five minutes of faithful, personal dealing, and became a soul-saver in Africa. He often
wondered who that Heaven-sent young man was who pointed him to Jesus. One day in Africa he
received a box of books from America, and on opening a small volume of memoirs, there he saw the
face and the name of the man to whom he owed his soul's salvation, and whose cry to God was,
'Give me souls give me souls, O Lord, or I cannot live.'
There are two things for us to remember:
1. Most sinners hope that someone will speak to them about their soul.
'Why did you not speak to me about my soul?' asked a student of his room-mate.
'I thought you would not like it,' was the reply.
'Why, that was the reason I roomed with you,' said he.
A father prayed earnestly in the meeting for the salvation of sinners. After the meeting, he and his
boy walked home a mile away. The boy hoped his father would speak to him about Jesus and
salvation, for he was under deep conviction, but not a word did the father say. Then the boy said
within himself, 'After all, there is nothing in religion,' and he became a reckless unbeliever, all
because his father did not speak to him about his soul.
Poor sinners! They often laugh and make merry when their hearts are well-nigh breaking with
sorrow or conviction, and they are only waiting for someone to point them to Jesus to be saved.
2. When God moves us to speak to people, we may be sure that He has been dealing with their
hearts and preparing the way for us. When the Lord sent Philip to speak to the Ethiopian, He had the
Ethiopian all ready for Philip's message.
A friend of mine in Cleveland used to meet a certain railroad conductor almost every day. The
conductor was a big, splendid fellow, but a sinner. One day my friend felt he ought to speak to that
conductor about his soul. He was a small man, and trembled and ran away like Jonah, and for the
next three weeks he was disobedient and in great misery. Every day he would meet the conductor,
and the Lord would say, 'Speak to him about his soul.' After three weeks of agony he went out of his
office one day, and lo! there was that conductor again. He could stand it no longer, he braced
himself, buttoned up his coat, and said, 'Lord, help me! I will speak to him, if he knocks me down.'
Then he spoke, and to his surprise, and shame, and joy, the big man burst into tears, and said, 'I have
really been wanting someone to speak to me about my soul for three weeks.'
God is faithful; He had been to that man before He sent my friend to him. And there are hungry
souls all around us like that one.
Again, holiness not only makes us eager for the salvation of sinners, but fills us with unutterable
longings for the perfecting of the saints. We want to see 'every man perfect in Christ Jesus' I have
never known anyone to get the blessing without this desire following,
Oh, how God longs to have a holy people on earth! Will you give yourself to Him, my brother, my
sister, to help Him to get such a people? You can be a yoke-fellow with Jesus, a worker with God.
Will you? If so, begin just now to pray for the one you feel God would have you help to save or
sanctify, and you will be working with Jesus, and if you continue, great shall be your reward.
Not my own! My time, my talents Freely all to Christ I bring,
To be used in joyful service, For the glory of my King.
Holiness Before The Flood; Or, Do You Walk With God?
'And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and
he was not; for God took him (Gen. 23, 24).
A remarkable biography! Nowadays men write hundreds of pages about their heroes, and do not say
as much as that. But there is a good reason. There is not so much as that to say.
Enoch was a mighty man, with a wonderful life, lived under very unfavorable circumstances, and I
have profited much by meditating upon his life, and what I think must have been his secret.
We are prone to look upon past ages and distant places as peculiarly favorable to godliness. I
remember that years ago I thought if I could go to London and listen to Chas. Spurgeon each week, I
could be a Christian. In my boyhood I wished that I had lived in the days of Jesus, and heard His
wondrous words, and questioned Him about the mysteries of godliness, for then I could certainly
have been His true follower. Usually the further back we go, the more godly seems the age, and the
more blessed seem the men.
But really this is not so, and especially is it not so of Enoch's age and place. The age was most
ungodly, and men had very little religious light. The world was fast hastening to that dreadfulness of
sin and unbelief which would cause God to sweep away its people by the deluge and leave but eight
persons in it. They had no Bible. They had no law. Men had not yet had a Divine revelation from
Heaven, telling them they must worship God, must keep the Sabbath day, must honor their parents,
must not kill, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet. Try to imagine an age and place with no such
teaching as that! Every man a law unto himself, his evil passions and lusts and tempers having no
restraint put upon them, and he plunging continually deeper and deeper into sin and corruption.
Then they had no Gospel, with Jesus revealed as a loving Savior; they had only one promise of hope
and mercy, and that rather vague -- the one given to the woman after that awful fall in Eden, the
promise of the Seed that sometime would come to bruise the Serpent's head. It was a black night,
with only one lone dim star shining in the darkness. But Enoch held on to that promise, and in its
light and hope he walked with God for three hundred years.
We have a whole Bible, a finished revelation. We have the holy, just, good law of God, showing us
what we ought to do and what we ought not to do. We have the Gospel, with its full noonday light,
showing us how to keep the law, how to get life and power to fulfill the will of God on earth as the
angels do it in Heaven. We have Jesus, crucified before our eyes for our sins, dead, buried and raised
to glorious life again for our justification, and ascended on high to the right hand of God, far above
all created things and all opposing powers of evil, to intercede for us, to pour out the Holy Ghost
upon us in rich measure, to live in us through the Spirit. We have commandments, precepts and
thousands of promises. Instead of a midnight, with one lone, dim star shining fitfully in the darkness,
we have a midday, with all the splendor of the sun in his strength, together with ten thousand
reflected lights, shining upon us; and yet we, in our trembling, pitiful, shameful unbelief, wonder
however Enoch could walk with God!
I. I imagine that Enoch made up his mind that it was possible to walk with God; that is, to be agreed
with God, to be of the same mind and heart and purpose as God. Of course, there were stupendous
difficulties in the way. There were no churches or Salvation Army or Sunday-schools; there were no
holiness conventions; no days with God and nights of prayer; no Bible, no War Cry, no religious
papers and libraries. In fact, instead of these helps to walk with God, he found the whole community
against him -- yea, the whole world, for in Jude we read that Enoch had to prophesy against the
ungodliness he found around him.
Then, not only did Enoch have these extraordinary difficulties to face, but he had all the ordinary
difficulties as well. He got married and had a large family of boys and girls to care for; he had all the
anxiety of a father to provide for his family and to protect them from the influences all about them.
Then, I cannot imagine that he did not have the ordinary infirmities and the sinful nature of other
men. No doubt he might have said, as you and I have said, that his temperament was peculiar, and
that while others with a happier temperament might be able to walk with God, yet, with his
peculiarly crooked and difficult make-up, it was quite out of the question for him to hope to be holy
and walk with God. Then, of course, he had the devil to fight.
II. I think that Enoch not only believed in the possibility of walking with God, but he made up his
mind that he would walk with God. He put his will into this matter.
III. Not only did Enoch believe in the possibility of walking with God, and determine that as for him
he would walk with God, but he took such steps as were necessary to do so. He separated himself in
spirit from the ungodly people about him, and he raised his voice against their evil ways, and
became not only a negatively righteous man, but a positively holy man.
Enoch had his reward. It paid him to walk with God. He loved God and God loved him, and their
affection became so intense that one day God's love overcame the power of death, and drew Enoch
from earth to Heaven.
Now, I suppose that most people, in reading the story, think that Enoch's reward consisted in getting
to Heaven without dying. Well, this was certainly a most unusual and blessed experience, and one I
suppose that men have wished for all through the ages. There is something about death that is
awful, and from which men shrink, and yet, since Jesus has died and gone down into the grave and
risen again, the terror is lost, to the Christian. Still, it is probable that if allowed to choose, most
Christians and all sinners would say, 'Let us go to Heaven like Enoch did.' But I cannot consider this
Enoch's chief reward.
For three hundred years God was his Friend, his Counselor, his Comforter, his Constant Companion.
Oh, what fellowship was that! What an opportunity to gain wisdom, to build up and round out and
ennoble a man's Character! How easy to be good and do good! How life must have almost burst with
fullness of gladness! Walking with God! Talking with God! Communing with God! Having mutual
sympathy with God entering into a union with God as intimate as the union of the bay with the sea;
and all this by faith, by simple trust, by childlike confidence. This was Enoch's reward and it may be
yours, my brother, my sister, if you will meet the conditions as Enoch did.
Holiness: A Love Service
'I wish I knew the secret of Paul's piety,' said that good man, Asa Mahan, to Mr. Finney one day.
'Paul said, "The love of Christ constraineth us." ' Just then the glorious truth burst upon his mind that
we are sanctified not by works, but by faith which works by love, and that the religion of Jesus is not
one of vows and resolutions, and terrible struggle and effort, but of life and power and joyous love,
and he went out of Finney's room, saying, 'I see it, I see it!' and from that hour his life was one of
triumphant holiness.
Oh, that all men would see this, -- that the way of holiness is a 'new and living way,' not an old, dead,
tiresome, heart-aching heartbreaking way of forms and ceremonies, that leaves the soul still baffled
and unsatisfied, and with a sense of failure and defeat! It is a way of victory and joy.
The simple secret of this 'new and living way' is the constraining love of Christ. When we realize that
He loves us and died for us, and that He wants a service of love, and then give ourselves up heartily,
in faith, to such a love service, the secret becomes ours.
'Shall I have to go and tell mother and my brothers and the Corps how inconsistent I have been?'
asked a lassie with whom I was talking about the blessing. 'I don't feel that I can ever do that.' She
had been defeated again and again by fits of temper, and I felt that she ought to confess to those
whom she had probably hindered by her inconsistency. But I saw that she would not get the blessing
by doing it because she must, but because she wanted to, out of very love for Jesus, her mother and
brothers, and the Corps. So I quietly replied that the Lord did not want a slavish service from her, but
a love service; and that if she felt it would really do any good to make such a confession, and loved
Jesus enough to do it to please Him, and to help those whom she had wronged by an inconsistent
life, God would be pleased with it, but otherwise not. I assured her that if she did it in that spirit, she
would find it a joy.
After some further conversation we knelt to pray. She told the Lord all about herself, asked Him to
cleanse her heart and fill it with His Spirit and love, and then she claimed the blessing. Here is a note
I received from her several weeks later:
'I am very happy in the possession of a clean heart. Through God I have been able to gain victories
that before I thought were absolutely impossible. The confessions that I told you I could not make, I
only waited until the next day to make, and for the very love of it too, as you said I would. It has not
been easy -- anything but that; but such a burden has gone from my heart. that I am happy even in
the hardness. I fell one night through my old temper, and felt as though my heart would break; but
God forgave me, and showed me through that how weak I was; for I had almost thought that we
could not fall after receiving the blessing. I suppose God took that way to show me that unless I
trusted in Him I should fall. However, at the present time there is nothing between the Lord and me,
and I am happy.'
Have you, my dear Comrade, been serving the Lord blindly and slavishly, simply because it is your
duty, and yet with a constant feeling of unrest and unfitness? Oh, how He loves you, and wants to
catch your ear, and win your heart, and draw you into a glad love service!
'But I am so weak and faulty, I have failed so often. Surely, the Lord must be discouraged with me,'
you say. No, no, not if you are in earnest, any more than your mother was discouraged with you
when as a little toddler just learning to walk, you fell again and again. She did not cast you off, but
picked you up, and kissed the knees and nose that were bumped, and loved you more than you
dreamed. And in all your other failures she still bore with you and hoped for you. So it is with Jesus.
Let this love constrain you. 'We love Him because He first loved us.' Trust Him. Give yourself wholly
and heartily to Him, and be sure you serve Him for love, and you will have learned the secret of a
holy, happy life.
Oh, let Thy love my heart constrain, Thy love for every sinner free: That every fallen soul of man May
taste the grace that found out me; That all mankind with me may prove Thy sovereign, everlasting
love.
Holiness: How To Get It
Holiness is that state of our moral and spiritual nature, which makes us like Jesus in His moral and
spiritual nature. It does not consist in perfection of intellect, though the experience will give much
greater clearness to a man's intellect and simplify and energize his mental operations. Nor does it
necessarily consist in perfection of conduct, though a holy man seeks with all his heart to make his
outward conduct correspond to his inward light and love. But holiness does consist in complete
deliverance from the sinful nature, and in the perfection of the spiritual graces of love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness truth, meekness and self-control or temperance.
Righteousness is conformity to the divine law, but holiness is conformity to the divine nature. That
there is such an experience is revealed to us in three ways:
1. By the Scriptures. The Bible tells us that God chastens us 'for our profit, that we might be
partakers of His holiness' (Heb. xii. 10) And He has 'given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust' (2 Pet. i. 4) in the Bible God makes us very precious promises of
holiness. He gives us very solemn and imperative commands to be holy. He earnestly exhorts us and
graciously encourages us to be holy, and teaches us to pray for holiness.
2. That there is such an experience is revealed to us by the testimony of holy men and women, who
declare that God has brought them into this glorious experience.
3. It is revealed by the hunger and thirst of our own regenerate hearts: for if these desires to be like
God, and to have His love and holiness so fill our hearts as to cast out every sinful thought and desire
are begotten in us by the Spirit of God, then may they well be consider as proof that holiness is
possible. For the Spirit of God will not beget desires in the hearts of His trusting children only to
mock them.
Nearly all Christians expect to be made holy either before they die, or at the moment of death. And
everybody agrees that we must be holy before we can enter Heaven.
Some other Christians maintain that we are sanctified at the moment of death by some mysterious
operation of the Spirit of God; while others again insist that we grow into the experience. But we of
The Salvation Army believe that it is the gift of God, and is the heritage of every soul that is born
again, an inheritance into which we can enter at once by hearty consecration and childlike faith.
How then shall this holiness be obtained? Not by purgatorial fires, but by Holy Ghost fire. Not by
works; that would make man his own savior and sanctifier. A great trick of the devil is to lead people
to think they will get it by doing something, but a man might as well try to lift himself over the fence
by his own bootstraps as to transform himself into the divine nature by works. He can get it no more
by works than he can change the color of his eyes by works. He can no more rid himself of an
inherited temper, or get lust out of his heart, or hatred, or pride, by getting baptized, by going to
church, by joining the Army, by putting on the uniform, by reading the Bible, by doing any or every
religious work, than he can get scrofula out of his blood by doing these things or add one cubit to his
stature. 'Not of works, lest any man should boast' (Eph. ii. 9). However, a holy man is abundant in
good works, and so is one who is truly seeking the blessing. But more of this further on.
Not by growth. Growth adds to us, but takes nothing from us, neither does it change the nature and
disposition. Holiness consists in having something taken from us and in having our spiritual nature
made over into the image of Jesus. In order to be holy we must have every unclean desire and
temper and passion of the soul removed. We must 'put off . . . the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts,' (Eph. iv. 22), as really as a man puts off his old coat, 'and put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness' (Eph. iv. 24), as really as a
man puts on his new coat. This is the way God told Paul to tell us to do it. It would be nonsense to
talk of growing out of an old coat into a new one. Put off the old coat, put on a new one! Put off the
old Adam, put on the new Adam!
It is not by death. I used to think it was, because I was taught so. But I dreaded the thought of being
killed by lightning, or shot by a stray bullet. I did not want to die suddenly; I wanted time to get
ready. But, glory to God, I learned that it is not by death, and now I am ready to meet that old
enemy. Hallelujah for ever!
Well, how can you get it? From Jesus, the very same Jesus that saved you and spoke peace to your
troubled conscience, when you feared you were going to sink into hell. The very same Jesus that
died for you. But how? By asking. By giving yourself freely and for ever to Him, to be not only your
Savior, but also your Lord and Master; to do and suffer all His blessed, wise, tender will. By believing
and receiving.
If you knew you had to die at sunset to-night, what would you do? You would give yourself to God. If
you had any grudges against any of your neighbors, you would give them up, and if you had the
opportunity you would ask them to forgive you for hating them, even though they had wronged you
or some of your friends. You would not stop to think how they would treat you. You would not care.
You would feel it your business to get right, and you would leave them with God. If you had robbed
any man, you would try to restore to him what was his. If you had any selfish plans, or ambitions,
they would sink into mole hills before the mighty mountains of eternity, and you would give them up
quickly. If you had been unfaithful in the discharge of any duty, you would confess it, mourn over it,
and do all in the limited time left you to make the matter right. You would prepare the way of the
Lord, and make His paths straight. Then, you would throw up your hands in helplessness, and ask
God to forgive you for Jesus' sake, and not because there was any merit in yourself. And if you really
trusted, you would receive forgiveness, and be at peace. You would feel Jesus to be your Savior, and
you would rejoice in Him.
Now you would be a candidate for holiness. If the Holy Spirit should now reveal to you the hidden
corruption of the human heart, and show you that it was out of this bad soil that grew the bad
weeds of hatred and pride, selfish ambitions and envy, lies, adulteries, murders, drunkenness, thefts,
and such like, you would cry to God to rid you not only of the weeds, but to entirely change the
condition of your heart out of which such unholy things grew. And there would be only one way to
get this done, and that would be to ask God to do it for Jesus' sake; trust Him to do it, and wait with
full expectation till He did do it.
And He would do it. He would purge your heart of all unholy conditions by the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and fire, as surely as fire purges gold of dross. Glory to God! This is just what He wants to do.
He wants all His children to be like His well-beloved Son, Jesus. It was for this that He sent Jesus into
the world, and it is for this that He baptizes with the Holy Ghost and fire.
Some time ago a lady came to the Penitent-form for sanctification in one of my meetings. After I had
questioned her and explained the subject as fully as I could to her and we had prayed, she claimed
the blessing though she did not get any special witness that the work was done. But soon she came
again to one of my meetings and testified, and her testimony threw light on the difficulty with many
people.
She said that for several days after she left that first meeting she did not feel any different, but while
about her housework a thought came to her mind. No doubt the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier Himself;
suggested it to her, that her sanctification was a part of her Father's will for her and that He offered
it to her on the simple conditions of full consecration and Childlike faith in Him. Then it dawned
upon her that she had met these conditions and that now instead of waiting for any unusual feelings
she must just act as though it were done.
She then added that when she began to count it done and to act as though it were done, then she
began to realize that God was doing His part. She began to feel the mighty workings of the Spirit in
her heart.
Now it is just at this point that many people fail. They wait for feeling, and hesitate and doubt and
wonder and go with their heads down and repine, and maybe throw away their confidence. Instead
they should recklessly but intelligently give themselves over to Jesus to be His for ever, to do His will
unto death; they should step out on the promise with humility and adoring faith toward God, and
with a shout of defiance to the devil and all their fears, count the work done.
One day ten lepers, poor, miserable men with the flesh rotting off their bones, met Jesus, 'And they
lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when He saw them' (Luke xvii.
13-14) -- (bless Him!) -- how He loved them and yearned over them in their misery! But His yearnings
over their sick bodies were feeble compared to His mighty yearnings over your diseased soul, my
brother, my sister. 'And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go, shew yourselves unto the
priests.' It was a law among the Jews that when a leper was healed, he must go to the priest and get
a certificate that he was a safe person to be at large among the people, much as a smallpox patient
might have to do among us. But these poor fellows might have objected and said to Jesus: 'But look
at us! We are not healed. Our leprosy is just the same. We are not different since you spoke to us.
We shall be fools to go in this plight, and we shall not be received if we do go. Do not mock us. Heal
us, make us feel different that we may know we are healed, then we will go.'
No, no, no, these poor wretches did not talk so; they did not stop to reason with their doubts and
fears; they did not stop to examine their feelings, or to compare themselves with the healthy folks
about them. Jesus had spoken the word and it was theirs to trust and obey; and so they hobbled off,
I imagine, as fast as they could go, 'And it came to pass ' -- (something always comes to pass when
people trust and obey) -- 'And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.' Bless God!
That was cleansing through 'the obedience of faith,' and it is written for our encouragement and
instruction.
Reader, do you want this experience? If you have it, rejoice and praise God for it. Don't merely keep
on seeking it, else you will get into darkness, but go to thanking God for it and testifying of it to
others. But if you have it not, give yourself up fully to God just now, ask for it, believe for it, and if it
does not come at once, patiently and expectantly wait for it. Expect it, expect it, expect it! He gives
His people 'an expected end.' Remind God of His promises. Don't give Him any rest till He comes and
sanctifies you. Tell Him you have come to stay, and that you will not let Him go till He blesses you.
Nestle down on His promises close to the loving heart of Jesus and stay there expecting till you know
the work is done.
If the devil and an evil heart of unbelief say: 'It is for others, but not for you' -- you say: 'I am all the
Lord's; get behind me, Satan,' and tell Jesus about it.
If the devil says: 'You don't feel any different,' -- you say: 'I am all the Lord's; get behind me, Satan,'
and tell Jesus about this also. If the devil says: You can't keep it if you do get it,' -- you say: 'I am all
the Lord's; get behind me, Satan,' and don't forget to tell this to Jesus.
Act out your faith, regardless of your feelings, and a heaven of love and joy and peace and patience
will soon fill your poor heart, and you will get 'lost in wonder, love and praise' ; only don't bother
yourself about your feelings. Your business is to wait on God for orders and inspiration, and then to
trust and obey. It is His part of the business to shine upon you and cleanse you, and fill you with the
Holy Ghost, and make your heart bubble over with joy.
Claim the promise; feed on the word of God; feast yourself on His love and faithfulness in Jesus; wait
on Him in believing, expectant prayer and you will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and you
will become strong to do a man's work for God and souls. You will rise above discouragements and
difficulties, and you will chase a thousand of your enemies, and if you can find a fellow with a
kindred spirit the two of you will put ten thousand to flight. Glory to God!
Go to believing just now and you will have peace. Continue to believe and your peace will flow like a
river.
Hold on this way, resisting the devil steadfast in the faith, reminding Jesus of His promises and
encouraging your own heart with them, and I declare it will not be long before your patient,
expectant faith receives a great reward. God will say: 'It is enough; he has come to stay; We will
bless him,' and, calling to mind His ancient promise, He will open the windows of Heaven and pour
him out ' a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it' (Mal. iii. 10). Then down into
your waiting, trusting, expecting heart will come the Comforter, the blessed Holy Ghost, and up from
the deepest center of your soul will spring the artesian well of living waters of holy love and praise.
Then the meek and lowly Jesus will come and dwell in your clean heart, and you will love Him more
than a mother loves her first-born babe, or than the bridegroom loves his bride. You will adore Him
and worship Him and pour out your heart's treasures upon Him, and loathe yourself for all your sins
that crowned Him with thorns and nailed Him to the Cross, and your unbelief and hardness of heart
that kept Him from you so long.
Have the blessing now. Let God search you and show you all your heart. Don't be afraid. Heartily give
yourself to Him and trust, expect, ask, wait, receive.
Holiness: What It Is Not, And What It Is
First of all. Holiness is not necessarily a state in which there is perpetual rapturous joy. Isaiah liii. 3
tells us that Jesus was 'a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,' and Paul tells us of himself that
he had continual sorrow and great heaviness because of the rejection of Jesus by his kinsmen after
the flesh. Joy is the normal state of a holy man, but it may be mingled with sorrow and grief and
perplexities and heaviness on account of manifold temptations. The low water mark, however, in the
experience of a holy person is one of perfect peace -- the high water mark is up in the third heaven
somewhere; however, this third heaven experience is not likely to be constantly maintained. Jesus
and the disciples had to come down off the Mount of Transfiguration and go to casting out devils,
and Paul returned from the third heaven to be buffeted of Satan, and stoned and whipped, and
imprisoned of men.
II. Holiness is not a state of freedom from temptation. This is a world of trial, and conflict with
principalities and powers, darknesses and terrible evils, and the holy soul who is in the forefront of
the conflict may expect the fiercest assaults of the devil, and the heaviest and most perplexing and
prolonged temptations. Our Blessed Lord was tried and tempted for forty days and forty nights of
the devil, and the servant must not be surprised if he is as his Master.
Paul tells us that Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, and that He is able to succor us when we
are tempted. It is no sin to be tempted; in fact, the Apostle James tells us to rejoice when we are
subjected to all manner of temptations for the resulting trial of our faith will produce in us strength
and force of holy character, so that we shall be lacking in nothing (Jas. i. 2-4).
III. Holiness is not a state of freedom from infirmities. It does not produce a perfect head, but rather
a perfect heart! The saints have always been compassed about with infirmities that have proved a
source of great trial, but when patiently endured for His dear sake have also proved a source of
great blessing. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, an infirmity, a messenger of Satan to buffet him.
Possibly it was weak eyes, for he was once stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead, and
in writing to the Galatians, he tells them they would have plucked out their eyes and given them to
him had it been possible. Or it may have been a stammering tongue, for he tells us he was accounted
rude of speech. Anyway, it was an infirmity which he longed to be rid of; doubtless feeling that it
interfered with his usefulness, and three times he prayed to the Lord for deliverance, but instead of
getting the prayed-for deliverance, the Lord said to him, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for My
strength is made perfect in weakness' (2 Cor. xii. 9).
Then Paul cried out, 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong' (2 Cor. xii. 9-10)
In the Epistle to the Hebrews iv. 15 we are told that Jesus was 'touched of our infirmities.' We may
be faulty in memory, in judgment, in understanding; we may have manifold infirmities of body and
mind; but God looks upon the purity of the heart, the singleness of the eye, and the loyalty of our
affection, and if He does not find us faulty there, He counts us perfect men. It is not in the mere
natural perfection that the power and glory of God are manifested, but rather in goodness and
purity and patience and love and meekness and long-suffering shining forth through infirmities of
flesh and imperfections of mind.
IV. Holiness is not a state of freedom from affliction. The saints of all ages have been chosen 'in the
furnace of affliction' (Isa. xlviii. 10). Job and Jeremiah and Daniel and Paul and the mighty army of
martyrs have, and shall always, come up through great tribulations. It is not God's purpose to take us
to heaven on flowery beds of ease, clothe us in purple and fine linen, and keep a sugar plum in our
mouths all the time. That would not develop strength of character, nor cultivate simplicity and purity
of heart: nor in that case could we really know Jesus, and the fellowship of His sufferings. It is in the
furnace of fire, the lion's den, and the dungeon cell that He most freely reveals Himself to His
people.
Other things being equal, the holy man is less liable to afflictions than the sinner. He does not run
into the same excesses that the sinner does; he is free from the pride, the temper, the jealousies,
the vaulting ambitions, and selfishness, that plunge so many sinners into terrible affliction and ruin;
and yet he must not presume that he will get through the world without heavy trials, sore
temptations and afflictions. Job was a perfect man, but he lost all his property and his children, and,
in a day was made a childless pauper; but he proved his perfection by giving God glory. Then when
his wife bade him curse God and die, he said unto her, 'Thou speakest as one of the foolish women
speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?' (Job ii. 10).
And when his three friends were undermining his faith, he looked up from off his ash heap, and out
of his awful sorrow and desolation, and fierce pain, and cried out, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust
in Him ' (Job x iii. 15).
Joseph is one of the few men in the Bible against whom nothing is recorded, but like Daniel his very
holiness and righteousness led to the terrible trials he endured in Egypt. And so it may be, and is,
with the saints to-day. But while we may be afflicted, yet we can comfort ourselves with David's
assurance, 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all' (Ps.
xxxiv. 19). A friend of mine said he would rather have a thousand afflictions and be delivered out of
them all, than to have half a dozen and get stuck in the midst of them.
V. Holiness is not a state in which there is no further development. When the heart is purified it
develops more rapidly than ever before. Spiritual development comes through the revelation of
Jesus Christ in the heart, and the holy soul is in a condition to receive such revelations constantly,
and since the finite can never exhaust the infinite, these revelations will continue for ever and prove
an increasing and never-ending source of development. It would be as wise to say that a child
afflicted with rickets would grow no more when its blood was purified; or that corn would grow no
more when the weeds were destroyed, as to say that a soul will cease to grow in grace when it is
made holy.
VI. Holiness is not a state from which we cannot fall. Paul tells us that we stand by faith (Rom. xi. 1622), and he says, 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall' (I Cor. x. 12). It is an
unscriptural and dangerous doctrine that there is any state of grace in this world from which we
cannot fall. Probation does not end the moment we believe on Jesus, but rather the moment we
quit the body. It is only those who endure to the end who shall be saved. While here, we are in the
enemy's country, and must watch and pray and daily examine ourselves, and keep ourselves in the
love of God, lest we fall from His grace and make shipwreck of our faith. But while we may fall, thank
God holiness is a state from which we need not fall, in fact it is a state which Paul calls, 'this grace
wherein we stand' (Rom. V.2).
Some have asked the question, 'How can a holy soul be tempted or how can it fall?' I will ask the
question, how could the angels fall? And how could Adam, just fresh from the hands of his Maker in
whose image he was made, fall? And I will ask the more startling question still, how could Jesus, the
blessed incarnate himself be tempted? We have our five senses and various bodily appetites, none
of which are in themselves sinful, but each of which may become an avenue by which the holy soul
may be solicited to evil. Each must be regulated by the word of God and dominated by the love of
Jesus, if we wish to keep a holy heart, and 'stand perfect and complete in all the will of God' (Col. iv.
12).
Finally holiness is a state of conformity to the divine nature. God is love and there is a sense in which
a holy man can be said to be love. He is like God, not in God's natural perfection of power and
wisdom and knowledge and omnipresence, but in patience, humility, self-control, purity of heart and
love. As the drop out of the ocean is like the ocean not in its bigness but in it's essence so is the holy
soul like God. As the branch is like the vine, not in its self-sufficiency, but in its nature its sap, it's
fruitfulness, its beauty, so is he that is holy like God.
This is unspeakable blessing is provided for us by our compassionate Heavenly Father through the
shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is received through a complete renunciation of all sin, an
uttermost consecration to all the known will of God, importunate prayer, and child-like faith. Fifteen
years ago I obtained this crowning blessing of the gospel through the conscious incoming of the Holy
Spirit when I believed, after weeks of earnest seeking. Bless God! He still abides with me and my
peace and joy increase and abound. Many have been my afflictions, and fierce and perplexing and
prolonged have been my temptations, but with a daredevil faith I have pressed on, claiming victory
through the Blood, testifying to what I claimed by faith, and proving day by day this grace to be
sufficient while the path shines more and more unto the perfect day. Glory be to God for ever!
Holy Covetousness
'Covet earnestly the best gifts,' wrote Paul to his Officers and Soldiers at Corinth. Not the highest
promotions, not the best positions, but 'the best gifts,' those gifts which God bestows upon the
people who earnestly covet them and diligently seek Him.
Nero sat upon the throne of the world; he held the highest position in the reach of man; but a poor,
despised Jew in a dungeon in Rome, whose head Nero cut off as a dog's head, possessed the best
gifts; and while Nero's name rots, Paul's name and works are a foundation upon which the righteous
build for centuries and millenniums.
There were deacons, archdeacons, and venerable archdeacons, bishops, and archbishops in England,
some hundreds of years ago, who held high places and power, and to whom other men bowed low;
but a poor, despised tinker in the filthy Bedford jail had coveted earnestly and received 'the best
gifts'; and while these church dignitaries are forgotten by the mass of men, the world knows and
loves the saintly tinker, John Bunyan, and is ever being made better and lifted nearer to God by his
wise works and words.
Comrades, you and I should seek these 'best gifts' with all our hearts, and we should be satisfied
with nothing short of them. It makes but little difference what our position and rank; if we have
these gifts we shall have a name and bless the world; but without them we shall prove to be only
sham -- painted fire and hollow mockery; and the greater our position and the higher our rank, the
greater shams we are, and the greater will be our shame in God's great day of reckoning.
What are these gifts?
There is one which in a sense includes them all, the germ of them all is in that -- the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Have you received the Holy Ghost? Is He dwelling in your heart? Covet Him. Live not a day
without His blessed presence in you.
Then there is the gift of wisdom. Covet this. The world is full of foolish men and women who don't
know how to save themselves, nor how to promote salvation and peace among their fellow foolish
ones who miss the way, who stumble along in darkness and perish in their folly. The world needs
wise men, men who know when to speak and what to say; who know when to be silent; who know
God and His way, and walk in it.
God gives wisdom to those that seek Him. ' If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,....and it
shall be given him' -- if he ask in faith without wavering. (James i.5.) Nothing will so distinguish a man
and exalt him among his fellows as fullness of wisdom.
There are several marks by which to know this heavenly wisdom. James tells us what they are. He
says (James iii. 17): 'The wisdom that is from above is first -'Pure.' The man who is truly wise will keep himself pure. He will flee from all impurity in thought,
word, and act. Filthy habits of every kind are broken and put away by this heavenly wisdom.
'Then peaceable.' The man who has this gift and wisdom from God does not meddle with strife. He
seeks peace and runs after it. (i Peter iii. 11.) He is essentially a peacemaker. He has learned the
secret of the 'soft answer ' which turns away wrath. He is not quick to take offense.
'Gentle.' The man who lives in the Spirit of this world may be rough and boorish, but he who is wise
from above is gentle and considerate; and this gentleness may exist in the same heart with lion-like
strength and determination. Jesus was as 'a Lamb slain,' but He was also 'the Lion of the tribe of
Judah.' He was gentle as a mother and at the same time immeasurably strong.
'Easy to be entreated.' Though he is sinned against seventy times seven in a day, yet this heavenlywise man stands ready to forgive. (Matthew xviii. 21- 35.) His heart is an exhaustless fountain of
good will. While, if it be his lot to rule, he rules 'with diligence ' (Romans xii. 8), and. if necessary,
with vigor, yet he counts not his life dear unto himself, but is willing to lay it down for the good of his
brethren. (Acts xx. 24; I John iii. 16.)
'Full of mercy and good fruits.' Like his Heavenly Father he is rich in mercy.' (Ephesians ii. 4.)
'Without partiality ' He is not a party man. He rises above party and class prejudice and is a lover of
all men. He stands for 'the fair deal.'
'And without hypocrisy.' There is no guile in his heart, no white lies on his tongue, no double-dealing
in his actions. He is square and open and above-board in all his ways and dealings. He lives in
constant readiness for the Judgment Day. Blessed be God for such wisdom, which He waits to
bestow upon all those who covet it and who ask for it in faith. Covet wisdom.
Then there is the gift of faith. Covet faith. In every man there is, in some measure, the power to
believe, but added to this is a gift of faith which God bestows upon those who diligently seek Him.
Covet this, O my comrades! Be steady, strong, intelligent believers. Cultivate faith. Stir it up in your
hearts as you stir up the fire in your stove. Feed your faith on God's Word.
I once heard a mighty evangelist say that he used to pray and pray for faith, but one day he read:
'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.' (Romans x. 17.) Then he began to study
God's Word and hide it in his heart, and his faith began to grow and grow until through faith his
works girded the globe. Covet faith.
Again, there is the gift of the spirit of prayer. Anybody can pray, if he will, but how few have the
spirit of prayer! How few make a business of prayer, and wrestle with God for blessing and power
and wisdom! Real prayer is something more than a form of words, or a hasty address to God just
after breakfast, before the Meeting, or before going to bed at night. It is an intense, intelligent,
persistent council with the Lord, in which we wait on Him, and reason and argue and plead our
cause, and listen for His reply, and will not let Him go till He blesses us. But how few pray in this way
! Let us covet earnestly and cultivate diligently the spirit of prayer.
We should also covet the spirit of prophecy that is, the ability to speak to the hearts and minds of
men so that they shall see and feel that God is in us and in our words. (I Corinthians xiv. 1-3.) We
may not be able to preach like the General, but there is probably not one of us but might preach and
prophesy far more pungently, powerfully and persuasively than we do if we earnestly coveted this
gift and sought it in fervent prayer, faithful study, and constant and deep meditation. God would
help us; and how greatly it would add to our power and usefulness! Let us earnestly covet this gift,
asking God to touch our lips with fire and with grace. The people wondered at the gracious words of
Jesus; and why should we not be such mouthpieces for Him that they shall wonder at our gracious
words too!
Solomon said, 'He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.'
And Paul said, 'Let your speech be always with grace.'
But, above all, covet a heart full and flaming and overflowing with love. Pray for love. Stir up what
love you have; exercise love. It is good to take the Bible and, with a concordance, hunt out the word
'love' until we know all the Bible says on the subject. And then with a heart full of love, pour it out on
the children, the Soldiers, backsliders, and cranky folks, and poor loveless sinners, until that
wondrous text has its fulfillment in us Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in
His might.' (Judges v. 31.) How the frost and snows melt, the frozen earth thaws, the trees burst into
bud and leaf, the flowers blossom, the birds sing, and all nature wakes to a revelry of life and joy
when the sun goeth forth in his might!
And we may be so full of love and faith and power and the Holy Ghost that we shall be like that.
Hallelujah! Then indeed we shall be a blessing. Souls dead in trespasses and sin shall come to life
under our loving ministry and message; the weak shall be made strong, the sorrowing shall receive
Divine comfort, the ignorant shall be taught, and heavenly light shall illumine those that are in
darkness. Let us then 'covet earnestly the best gifts.'
How A Nobody Became A Somebody
It is one of the shortest, simplest stories ever heard, and yet one of the sweetest and most
wonderful, as told by Luke.
Jesus had been across the little sea and had cast a legion of devils out of a poor fellow. The devils, by
His permission, went into a big herd of swine, and the swine rushed off down a precipice and
drowned themselves in the sea. They preferred death to devils. Wise pigs!
The men who fed the pigs fled to the city and told what had been done. Then the people came out
to Jesus, and found the man out of whom the devils had been cast, 'sitting at the feet of Jesus,
clothed, and in his right mind'; but, and this seems passing strange, 'they were afraid.' Then the
people poured in from all the country round about, and 'besought Him to depart from them; for they
were taken with great fear.'
Jesus did not insist on His right to stay among them, but gently and quietly withdrew, leaving the
new convert to evangelize all that country.
When Jesus returned to His own side of the sea, He found the people all waiting for Him, and they
'gladly received Him.'
In the crowd was the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus, who 'fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought Him
that He would come into his house: for he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and
she lay dying.' Jesus went, but 'as He went the people thronged Him.' It was a crowd bursting with
curiosity, wondering what He would do next, and determined not to miss the sight. Jairus was an
important person, and that added to the interest.
But in the town was a poor, pale-faced, hollow-cheeked, ill-clad woman, who had been sick with an
issue of blood for twelve years. The people, no doubt, had grown very tired of seeing her shambling
along week after week to see the doctors, upon whom she had spent all her living in a vain twelve
years' search and struggle for health. She was just a 'nobody ' -- everybody was tired of the sight of
her, and here into the throng she came with her bloodless face and tired eyes and shuffling feet and
threadbare, faded clothes. The crowd jostled her, crushed her, trampled upon her slow, heavy feet,
blocked her way; but she had a purpose. She was inspired by a new hope. If she could only reach
Jesus, and touch but the hem of His garment, she was sure her long struggle for health would be
ended. And so, dodging, ducking under arms, edging her way through the jam of the great, moving
crowd, she at last got close to Him, and. stretching forth a wasted, bony hand, she touched his
travel-stained, rough, workman's robe, and -- Oh, something happened! Instantly a thrill of health
shot through her, and she was well!
And something had happened to Jesus! The crowd had been pressing upon and jostling Him, but
that touch of His garment had thrilled through His rough robe, and He said, 'Who touched Me? '
They all denied, and then Peter spoke up: 'Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and
sayest Thou, Who touched Me? The multitude had touched Him, but one timid touch was different
from all the rest. Jesus said: 'Somebody hath touched Me; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of
Me.'
Ah! The nobody had suddenly become 'somebody.' And somebody she was in very truth from that
day forth. 'And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down
before Him she declared unto Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him, and
how she was healed immediately.'
All eyes were turned upon her now. Jairus, the important ruler, was just one of the crowd. Other
people were all 'nobodies.' No one in all that throng had eyes for anybody else than just that
shrinking, trembling woman, and Jesus.
And then the sweetest words she ever heard dropped from His dear lips: 'Daughter, be of good
comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole: go in peace.' And in peace she went.
I venture to think that from that hour she was by far the most interesting woman in all that town.
The people would talk about her they would seek her out, and when she walked the street the
children would stop their playing, the women their knitting and gossip, and the men their traffic, to
look at her and watch her as far as their eyes could follow her.
Oh, she was now 'somebody ' eclipsing everybody else in that old town. No, not everybody! There
was a twelve-year-old girl who was most interesting and much talked about, too -- Jairus' daughter.
Jesus was on the way to heal her when this woman stopped the procession, and during the delay the
little girl died.
Some one came and told Jairus, saying: 'Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.' But when
Jesus heard it, He answered: 'Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.' And He went and
raised her from the dead.
Now I am sure that while that woman was the most talked about and most interesting woman in the
town, that girl was the most interesting child. Those were the two 'somebodies ' of that whole
country round about, and the secret was that they had come into touch with Jesus. Real faith in
Jesus, vital union with Him, will always make an interesting somebody out of a dull nobody.
The child couldn't go to Jesus; she was dead; so He went to her. But the woman had to go to Jesus,
and this was not easy. The crowd was in the way, and possibly some of them purposely blocked her
way. Others may have sneered at her; and asked her what was her haste, and what she meant by
edging in front of folks who had as much right on the street as she. But she shut her ears, or heard as
one who was deaf; she kept her own secrets and pressed on as best she could till she touched
Him,and that touch gave her all her heart's desire and rewarded all her effort.
So, to-day, people who go to Jesus do not always find it easy. Other people get in the way.
Sometimes they stoutly oppose; sometimes they sneer and ridicule. Cares and fears and doubts
throng and press around the seeker; darkness of mind and soul obscures the way. But there is
nothing else to do except to press on, right on and on; and the one who presses on and on will find
Him, reach Him, touch Him, and will get all his heart's desire and be rewarded above all he asks or
thinks.
It is true! I know it is, for I myself so sought and found Him, and was satisfied, and He satisfies me
still. He is a wonderful Saviour! Hallelujah for ever and ever! Amen
How To Get Holiness
God never raises a crop of potatoes or a field of wheat or a bushel of oats without man's help. He
takes men into partnership with Him in such matters, He furnishes the sunshine and the air, the rain
and the dew, the day and the night, the fruitful seasons, the busy, burrowing little earthworms and
insects which keep the lungs of the earth open so that it can breathe, and He gives life to the seed,
so that it may grow. Man must prepare the ground, plant the seed, keep down the weeds, and
gather in the harvest. Men sometimes think that they are doing it all, but they are quite mistaken in
this. Our loving Heavenly Father has been preparing the earth for thousands of years for every
potato that grows, and He ceaselessly works, by day and by night, to help man to raise his crops.
And so it is in matters that concern our souls. God and man must work together, both to save and to
sanctify. God never saves a sinner without that sinner's help, and usually the help of some other
folks as well, who preach or pray, or write and sing, or suffer that he may be saved. Ages before we
were born, God provided the means of salvation for all. Angels and prophets spoke God's truth.
Jesus came and showed us God's love, and died for our sins; the Holy Spirit was given, the blessed
Bible was written, and all things were made ready.
But now, the sinner must hear the truth for himself, must repent, most confess his sins and give
them up, and must ask God for pardon, and believe, before he can be saved. And for a sinner to
expect salvation without doing this would be as big a piece of folly as for a farmer to expect a crop of
potatoes without having planted them.
And so, to get the priceless gift of the Holy Spirit -- a clean heart -- we must work together with God.
On God's side, all things are ready, and He waits and longs to give the blessing; but before He can do
so, we must, with His help, get ourselves ready; we must do our part, which is very simple, and easily
within our power to do.
1. We must see our need of the blessing, and to see this need, we must be clearly justified. No sinner
has his spiritual eyes open to see the need of a clean heart. He is blind to these things. He may have
dreadful hatred in his heart, but so long as he restrains himself, and does the person he hates no
harm, he thinks he is a very good sort of fellow. He cannot see that in the eyes of God he is a
murderer, for does not God say, 'Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer'? (I John iii. 15.) He
may have lust in his heart, but so long as he does not commit adultery, he flatters himself that he is
quite respectable in God's sight, in spite of the fact that Jesus says that the look of lust is adultery.
The first thing, then, is to be well saved, and so fully in the light of God's smile that we can see our
need of cleansing.
2. We must not try to hide the need, but frankly confess it. Let me ask you, do you know that you are
saved? You say, 'Oh, yes, I know that I have given my heart to God, and I feel that my sins have been
forgiven and my life has been changed, and I feel that I am saved just now.'
Good, but do you know that your heart is clean? Are all the roots of bitterness gone? Do you bear
patiently the faults of others? Do you bear meekly, and with a forgiving spirit, the unkindness of
others? Do you love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself? Do
you feel that all malice and pride, and jealousy and envy, and evil and filthy desire, and unholy
ambition and unbelief, and all foolish things have been taken out of your heart, and that the Holy
Spirit has His own way in you all the while? Remember that holiness has to do with the heart, and
that, as Solomon says, 'Out of the heart are the issues of life.' It is at the heart that Jesus looks, and
He says, 'Blessed are the pure in heart.'
Now, if your heart is not clean, do not be afraid or ashamed to say so, but frankly tell your Heavenly
Father the whole truth about the matter.
3. The next thing is to believe that the blessing is for you. Of course, if you do not believe that you
can be cleansed from envy and jealousy, and quick temper and all sin, and be kept pure and good all
the time, you will not seek for it.
Satan will surely do all he can to discourage you, and make you doubt the possibility of holiness for
yourself He will tell you that it is for other people, but not for you. But he might as well tell you that
the sun shines for other people, but not for you! Our Heavenly Father 'maketh His sun to rise on the
evil and on the good. and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.' He is no respecter of persons.
Bless His holy Name! And He offers His full salvation to all who will take it.
Satan will tell you that your disposition is so peculiar, or your circumstances at home, or at school, or
in the shop, or mine, or mill, are so disagreeable that you cannot hope to be holy.
Your disposition may be peculiar, but God will take all the sin out of it, so that where it is now
peculiarly impatient and jealous, and envious and lustful, and bad, it will be peculiarly good and
patient, and loving and generous, and humble and chaste. A highly-strung, quick-tempered girl got
sanctified, and it made her gentle like Jesus. A proud, ambitious young fellow whom I know got a
clean heart, and he was made humble and self-sacrificing, until his friends hardly knew him.
As for your circumstances, holiness will make you their master instead of their servant. The other
day, I wanted a hole in the hard rubber cap of the fountain-pen with which I am writing these words,
so I heated a pin, and burned the hole right through. If the pin had been cold, I should probably have
broken either the pin or the cap, and should certainly have failed to make that hole. Holiness will
make you hot enough to burn your way through your circumstances. 'Our God is a consuming fire,'
and holiness is God in you.
Satan may tell you that you have failed so often that God will not now give you the blessing. That is a
lie of the devil's. Don't believe it. Your mother might treat you in that way, but God won't, for 'God is
love.' He knows all about your failures, and pities you, and loves you still, and wants to give you the
blessing far more than you want to receive it. Peter failed again and again during the three years he
was with Jesus, and finally there was an awful failure during that sad hour when he cursed and
swore that he did not know Him; but in spite of it all, Jesus loved him, and within a few weeks of that
time, Peter got the blessing, and we find him winning three thousand souls in a single day.
Again, Satan may tell you that if you do get the blessing, people will not believe that you have it.
Well, suppose they do not, what then? Will you refuse to believe God because people will not
believe you? If you get the blessing, and live in the joy and sweetness and power and glory of it, they
will have to believe you sooner or later, just as people have to believe there is fire in the stove when
they feel it.
To get the blessing, you must resist the devil, and believe that it is for you.
4. You must believe that it is for you now. It is astonishing how sinners wish to put off the time of
salvation, and it is even more astonishing how saved people put off seeking a clean heart until some
other time. The devil and their evil hearts of unbelief keep saying, 'Some time, but not just now.' But
the dear Lord in mercy keeps whispering, 'Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day
of salvation.' 'Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.' Nothing grieves the Holy Spirit
and hardens the heart like this delay of unbelief.
5. The next thing to do is to come to Jesus for the blessing, with a true heart, holding back nothing,
but giving your all to Him for time and eternity. that He may give His all to you. At this point there
must be no hypocrisy, no double-dealing, no half-heartedness, no holding back part of the price. The
Lord offers us the biggest blessing this side of Heaven. He offers us perfect cleansing from sin,
perfect victory over the devil, and the Holy Spirit to dwell in our clean hearts to teach and guide and
comfort us; but in exchange He asks us to give Him our little all.
How infinitely and hopelessly foolish shall we be if we are so selfish or tearful or unbelieving as to
refuse! It is as though a king should offer a poor beggar garments of velvet and gold in exchange for
rags, diamonds in exchange for dirt, and a glorious palace in place of a cellar or garret. How foolish
would the beggar be who should insist on keeping a few of his rags, a little handful of his dirt, and
the privilege of going back to his cellar now and again. until the king finally withdrew all the splendid
things he had offered! And yet so foolish, and more so, are they who try to get this blessing from
God, while refusing to consecrate their all and obey Him fully.
The Lord's word to us on this point is, 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
meat in Mine house; and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the
windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.'
(Mal. iii. 10.) It is no little blessing, but an overflowing one that the Lord means to give you.
When Jonathan Edwards, one of God's mighty men of the past, was but a boy student, he wrote as
follows in his diary:
'I have this day solemnly renewed my covenant and dedication. I have been before God, and given
myself and all that I am and have to Him, so that I am not in any respect my own, and can claim no
right to myself -- to this understanding, to this will, these affections; and have no right to this body -to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses. I have given every power to God, so
that for the future I will claim no right to myself.'
Does such a life seem unattractive to you? Someone has written:-'A cathedral window seen from without is dull and meaningless; but enter, and the light of heaven
streaming through it glorifies it with every beauty of form and color. Consecration to God for service
may seem dull enough when seen from without, but enter into that experience, and the light of the
Divine Love streaming through it shall glorify your life with a beauty and blessedness which are
Heaven's own.'
To make such a consecration we may have to go over it several times, and assure ourselves that we
have given all, and that we mean it with all our heart. But, having done this, until we can look up into
the face of Jesus without a doubt, and sing -My all is on the altar, I'm waiting for the fire -- we may be sure we are near the blessing.
If we thus give ourselves to God, there is but one thing more to do; that is, to take it by faith, and
wait patiently on Him for the witness of the Spirit that it is done.
A nobleman whose son was sick came to Jesus, 'and besought Him that He would come down, and
heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus
saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken
unto him, and he went his way.' (John iv. 47-50.) The next day when he got home, he found his boy
well. Hallelujah! That is the kind of faith that walks off with the blessing.
Jesus will not fail you at this point, if you patiently look to Him, and hold fast your faith.
Again and again I have seen people burst into the light when they have consecrated their all, and
believed in this way. Some time ago in a Holiness Meeting, the penitent form was full of seekers,
among whom were several earnest young men. I asked one of them who seemed to be the most
deeply in earnest, 'Do you now give yourself and your all to God?'
'Yes, I do,' said he.
'Well, whose man are you, then?' I inquired.
'I am the Lord's.'
'Can you trust the Lord to sanctify His own man?'
'Yes, I can.'
'When?'
'Now!' and he burst into the holy joy of faith, and began to praise the Lord at once; and several
others got the blessing that morning in the same way.
You too, my brother, my sister, you can have the blessing just now, if you thus meet the conditions.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks to that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, And cries, It
shall be done.
How To Keep A Clean Heart
It is possible to lose the blessing of a clean heart, but, thank God, it is also gloriously possible to keep
it. How to do this is a vital question. Two or three years ago, a brother, going to the foreign field,
arose in one of my meetings and said, 'I got the blessing three times but lost it twice. The third time I
got it the Lord taught me how to keep it through this text "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord so walk ye in Him"' (Col. ii. 6).
That is one of the simplest and completest statements of how to keep the blessing that can be given.
The conditions of getting it are the conditions of keeping it.
I. To keep it, there must be continued joyful and perfect consecration. We have put all on the altar
to get it. We must leave all on the altar to keep it. 'All the tithes' must be brought into God's house.
We must present our bodies to Him as 'a living sacrifice,' recognizing ourselves as no longer our own,
but His, by the purchase of His Blood, and ourselves as stewards only of all that is ours. Our health
and strength, our time and talent, our money and influence, our body, mind, and spirit, all, all are
His, to be used for His glory as fully as the fondest bride would use her all in the interest of her
husband. And this consecration must keep pace with increasing light. The journey of life is not
always through grassy lawns and flowery gardens, but often over burning, shifting, sandy deserts,
rocky steeps, fetid swamps, and dark and tangled jungles, as the Lord leads the soul in ways it has
not known. And at such times self-interest may cry out against the sacrifice. But if the consecration
be perfect, and grounded in love, there will be no turning back, no plunging into seductive and easy
by-paths, but a steady marching forward, if needs be to Gethsemane's lonely agony, Pilate's
judgment hall of shame, and Golgotha's dark and awful hour. But. thank God, it will not be alone for
He says, 'My presence shall go with thee.' (Exod. xxxiii. 14). Hallelujah!
II. To keep the blessing, there must be steadfast, childlike faith. It took faith unmixed with doubt to
grasp the blessing. Unbelief was banished. Doubts were put away. The assurance of God's love in
Jesus was heartily believed. His ability and willingness to save to the uttermost was fully accepted,
and His word simply trusted when the blessing was received; and, of course, this same faith must be
maintained in order to keep it. God cannot require less of the sanctified man to keep the blessing
than He did of the unsanctified man to get it. Peter said, 'Who are kept by the power of God through
faith' (I Pet. i. 5). Notice it is 'the power of God that keeps us, but it is faith that links us on to the
power as the coupling links the railway carriage to the locomotive. Faith is the coupling. Paul said of
himself, 'the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God' (Gal. ii. 20). And
again he tells us that the Jews were cut off through unbelief, and that we stand by faith.
We may suffer prolonged trials, great perplexities, and fierce temptations -- they are a part of the
discipline of life-but we must
Keep on believing, Jesus is near,
Keep on believing, there's nothing to fear:
Keep on believing, this is the way,
Faith in the night as well as the day.
III. To keep the blessing, we must pray to and commune much with the Lord. We pray when we talk
to God and ask Him for things. We commune, with Him when we, are still and listen and let God talk
to us, and mold us, and show us His love and His will, and teach us in the way He would have us go.
We should pray often and not be in too great a hurry, but 'take time to be holy' take time to 'taste
and see that the Lord is good,' and to hear what He will say. And this we should do, if possible, in the
morning, that we may be strengthened and nourished and gladdened for the day. Backsliding usually
begins through neglected, or hurried, secret prayer.
Someone has said, 'Stay with God in prayer, stay till He melts you, and then stay when you are
melted and plead with God, and He will answer, and you will get changed and transformed and
renewed, and you will do execution.'
IV. To keep the blessing, we must give diligent attention to the Bible. The soul needs the food of
truth, and Jesus said, 'Man shall not live, by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God.' (Matt. iv. 4) God commanded Joshua saying, 'This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.' What for? 'That thou
mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.' And what shall follow? 'For then thou
shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.' (Josh. i. 8). Then thou shalt
keep the blessing.
David said of his blessed man, 'His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate
day and night.' (Ps. i. 2). And Paul tells us that the Scriptures are 'profitable for doctrine, for reproof
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished to all good works' (2 Tim. iii. 16-17). And Peter says, 'as new born babes, desire the sincere
milk of the word that ye may grow thereby' (I Pet. ii. 2). Some professors are smaller ten years after
birth than when they were born, because they have not fed on God's word. Catherine Booth read
the Bible through several times before she was twelve years old, and grew thereby, until it is not to
be wondered at that she became a 'mother of nations.' I once gave a talk on the use of the Bible to
my Soldiers, and some of them caught the inspiration, and carried their Bibles in their pockets after
that and spent all the spare time they had in reading and praying, and we could fairly see them grow,
until they became powers for God, and some of them are spiritual giants to this day.
V. To keep the blessing, we must confess it be aggressive, and seek to get others into it. 'For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation'
(Rom. x. 10). The man who withholds his testimony to this grace will lose it. This light, hid under a
bushel, will go out. God gives it to us that we may put it on a candle-stick and give light to all that are
in the house, in the corps, in the community, in the nation. Don't limit the power of testimony by
unbelief. A torch loses no light and heat by lighting a thousand other torches.
Touch a piece of steel with a magnet, and it in turn becomes a magnet. It can then be used to turn
ten thousand other pieces into magnets with no loss, but rather with increase of power to itself. But
hang it up in idleness, and it gradually loses its power. So with us, my comrades. Let the Holy Ghost
touch us with cleansing power, and we become divine magnets, and in touching other souls we will
quicken them and get added power and clearness of experience to ourselves. But let us withhold our
testimony, and we lose our power and, like Samson, soon find ourselves 'as other men.'
Testify, testify, testify -- clearly, definitely, constantly, courageously, humbly -- if you would keep the
blessing. When faith is weak and devils all around, definite testimony scatters the devils, strengthens
faith and stirs up and brightens the inward witness. Testify to the Lord, tell Him you have the
blessing and thank Him for it. Testify to your comrades. Testify to your own heart and to the devil.
John tells us that the white-robed multitude in Heaven overcame by the Blood of the Lamb and the
word of their testimony. So testify, if you would overcome and keep the blessing.
VI. To keep the blessing, we must constantly live in the spirit of self-denial. By yielding to fleshly
desires, to selfish ambitions, to the spirit of the world, we may lose the labor of years in an instant.
The hard hand of the old enemy is ever stretched forth to snatch from us our treasure. We must
watch and pray, and keep low at Jesus' feet in profoundest humility, if we would keep it. It is all
summed up in one word, 'walk in the spirit,' 'walk in love.'
Finally, there, must be no resting in present attainments. The Lord has clearer revelations of Himself
for us. We may be filled to the limit of our capacity to-day, but we should ever pray, 'Oh, Lord,
enlarge the vessel,' and this we should expect. Like Paul, 'forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,' we should 'press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,' (Phil. iii. 13-14), ever remembering that He 'is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think' (Eph. iii. 20). Not according to some
mysterious power to which we are strangers, but 'according to the power that worketh in us,' the
power of the Holy Ghost that converted us and made us His 'dear children.' Hallelujah!
How To Keep Holiness
Do you ask, 'How can I keep the blessing?'
1. Do not let your poor heart be burdened with the thought that you have to do it all yourself. In
this, as in all else, you are only a worker together with God. He loves you more than a mother loves
her little child, and He is going to help you to keep the blessing. Remember that the blessing is
simply the result of His indwelling in your heart' and you are not to think so much about keeping the
blessing as about keeping Him.
It will not be a hard matter to keep Him in your heart if you are in earnest, for He wanted to get
there when you were a sinner, and He certainly desires to stay there as long as you will let Him; and
if you will let Him, He will keep you.
One of our leading Officers, who is a personal friend of mine, once told me that when he first heard
the doctrine of holiness, he felt that he could not be holy while engaged in worldly business. But one
day he read the prayer of Jesus: 'I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that
Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.' He saw at that moment that God could keep him, and he
sought and found the blessing, and has been rejoicing ever since.
Oh, how it rested me and comforted my heart one day, when, sore tempted by the devil, I read
these words, 'Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.' I saw that He was able to keep me, and I knew that He
was willing, and my heart rested on the promise; and, bless Him, He does keep me.
'Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I
will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' (Isaiah xli. 10.)
Paul got fairly jubilant over the keeping power of God, -- it was his boast when he wrote, 'Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels' (fallen angels, or devils), 'nor
principalities, nor powers' (no combination of devils or men), 'nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height' (of prosperity), 'nor depth' (of adversity), 'nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord' (Rom. viii. 35-39)
Paul trusted God to keep him, and so must we. We should surely fall if God withheld His help for a
moment.
But James tells us that 'faith without works is dead;' and so we must not only trust God, but must
work together with God if we would keep the blessing.
2. To keep the blessing, you must keep all upon the altar. What you have given to the Lord you must
not take back. You gave all to get the blessing, and you must continue to give all to keep it.
My all is on the altar. I'll take it back no more, must be your motto and your song, The devil will try
to get you to come down from the cross; the world will allure you; the flesh will cry out against you;
your friends may weep over you, or frown upon you, or tease and torment, or threaten you; some of
your comrades will criticize you and doubt you, but you must stick to Jesus, and take nothing back
that you have given to Him. There is usefulness, and peace, and God's smile, and a crown, and a
kingdom before you, but only condemnation, and ruin, and hell behind.
A little heathen boy in Africa heard a sermon about Jesus, and His tender dying love and saving
power, and he gave himself fully to the Lord, and Jesus came into his heart. This so enraged his
heathen father that he said, 'I'll get this Jesus out of him; I'll beat Him out.' And he beat the little
fellow most cruelly.
But the boy was still true. Then the father said, 'I'll smoke this Jesus out of him.' So he put the boy
into a hut, shut up the opening in the roof, and nearly smothered him with smoke. That failed also,
and then he tried starvation, and he gave the boy nothing to eat for several days. All persecution
failed, however, and the little fellow remained true. He had given all to Jesus, and he would have
nothing back. When asked how he had endured all the terrible trials he had passed through, he
quietly said, 'I just stuck to Jesus.'
3. If you would keep the blessing, you must be quick to obey God. I do not mean by this that you are
to get into such haste that you will not take time to think and pray about all that you do. God wants
you to use your head and your heart and all the good sense He has given you. He wants you to take
time to speak to Him, and consider, and find out His will; but once you have found it out, if you
would have His smile and favor, and keep the blessing, you must not delay, but obey at once. Oh, the
losses of peace and power and joy and sweet communion with God that people suffer through
hesitation at this point! Like Felix, they wait for 'a convenient season,' which never comes! and, like
Felix. they lose all. 'Strike while the iron is hot' 'Make hay while the sun shines.' 'Put out to sea while
the tide is in.' Do as Abraham did. God told him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering -- Isaac, the joy
of his house, the light of his eyes, the hope of his old age, the treasure of his heart! He did not parley
and delay, but rose up early in the morning ..... took Isaac, his son ..... and went unto the place of
which God had told him.'
A Salvation Soldier who was greatly used of God told me that he was one day reading a half-religious
novel. He had reached a most thrilling point in the story when the Holy Spirit seemed to say to him,
'Stop reading this at once, and you shall never regret it.' He said that he closed the book at once, put
it down and never opened it again, and such a blessing came into his soul as he was hardly able to
contain. Years after, when he told me this, he was still rejoicing that he had promptly obeyed the
voice of the Lord, and left that sort of thing for ever.
If you have lost the blessing through a failure to promptly obey, do not be utterly discouraged, but
begin over again, and the Lord will restore you. But do not trifle with God again; pray and believe for
His help to obey, lest a worse thing come upon you.
4. If you would keep the blessing, you must not depend upon your feelings, but as a friend of mine
used to say, 'Stand by your facts' Young Christians are very likely to be betrayed into mistakes by
their feelings -- by their happy feelings as well as their unhappy ones.
When they are happy, they are in danger of thinking themselves better than they are, and of not
watching and praying as they should; and when they are not happy, they are likely to get
discouraged, cast away their confidence in the Lord, and conclude that it is useless for them to try to
be holy. The safest way is to pay attention to your facts, and let your feelings take care of
themselves.
If people are kind to you, and your digestion is good, and your sleep sound, you will probably feel
well. But if people are unkind. and the east wind blows, and you eat something that lies heavy in
your stomach, and your sleep is broken by horrid dreams, you will probably not feel well; but in
neither case is your relation to God changed. Your facts are just the same. If you have given yourself
to God, and have taken nothing back, but can look up into His dear face and say, 'My all is on the
altar, and I trust in Thee,' then you are His, and your business is to stand by that fact, and trust that
the Blood keeps you clean.
When you are happy, sing songs, and when you are heavy-hearted pray, and try to sing a little too,
and never cast away your confidence, for there is a great reward before you, if you hold fast.
5. One of the greatest helps to keeping the blessing is for two or three young people who have it to
meet together as often as possible to read the Bible, and pray with and encourage each other. This
can usually be done just before or between the meetings on Sunday. This practice helped me more
than anything else, I think, when I first got the blessing. Put a burning coal or sack by itself, and the
fire will go out, and it will be cold and black; but put several sticks or coals together, and they will
burn brightly. And so it is with hearts full of holy fire.
At such little meetings it is well to unite in prayer for others whom you are eager to see converted,
or to enter into the blessing, and as you see them getting saved and sanctified, this will add mightily
to your own faith and love.
Finally, wholehearted and continued consecration and self-denial, earnest prayer, joyful and diligent
study of God's Word, deep humility before the Lord, aggressive work for others, and humble definite
testimony to the blessing, will surely establish us in holiness, and keep us from falling.
How blest are they who still abide Close sheltered in Thy bleeding side:
Who life and strength from Thee derive, And for Thee fight, and in Thee live.
How To Prepare For The Meeting
A long time ago, St. Luke tells us when Jesus was a boy of twelve, He went with His parents and
neighbors up to Jerusalem to the Feast of the Passover. On the return of the company, the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. 'And Joseph and His mother knew not of it. But they, supposing
Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk
and acquaintance and found Him not' (Luke ii. 43-45).
Their mistake was in taking it for granted that Jesus was in the company. Joseph knew He was not
with him, and Mary knew He was not with her, and the kinsfolks and acquaintances knew He was
not with them, and yet each took it for granted that He was in the company with someone else. But
lo! when they sought Him, they found Him not; He was not there.
Just so, frequently in meetings and conventions the people all suppose Jesus is in the company, and
yet there may not be one that is personally conscious of His presence. They take it for granted that
He is with someone else, and lo! He may not be in their midst at all. He has not been preseveringly,
importunately, humbly and believingly sought for and invited to come, and so He has stayed behind.
I remember a number of years ago going to a camp meeting hoping to find Jesus there in power. I
got there two or three days after the opening, and I found, if I now remember rightly, that no one
had been saved. There was no grip and power in the meetings. At the appointed hour for the
meeting, the bell would ring and the officers and soldiers who had been laughing and joking and
singing songs, and visiting with each other and making merry generally, would come strolling into
the meetings with smiles on their faces and 'God bless you' on their tongues, but with apparently no
solemn consciousness of the holy presence of the Crucified One in their midst. Then the meeting
would begin with a rush and a bang, and songs and prayers and jokes and laughter and collection
and smart testimonies, and a Bible reading would follow, and the meeting would end again without
souls. Everybody would go out good-naturedly, make a rush for the best seats at the dinner-table,
and enjoy themselves beautifully until the next meeting.
Everyone seemed to take it for granted that Jesus was in the company, yet no one seemed to be
specially conscious of His Presence.
At last it was pointed out that the meetings were galloped through but no souls were saved, and it
was suggested that perhaps Jesus was missing. A prayer meeting was called to look for Jesus, and
some of the people present had to allow that Jesus was not with them. Then some of them went to
their tents to look for Jesus, and some went to the woods and got down on their knees to look for
Him, and would not give up the search until at last, bless Him, He was found. And when He was told
that He was expected and that He must come, and that we would not let Him go except He blessed
us, then He came. Then there was a shout of a King in the camp, and He gave us a touch of His
baptism, which is with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
The officers, soldiers and saints got awfully in earnest, and the poor sinner got awfully alarmed and
convicted so that they were no longer anxious about what they should have for dinner. And some
seemed so anxious to talk with Jesus and get filled with His Spirit, and His great thoughts, and to get
Him to put the dynamite of the Holy Ghost into their testimonies and songs and prayers, that they
lost their appetites, and did not care whether they had any dinner at all, if only they could be fed
with bread from Heaven.
Oh, I tell you, it was wonderful the transformation that came over that camp ground when Jesus got
there! The shallow joy that caused men to smile and make an empty racket, gave way before that
deep joy of the Lord which makes men weep and be serious and fills their faces with the solar light
of Heaven, and makes their shout almost as terrible to the wicked as will be the trumpet peals and
awful thunders of the Judgment Day.
I tell you the presence of Jesus in the power of the Holy Ghost on that camp ground did make the
remaining days of the camp meeting into veritable Judgment Days for some folks. Then the news
went abroad that Jesus was in the camp, and the people poured in from all the country round about,
and mighty things were done in His name. Weak folks were made strong. Timid folks became bold as
lions. Broken hearts were healed. Sad folks were made into glad folks. The lame man leaped as a
hart. The blind saw. The deaf heard. The dumb spake. The hungry multitudes were fed. Spirits that
were full of passion and like a storm-tossed sea, became peaceful and calm. And dead souls were
raised to life! Glory to God!
I tell you it was the presence of Jesus that saved that camp meeting from being recorded as a dismal
failure, and instead caused it to be remembered as a time of wondrous refreshing from the presence
of the Lord.
Now Jesus is ready and willing to go up to every camp meeting and convention and council and
indoor and outdoor meeting all over the world, and to make His personal presence felt by every
saint and soldier, but each one must seek Him as Moses did. God had set Moses to the tremendous
task of ruling a mob of ignorant Israelites just rescued from centuries of hard bondage, and leading
them through a barren, mountainous wilderness, to the promised land, where they would meet
armed hosts, strongly entrenched in fortified cities. The burden was too heavy for Moses, and he
cried out to God: 'If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be
known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou goest with us?
. . . And the Lord said unto Moses: I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found
grace in My sight, and I know thee by name. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest
' (Exod. xxxlii. 15, 16, 17, 14).
I do not wonder any longer at the mighty things Moses did. If God goes with a man and tells him
what to do and how to do it, and gives him the wisdom and strength with which to do it, then there
is nothing too hard for that man. God becomes a servant of that man as much as that man is the
servant of God. They are co-workers. One man like that can chase a thousand, and if he find a fellow,
the two shall put ten thousand to flight. Bless God!
But Jesus is holy and humble and He cannot walk with any but humble holy men, so, my brother, if
you want Him to go with you, you must humble yourself and be holy. Moses was the meekest of
men, we read.
Then, too, if we want Jesus to go with us to the meeting, we must invite Him home with us after the
meeting. He will not come to the meeting and walk back with us to our door, if when we get there
we find it in our hearts to bid Him good-night and close the door in His face, and go in and scold the
wife and children and talk about our neighbors and forget what manner of spirit we are of. Our walk
with Him must be constant, not fitful, else we will seek for Him some day an not find Him.
Oh, that we may always make sure that He is with us, and not take it for granted, else we find we
have been going on a fool's errand without Him! Poor Joseph and Mary lost five days and had no one
knows how much anxiety and heartache, all because they supposed Jesus was in the company, but
did not make sure. But, bless God, after diligent search they found Him! Is He with you now, my
brother? If He is not, then get your Bible and go off alone and seek Him, and if you wake up and seek
Him with all your heart, He will be found of you.
How To Study The Bible
The other day I received a letter from a young Officer asking for a few suggestions as to how to read
and study the Bible. Here they are:
I. Read and study it as two young lovers read and study each other's letters. As soon as the mail
brings a letter from his sweetheart, the young man grabs it and without waiting to see if there is not
another letter for him, runs off to a corner and reads and laughs and rejoices over it and almost
devours it. If he is a particularly desperate and demonstrative lover -- (the Lord make us desperate
and demonstrative lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ!) -- he will probably kiss it and carry it next to his
heart till the next one comes.
He meditates on it day and night, and reads it over again and then again. He carries it down town
with him, and on the street car appears very quiet and thoughtful, till all at once a twinkle comes
into his eye, out comes the letter and choice portions are read over again. He delights in that letter.
If any part is hard to understand, a letter is sent off post haste for explanations, and the explanation
and letter will be most carefully compared, and possibly also previous letters will be studiously
compared with this one. I knew a young man whose fate was hanging in the balance. He wanted
assurance, but the young woman was coy, and she veiled her true feelings and left him in
uncertainty, and he studied her letters and weighed every word and phrase and brought them to
me, and had me compare letter with letter, as we should compare Scripture with Scripture, in order,
if possible, to discover the state of her mind and heart and his prospects. In due time he was
abundantly rewarded.
Now, that is the way to read the Bible. It is God's will and testament. It is His own carefully written
instructions as to what manner of people He would have us be; as to how we shall behave ourselves;
what we shall do and not do; what our rights and privileges in Jesus are; what are our peculiar
dangers; how we shall know our enemies and conquer them; how we shall enter into and constantly
enjoy his favor and escape Hell and get safely home to Heaven.
II. Read in Acts xvii. 11, what the disciples in Berea did.
'They received the word with all readiness of mind.' A frank and noble mind is open to the truth, and
wants it more than gold or pleasure or fame or power.
'They searched the Scriptures.' They wanted to know for themselves, and not by mere hearsay. They
searched. Precious things are deeply hidden. Pebbles and stones and autumn leaves abound
everywhere, but gold and silver and precious stones are hidden deep in the bowels and rocky ribs of
the earth; shells cover the sea-shore, but pearls are hidden in its depths. And so with truth. Some
truth may lie on the surface of the Bible, but those that will altogether satisfy and distinguish us and
make us wise unto salvation are found only after diligent search, even as for hid treasure. 'Search
the Scriptures;' said Jesus, 'for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify
of Me' (John v. 39). If you would know Jesus, search the Scriptures, and you will come to know Him
and see His face, and be like Him.
'They searched daily.' Daily, not spasmodically, by fits and starts, but daily, habitually, they dug into
the word of God, to find out if the things Paul preached were so. And just so must you do. 'Thou
shalt meditate therein day and night' (Joshua ii. 8), was God's instruction to Joshua. And once this
habit is formed the delight in God's word will become unspeakable.
'Thy words were found, and I did eat them;' said Jeremiah, 'and Thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart' (Jer. xiii. 16). 'O how love I Thy law!' cried the Psalmist. 'It is my meditation
all the day' (Ps. cxix. 97).
In forming the habit of Bible study we may have to begin and follow it up for a time from a sense of
duty, but once the habit is formed, if we are not only hearers but doers of the word, we shall follow
it up for very joy, until we can say with Job, 'I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my
necessary food' (Job xxiii. 12).
III. Read and study the word not to get a mass of knowledge in the head, but a flame of love in the
heart. 'Knowledge puffeth up' (I Cor. viii. I), but love buildeth up. Read it to find fuel for affection,
food for reflection, direction for judgment, guidance for conscience.
Read it not that you may know, but that you may do.
IV. Follow carefully the line of thought from verse to verse and chapter to chapter. Often the first
part of one chapter belongs to the last part of the preceding chapter. For instance, in the last verse
of the fourth chapter of Ephesians, we read, 'And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you,' and in the first verse of the
fifth chapter we read, 'Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.'
Those two verses belong together. We are to follow God in what? Why, in the spirit of kindness and
tender-heartedness and forgiveness.
Again, in John vii. 53, we read, 'And every man went unto his own house,' and in viii. 1, 'Jesus went
unto the Mount of Olives.'
These two verses belong together. Jesus had no house. Bless Him! So when they went each to his
own house for the night, Jesus went to the cold, dark mount!
Finally, do not be discouraged if progress in the knowledge of the word seems slow as first. It is like
learning to play an instrument or master a trade; for the first few days or weeks it appears
impossible, but it is not so. Some glad day a brain-cell will expand or a veil drop from your face and
scales from your eyes and you will find yourself doing the impossible with ease.
So it will be in acquainting yourself with the word of God. Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it! Cry to God
with David, 'Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law' (Ps. cxix. 18).
Pray for an understanding heart. You will only love and understand the word as Jesus reveals it to
you. So walk with Him, take up your cross and follow Him through evil as well as good report.
After His resurrection, He came to His trembling, heart-broken, disappointed disciples, and Luke tells
us that 'beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning Himself' (Luke xxiv. 27), and later Luke says, 'Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures' (Luke xxiv. 45).
There are things in the Bible hard to be understood, and we may not know them till we stand by the
crystal sea, but we can learn those things that will make us meek and lowly in heart as was Jesus,
watchful, patient, loving, kind, forgiving, and utterly zealous and self-sacrificing for the salvation of
men. Hallelujah!
Happy shall we be, if; like David, we can say, 'Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against Thee' (Ps. cxix. 11).
I Counted...And I Count
The Apostle Paul, in his young and fiery manhood, was on the way to Damascus, breathing out
threatenings and slaughter against the disciples,' when Jesus met him and won his heart; and from
that day Paul counted all things loss for Christ. He made an unconditional surrender, and found such
loveliness and grace in Jesus that he lost his heart to Him, and from that day consecrated and
devoted his whole life to the Master. Long years afterwards he wrote, 'What things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ.'
Youth is the time for the steps that shape all future life. The man who does not make such a
consecration in youth is not likely to make it at all. Age is prudent, cautious, and oftentimes timid
and fearful. Youth is generous and hopeful, courageous, daring, unentangled, willing to take risks,
and unafraid.
Youth is not held back by prudence and caution. Youth sees visions and is prepared to make
sacrifices to realize the vision -- to transform it into something substantial that can be touched,
handled, and used.
But by and by age approaches, with its cares and infirmities and weariness and insomnia, its
deferred hopes and unfulfilled ambitions, its large knowledge of the complex and massed and
seemingly invincible forces of evil, and with age comes the temptation to slow down, to
compromise, to question the wisdom of having burned all the bridges behind, to draw back, or to
hold back part of the price.'
No doubt Paul was so tempted; but it is also certain that he met the temptation squarely and in the
open, for he declared to the Philippians and to the ages: 'I counted..... and I count.' He counted the
cost in the past, and he continued to count as he began. 'I counted..... and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but refuse (margin R.V.) that I may win Christ and be found in Him.' He
obeyed the word of Jesus, ' Remember Lot's wife.' He had put his hand to the plow, and he never
looked back.
It was here that wise King Solomon failed. In his youth he had visions; he was humble, he sought the
Lord and walked in His way, he obtained promises and was prospered; but in his age he went astray,
his consecration failed, the vision was dimmed, the glory departed, and great and sad was his fall.
It was at this point that Ananias and Sapphira failed. They had given themselves to the Lord, but
later they conspired to hold back 'part of the price,' and perished in their hypocritical falsehood. It
was a withdrawal of this kind on the part of Demas that so hurt the heart of Paul when he wrote:
'Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.'
It is only a consecration like Paul's -- Unconditional, complete, and sustained to the end -- that will
satisfy a man's own soul, meet the infinite claims of Jesus, and answer the awful needs of a world
weltering in pride and lust and covetousness and sin.
1. Men sink to what is low, mean, and devilish, but they can never themselves be satisfied with such
things. A man may be gratified with that which is base, but he can be satisfied only by the highest.
'Thou, O God, hast made us for Thyself, and we are restless till we rest in Thee.' (St. Augustine.)
William Booth as a boy might have sold himself to sinful pleasures and enjoyed them to the full, but
he would not have been satisfied. He might have engaged in business and become a money-getter;
he might have built up a fortune and rolled in wealth, but he would not have been satisfied. He
might have entered the navy or army and become a great military leader and hero, or he might have
plunged into politics and risen to the premiership and guided the destinies of the British Empire, but
he would not have been so satisfied as he was in following Jesus to save the lost and 'turn them to a
pardoning God.' He, too, counted all things loss for Christ, and continued so to count them to the
end of his long and laborious life. It was only by such complete and sustained consecration that he
could be satisfied with himself. A man's own soul demands this; his soul will not be trifled with nor
put off with paltry excuses when he sits alone with his conscience, as some day he surely must.
I sat alone with my conscience,
In a place where time had ceased,
And we talked of my former living
In the land where the years increased;
And I felt I should have to answer
The questions it put to me,
And to face the question and answer
Throughout an eternity.
The ghosts of forgotten actions
Came floating before my sight,
And things that I thought had perished
Were alive with a terrible might;
And the vision of life's dark record
Was an awful thing to face,
Alone with my conscience sitting
In that solemnly silent place.
2. It is only by such uttermost and sustained consecration that we can satisfy the imperious claims of
Jesus -- claims not of an arbitrary will, but of infinite love. He does not compel us to follow Him; He
invites us to do so, with the understanding that if we choose to follow, we must gird ourselves for
lifelong service and uttermost devotion and sacrifice. 'There is no discharge in that war.' Jesus says: '
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.' 'Think not
that I am come to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to
set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-inlaw against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross. and followeth after Me, is not worthy of
Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.'
No power compels us to follow Jesus in this way, but we can follow Him no other way. We deceive
ourselves if we think we can follow Him in any other spirit than these passages describe.
I may stand at a distance, and admire Him, applaud Him, and protest that I am this and that I love
Him but I do not follow Him unless I take up my cross and bear it to the end.
This is His own standard for those who wish to serve Him. There are so -- called Christians who think
a mere formal recognition of Him while their hearts are set upon money-getting, or ambitions of
their own, sufficient; but He demands Soldiers willing to lose all for His cause on earth.
He is a 'Man of War' as well as 'The Prince of Peace,' and no world conqueror ever required of his
followers such absolute heart loyalty as does Jesus; and He must require this, for He is 'the Way';
and since there is no other way -- we must follow Him or perish. No one compels another to become
an aviator, but once a man chooses himself to become an aviator, he must obey the laws of aviation,
or fail and Jesus is "the Truth," and truth is utterly rigorous and imperious in its claims. We cannot
juggle with the truth of the multiplication table. We either follow it or we do not. There is no middle
ground. Call it arbitrary if you will, get angry and vex your soul over it if you will, but the
multiplication table changes not. It is truth, and you must adjust yourself to it. It cannot bend to you.
So Jesus is 'the Truth'; He changes not, and we must adjust ourselves to Him, consecrate ourselves
utterly to Him, and abide in Him, or we are none of His.
Jesus is 'the Life,' and life must not be trifled with lest it be lost. It can be lost, and its loss is
irreparable. So we can lose Jesus -- and we shall lose Him if we prove unfaithful to Him -- if after
having put our hand to the plow we turn back.
3. Finally, it is only by an utter and sustained consecration that we can meet the needs of the world
about us. 'Ye are the salt of the earth,' said Jesus. Salt saves from corruption. True Christians alone
save society from utter corruption. But if our consecration fail, we lose our savour, our saltness, and
society falls into rottenness.
Who can estimate the harm that is done to Christianity by half-hearted Christians? The world looks
on at selfish, ignoble lives spent by those who claim to know Christ, and says, 'We see nothing in it.
These people are just like ourselves.' No man said that of Paul, for they saw always in him a man
who felt that Christ was worth leaving the whole world to gain.
'Ye are the light of the world,' said Jesus. Men would stumble and grope in unutterable darkness but
for the light of the Cross. Womanhood is despised, childhood is neglected, manhood is depraved,
terrifying superstitions reign, horrible cruelties abound, wherever Jesus is not known and followed;
and the man who, having come to Him and taken up his cross to follow Him, now turns back, or fails
in his consecration, not only sins against God and wrongs his own soul, but he commits a crime
against humanity -- against the children who are growing up and the generations yet unborn.
The soldier must be faithful unto death, otherwise he will dishonour himself and betray his country.
Far more so must the Christian be true, for he is the light-bearer of eternal things, and if his light
goes out -- if his consecration fails -- he will stumble on the dark mountains, and at last fall into a
bottomless pit of outer darkness, and others will stumble and fall with him.
Paul did not fail. He never swerved in his onward course, never looked back. He rejoiced in his
sufferings for Jesus' sake and for the sake of his fellow-men; and oh, how glad he must have been,
how his heart must have exulted at the end, when he cried out: 'I have fought a good fight, 1 have
finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day!
And now, my reader, does all this seem hard? Well, that is because I have written about man's side
only, and have said nothing about how the Lord will help and bless and comfort and inwardly
strengthen you, if you are wholly His and continue so to the end. He who met Paul on the Damascus
road will meet you and give you light. He who stood by Paul in prison and in shipwreck will stand by
you. He will show you what He wants you to do, and empower you to overcome every difficulty if
you will say to Him, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'
And then, at the end of the way there is the crown of life, the unspeakable rapture of His presence
and love, the reunion with loved ones gone before, the triumph over every foe, the holy and exalted
fellowship with those who have been faithful throughout the ages. It will be worth while to see and
be associated with all the numberless saints who have overcome, having 'washed their robes and
made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.'
But what shame and remorse to be banished with the other crowd of traitors and cowards, of proud,
unclean, selfish, faithless ones! In order to avoid that lot, let us, like Paul, count and continue to
count all things but loss for Christ.
If You Have Lost The Blessing -- What?
"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you. Only acknowledge thine
iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God... and ye have not obeyed My voice.
Return ... and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will
not keep anger for ever" (Jer. iii. 14, 13, 12).
The difficulty in the way of the backslider's restoration is in himself; and not in the Lord. It is difficult
for us to trust one whom we have wronged, and the difficulty is doubled when that one has been a
tender, loving friend. See the case of Joseph's brethren. They grievously wronged him by selling him
into Egypt, and at last, when they discovered that he was alive and they were in his power, they
were filled with fear.
But he assured them of his goodwill, and finally won their confidence by his kindness. This
confidence was apparently perfect until the death of Jacob, their father, and then all their old fears
revived.
"And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure
hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger
unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph,
Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and
now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept
then they spake unto him ... and Joseph said unto them, Fear not ... I will nourish you, and your little
ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly to their hearts" (Gen. 1. 15-17; 19, 21 -- margin).
Dear backslidden comrade, see in this simple story your difficulty. By your sin you have done
violence to your own sense of justice, and now it is next to impossible for you to trust your
grievously wronged Brother, Jesus; and yet His tender heart is well-nigh breaking over your distrust.
"And Joseph wept when they spake unto him." Brother, if you have not committed the
unpardonable sin -- and you have not, if you have any desire whatever to be the Lord's -- your first
step is to renew your consecration to the Lord, confessing your backslidings; and then your second
and only step is to cry out with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job. xiii. 15); and this
ground you must steadfastly hold, till the witness comes of your acceptance.
Many people fail at this point by constantly looking for the same emotions and joy they had when
they were first saved, and they refuse to believe because they do not have that same old experience.
Do you remember that the children of Israel went into captivity several times after they had entered
Canaan? -- but never did God divide Jordan for them again. God never took them in again in the
same manner as at first. God says, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead
them in paths that they have not known" (Isa. xlii. 16). But if you are seeking the old experience, you
are refusing to acknowledge that you are blind and are insisting upon going in the paths you have
known. In other words, you want to walk by sight and not by faith. You must yield yourself to the
Holy Spirit, and He will surely lead you into the Promised Land. Seek simply to be right with God. Do
whatever He tells you to do. Trust Him, love Him, and He Himself will come to you, for "He (Jesus) is
made unto us ... sanctification" (I Cor. i. 30). It is not a blessing you want, but the Blesser, whom you
have shut out by your unbelief.
Said a recently sanctified man at the School of Theology in Boston: "Brethren, I have been here
studying theology for three years, but now I have the Theos (God) in me." Be satisfied with Him by
whatever way He may come, whether as King of kings and Lord of lords, or as a humble, simple,
peasant Carpenter. Be satisfied with Him, and He will more and more fully reveal Himself to your
childlike faith.
Do not be frightened by the lions: they are chained. Steadfastly refuse to wonder about the future,
but trustfully rest in Him for the present moment. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself" (Matt. vi. 34).
Satan wants to create great concern in your mind about your ability to hold out. Especially if you lost
your experience through disobedience will Satan flaunt that fact in your face. Remember, "My grace
is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. xii. 9). Be sure to "take no thought for tomorrow."
Said a dear comrade in prayer: "Father, You know what intolerable anguish I have suffered by
looking ahead and wondering if I could do so-and-so at such-and-such a time and place."
Of course, he would suffer. The simple remedy was, not to look into the future, but to take "the
shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph. vi. 16).
He was suffering from fiery darts. Be sure of this, it is not Jesus that is torturing you with thoughts of
the future, for He has commanded you to "take no thought for the morrow." "Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you" (Jas. iv. 7). But when you come up to the point of obedience, be true, if it takes
your life. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Rev. ii. 10). "And they
loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. xii. 11).
Said a woman who had lost the experience: "I gave myself back to Jesus and trusted for some time
without any feeling. A young lady came to the house, and I felt I ought to speak to her about her
soul. It seemed very hard, but I told the Lord I would be true. I spoke to her, tears filled her eyes, and
joy filled my heart. The Blesser had come, and now she is sweetly trusting in Jesus." Give yourself
back to God, and let your very life enter into the consecration.
As a sister, backslidden for ten years, but just reclaimed and filled with the Holy Ghost, said the
other night: "Put your all on the altar, and leave it there; do not take it back, and God's fire will
surely come and consume the offering."
Do it, do it! God will surely come if you can wait; and you can wait, if you mean business for eternity.
"Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and
with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the
Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil" (Joel ii. 12, 13).
Importance And Benefits Of Bible Study
If someone had written a book so small that it could be carried in the pocket, and so cheap that the
poorest could buy it, and if this book explained simply how anyone who followed its directions could
surely, without any danger to themselves or others, gain the highest possible honors, the greatest
riches, the supremest joy, all linked with long life, then I feel sure that everyone would want the
book.
If they could not read, they would do their best to learn in order to study it, and if they were too
busy by day, I think they would sit up late at night or rise early in the morning to read it and commit
it to memory. What they had learned, they would think and talk about through the day. If there
were any parts of it that seemed vitally important and yet hard to understand, they would not throw
the book away or go to careless critics who took more pleasure in pointing out what they considered
errors than in following what they and everybody acknowledged to be true. Instead, they would go
for instruction to those who had most closely followed the directions of the book, and most surely
gained its prizes. Or, better still, they would go to the author of the book. The Bible is such a book,
except that in place of worldly honor and riches and joy, it offers heavenly; instead of long life, it
offers eternal life -- a life of unutterable blessing and joy, and that without end.
God is its author. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:21.)
It can be bought for twenty-five cents; the New Testament can be had for five cents, and it can be
carried in the pocket. It is so simple that "the wayfaring man. though a fool," need "not err therein."
Children can understand it, though philosophers are often puzzled by it. Like the cloudy, fiery pillar
that went with the Israelites in the wilderness it is light to those who love and obey God, but gloomy
darkness and contradictions to those who refuse to obey Him.
It marks an easy, straight path for humble souls, but it is a rough and tangled labyrinth to proud and
wayward men. It has no instruction, or blessing, or comfort for those who despise it, but to those
who love it it is sweeter than honey, and more priceless than gold and precious stones. It makes
plain the way whereby sinners may become holy, and holiness is an experience which, in turn,
makes the Bible plain. It interprets holiness, and holiness interprets it.
Of course, there are some things in the Bible hard to be understood, but if we will pay diligent heed
the Holy Spirit will make it plain to us as fast as we are able to understand. The General says that he
reads the Bible as he eats fish, eating what he can, and laying aside the bones; but as the years go by
he often finds that what he once could not understand spiritually has now become quite plain to
him. Things in the Bible, which are hard for you to understand today, may become as clear as
sunlight in years to come.
In studying the Bible it will be found that experience in spiritual things makes the Book plain to us. A
little ten-year-old girl, who had been much afflicted, prayed to the Lord and found help. Some time
later, while alone reading her Bible, she found this text: "This poor man cried and the Lord heard
him, and saved him out of all his troubles." (Ps. 34:6.) It so fitted her experience that her heart was
made glad, and she pointed it out to her mother, and had her mother mark it.
A portion of the Bible ought to be read carefully and prayerfully and lovingly every day. Just as a fire
needs fresh fuel, and the body needs new supplies of food every day so the soul that would be
strong and holy needs something fresh from the Bible each day.
1. It is through the Word of God that we get faith. I once heard one of the mightiest men of God I
ever knew say that he used to pray and pray for faith, but one day he read this text: "Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17), and from that day he began to read the
Bible, fulfilling its conditions and claiming its promises, and his faith grew wonderfully. Although
uneducated in the schools, he became full of the wisdom of God, and won many thousands of souls
to Jesus, raised up hundreds of workers, inspired thousands more, and had millions of dollars given
to him for the work of God.
I have often heard people insinuate that one rose from the dead to add his testimony to what the
Bible says that they might then believe. But Jesus denies this. He says, "If they hear not Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." (Luke 16:31.) The
Bible is that which brings faith and strengthens it, and not seeing departed spirits, or visions, or
raptures of any kind.
When Paul and Silas were driven out of Thessalonica they went to the city of Berea and preached
Jesus there, and Luke tells us that the people of Berea "were more noble than those of Thessalonica,
in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these
things were so." And then he adds: "Therefore many of them believed" (Acts 17:11, 12.) Belief
always follows an honest searching of the Scriptures. If then, you would have strong faith, feed what
faith you have on the Word of God.
2. If we are going astray, the Word of God corrects us. A woman, who was out at service, was always
grumbling and complaining in spite of the fact that she was treated most kindly. One day, when her
mistress was out, she read these words in her Bible: 'Do all things without murmurings and
disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish" (Phil. 2:14, 15,
R V.), and she felt as though the dear Lord Himself had spoken tender words of rebuke and
conviction to her. She humbled herself, apologized to her mistress and corrected her ways.
A lady, who had been selfishly seeking her own way instead of God's way, and offering the Lord a
half-hearted service, was convicted by these words: "If ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil?
and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy governor: will he be pleased
with thee, or accept thy person?" (Mal. 1:8.)
She saw herself offering to God what no earthly ruler would accept, and it broke her heart, and led
her to a sincere repentance and humble confession and an utter surrender of herself to the Lord,
until she felt His love flooding her soul. Truly, "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3:16, 17.)
3. If we are ignorant, the Word of God instructs us. David says, "Thou through Thy commandments
hast made me wiser than my enemies. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for Thy
testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts."
(Ps. 119:98-100.)
Again he says, "The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." (Ps.
119:129.)
Some time ago, out on the plains of Minnesota, I found a humble young man, who worked on a
farm, who seemed to me to be wonderfully wise. I asked him his secret, and he told me that it was
constant study of the Word of God and prayer. If he had ten minutes to spare at noon-hour, he did
not waste it in foolish talk, or in reading stories or newspapers, but he digged into his Bible.
People told him that he would get narrow if he did not read other books, but he found that they
were the ones who got narrow, and when they became confused by the assumptions of evolution,
spiritualism, the new psychology, Dowieism, and the like, he, although not educated in the schools,
had no difficulty in solving all their problems through his knowledge of the Bible. Like David, he
found himself wiser than his enemies, his teachers, and the elders, through God's Word.
Jesus said to certain people who were in error about certain doctrines, "Ye do err, not knowing the
Scriptures, nor the power of God." Ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God leaves one
exposed to all sorts of error and cunning craftiness of men, but when we hide God's Word in our
hearts, and have the genuine experience of holiness, we get filled with His great thoughts and are
truly wise, and if we humbly watch and pray we are safeguarded from error.
4. The Bible gives us great and loving thoughts of God, and makes our hearts tender toward Him I
have read the Bible through many times, but there are some parts of it that so reveal the love of God
in Christ to me that I can never read them without tears.
A friend went into the quarters of two of our Swedish officers, and found them sitting at the tables
with open Bibles, weeping. He thought they were in great sorrow, and asked them what was their
trouble. They said, "Oh, we are weeping for joy at the goodness of God! See here what we have
read: 'The very hairs of your head are all numbered.' Think how good God is, and how He cares for
us to number the very hairs of our heads."
I found a dear young friend weeping one day, but they were tears of joy. "Look here," he said. "at
what the Lord has said to me today: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest to your souls.' My
father died," he said, "and my eyes were dry, and my mother died, and I couldn't shed a tear. My
heart was hard, but God has made my heart soft, and now I weep for joy as I read His tender, loving
words."
Truly God's Word fills the humble, believing heart with joy. "Thy words were found, and I did eat
them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart," said Jeremiah.
The truth is, that we love the Lord no better than we love His Word. In proportion as the Word is
precious to us, so is He Himself precious to us.
5. Do you want to know Jesus better? Read the Bible. The Bible, under the Illumination of the Holy
Spirit, reveals Him to us. It is there that we see Him a tender babe, born in a manger, in a stable
among the cattle, and hunted for His life by cruel Herod.
It is there that we find Him humbly toiling at the carpenter's bench, fasting and praying, and
tempted by the devil in all points like as we are, doing good, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and
of forgiving love, having compassion on the poor and sorrowful and sinful, preaching the Gospel,
warning men of the judgment to come, declaring both the love and the wrath, the goodness and the
severity of God, and at last laying down His life a sacrifice for our sins.
It is there that we see the open grave, the risen Saviour, the ascending, glorified Lord, into whose
hands is given all power in heaven and earth to be used in behalf of His holy ones on earth; to be
used for their defense, their guidance, their spiritual education, their deliverance, their support,
their warfare, their uttermost salvation, and their final triumph over all the power of the enemy,
over all earth and hell. Read the Bible to see and know Jesus.
6. Do you want to pray with more faith and power? Read the Bible. It is there that you will learn
God's will, become acquainted with His mind, and find His promises to encourage your faith,
7. Do you want to speak to the hearts of saints and sinners with more effect? Read the Bible. It is
there that you will get truth that is sharper than a two-edged sword, that is like a fire and a hammer.
It is there that you will get truth that will comfort mourners, arouse the careless, instruct the
ignorant, enlighten the perplexed, lead the blind, encourage the fainthearted, rest the weary, steady
the young, renew the old, that will convict and convert and sanctify and fill the heart with perfect
assurance.
8. Do you want to hold out faithful to the end, and not make shipwreck of faith?
Read the Bible, and "observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make
thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Josh. 1:8.)
A recent writer has well said, "Of course, it is much easier, and therefore much more agreeable to
our spiritual laziness, to go to a convention or revival meeting and claim a filling of the Holy Spirit
than it is to peg along day after day, month after month, year after year, digging into the Word of
God. But a 'filling of the Spirit' that is not maintained by a persistent study of the Word, will soon
vanish," just as a fire that does not daily receive fresh supplies of coal will go out, or a man that is
not properly fed will starve. Oh, the blessings that have been lost because they have not been
renewed day by day by a loving study of God's blessed Word!
"Search the Scriptures," said Jesus. Do not think you are too young, or too ignorant, or too busy. Do
your best, and stick to it, and the Holy Spirit will become your teacher, and you shall become wise
unto everlasting life. (2 Tim. 3:15-17.)
In God's School
Man is the supreme product in this world, and the struggle with adversity and evil forces is a part of
God's plan of developing him for mansions and thrones and crowns and kingdoms in the world to
come. Therefore we must believe and hope and love and struggle on. 'For in due season we shall
reap, if we faint not' (Gal. vi. 9). We must beware of discouragement and from running away from
the conflict. If we flee we shall perish for ever. If we fight to the finish, we shall conquer though we
die.
Nothing can come to us that God does not permit, and which by His grace cannot be made to work
out our higher good. God wants to build us up in holy character, but holy character is for eternity
and is many sided, and therefore must be subjected to manifold testings. We must be taught by
both pain and pleasure, we must learn how to abound and to suffer need. And in this we shall often
be plunged from the heights to the depths, and hurled from the depths to the heights again.
Today the sun shines and the world is full of beauty, and life seems a holiday, but tomorrow the
storm-clouds lower and the beauty is hid, and we are prone to fear that the sun will shine no more.
Today men look upon us and smile and shout 'Hosanna! but tomorrow they frown and gnash their
teeth and cry out, 'Crucify Him.' Today we have plenty and can feed the multitudes of the hungry
with what we have to spare; tomorrow we ourselves are hungry and know not where to turn for
bread. Today our pulse is full and we feel strong to chase a thousand; tomorrow we are feeble and
broken and life is a burden. Today we pray and God hears us before we call and answers while we
are yet speaking; tomorrow we plead and weep and moan and the heavens seem shut, and the
mocking tempter whispers, 'Where is thy God now?'
Today Job is the richest man in all the East, and his sons are the strongest and his daughters are the
fairest in the land; tomorrow he is a pauper and childless. Today Joseph is the pet of his father's
heart and home; tomorrow he is under the lash and is toiling and galled with the slave gang's chain.
Today David weds the king's daughter; tomorrow the king, with murderous hate, hurls his javelin at
him and chases him over and around the mountains as he would a partridge or a wolf. Today Daniel
sits next to the king in the midst of the hundred and twenty princes and counselors; tonight he is in
the lions' den.
What means all this uncertainty and mystery of pleasure and pain, of hope and despair, of favor and
disfavor? Ah, Hallelujah! it means that God wants us for Himself. Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth (disciplineth)' (Heb. xii. 6). It means that He sees there is something in us worth His while
to educate, and He is educating us.
A friend of mine owned a gold mine. He promised the Lord every penny of profit from it. He made
nothing, but lost twenty thousand pounds in that mine. He went to the Lord about it. The Lord said,
'I am educating you, and I can afford to spend millions to do so.' My friend cried out, 'O Lord, if Thou
canst afford it, I can, for Thou knowest I want to be educated in Thy school!'
God would make us strong in faith, mighty in prayer, unfailing in hope, content whatever our lot,
perfect in love, fearless in our devotion to truth, lovers of men and more than conquerors.
He would wean us from man, in whom there is no help, to Himself; He would detach us from the
world and fasten us by every tie to Heaven. When Job shall have learned his lesson, which is not for
himself alone, but for ten thousand times ten thousand other perplexed sufferers as well, he shall
have his riches doubled and restored to him again with stronger sons and fairer daughters.
Joseph shall leave the prison cell and slave gang's chain and sit as favorite in Pharaoh's palace and
rule his empire. The king shall die by his own hand, and David shall sit upon his throne. Daniel shall
escape from the lions' den and rise to higher honour and esteem than he knew before. Thus shall it
be with the man who does not kick against the pricks, but nestles low under God's hand and rejoices
and obeys and trusts and doubts not while God educates.
Flowers need night's cool darkness, The moonlight and the dew;
So Christ from one who loved it, His shining oft withdrew.
And then for cause of absence My troubled soul I scanned,
But glory shadeless shineth In Emmanuel's land.
The secret of peace and victory under all these circumstances is 'a little more faith in Jesus.'
In God's school we learn through the heart rather than through the head, and by faith rather than
logic. 'Lord, I believe! ' Amen!
Jesus -- The Working Man
Peter the Great, Czar of all Russia, and in some respects the mightiest monarch of his day, used to
make shoes like a common cobbler, that he might enter into sympathy with his people and help
them to realize that labour is not menial, but honorable and full of dignity. It was a great stoop from
the throne of Russia to a cobbler's bench, but I will tell you of a greater.
We are told that God made the worlds by His Son, and that the Son upholds 'all things by the word
of His power' (Heb. i. 2-3).
John tells us that 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made' (John i.
1, 3). He is the Master Workman whom the Heaven of heavens cannot contain, inhabiting eternity
(Isa. lvii. 15), stretching forth the heavens as a curtain, making mighty systems of sun, moon and
stars, creating worlds and hurling them into the awful abysses of space and causing them to move,
not in chaotic confusion, but in more than clock-like harmony, by the silent, resistless energy of allembracing laws.
He scoops out the bed of mighty oceans, He tosses aloft hoary mountains and stretches forth vast
prairies and sandy deserts. He peoples the worlds with living creatures, until the imagination is
almost paralyzed by the contemplation of the wonders of His handiwork. He is Maker of the
infinitely great and the infinitely small. He made the fixed star billions of miles away and millions of
times bigger than the earth on which we live, and He made the tiny insect so small that it can be
seen only by the aid of the microscope, and He fitted that little mite with its perfect organs of
digestion, respiration and reproduction.
He garnished the heavens and stretches forth the rainbow, and He painted the insect's wings and
polished the lens of its little eye. Oh, He is a wondrous Workman!
But John tells us 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth' (John i. 14). And another writer:
'Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part
of the same; . . . For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren . . . ' (Heb. ii. 14,
16, 17).
And when He clothed Himself with our flesh, when He hid His dignity under the humble garb of our
humanity, He did not come as an aristocrat, but He took a lowly place in a peasant's home.
He alone of all the children of men chose His mother, and He chose one who was poor and humble
and unknown amongst men. In His mighty descent from the bosom of the Father to the womb of the
Virgin, He might have stopped at the throne of some mighty earthly empire, or among the rich and
lordly; but instead of that He went down past thrones and palaces, and was born in a stable in a
manger among the cattle, that He might not be other than the lowliest of His brethren. He came to a
life of obscurity, of poverty and of toil, and He who made the worlds and upheld them by the word
of His power, learned to be a carpenter.
The artists, when they paint a picture of Jesus, paint a face of almost womanly softness, and would
picture Him to us as a delicate man, with hair parted in the middle and with patrician hands and
tapering fingers; but the Bible rather pictures Him to us a horny-handed man of toil, whose back was
bent to labour, and who earned His bread by the sweat of his brow. Bless Him! Indeed, 'He was
made like unto His brethren.' He became brother to the humblest son of toil, and since He has been
a working man, He has put a dignity on labour that exceeds the dignity of kings and queens.
Jesus was a working man, and as such understands working men. He knows their weakness, He has
been pinched with their poverty, He can sympathize with them in their long hours of toil that bars
them from that culture of mind which, no doubt, many crave. He understands. But while He suffered
and toiled and was tempted and tried as His brethren, and was debarred from the luxuries of wealth
and the culture of schools, yet He was not debarred from culture of the heart and fellowship with
His Father. He could be pure, He could be holy, He could be loving and patient and kind and true,
and He did this, dying for us to escape from our sins and become men after the pattern of Himself
We may not be great, but we may be good. We may not be able to erect a Brooklyn bridge or build a
St. Peter's, at Rome, but we can do our little task well and in the spirit of Jesus. We can be kind and
patient, and faithful and true. We can become partakers of His Spirit, and do our work as unto Him,
and by-and-by we shall enter into His glory, and we shall not be rewarded for the greatness of the
work we have done, but rather for the faithfulness with which we have done it. The carpenter who
has built houses; the blacksmith who has shod horses; the man who has carried a hod; the boy who
has blacked boots; the clerk who has toiled over the ledger; the farmer who has plowed the fields
and fed cattle: if he has done it faithfully, with his heart washed in the Blood and full of love for the
Master and his fellow men, in the spirit of prayer and thanksgiving, will have as abundant an
entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of Jesus the Carpenter, and will have a place as near the
Throne as the man who preached the Gospel to thousands of governed states and ruled kingdoms.
Jesus Training Paul
We learn from the Gospels how Jesus, in the days of His flesh, trained the twelve. We learn from the
Acts and Paul's Epistles how the risen and glorified Jesus trained Paul.
This paper is a fragmentary study of that training and of some of Paul's struggles, inner conflicts, and
fears out of and through which he was trained to triumph by obedient faith.
His experience was not one of ceaseless calm. Storms swept over him. It was not one of perpetual
open vision. He was compelled to walk by faith and not by sight. He was sent forth to be a
pathfinder; and no path-finder treads an easy way, whether it be across trackless wastes of sand and
sea, through the tangled jungles of a tropic forest, or the denser, darker jungles of base, idolatrous
superstitions and bloody and licentious rites, or the claims of a cold, self-satisfied, arrogant, petrified
priesthood.
Paul was treading a way that no man had trod before him. He had turned his back on all his teachers,
all the traditions of his people and was carrying the gospel to the heathen, and what he spoke and
wrote he learned from no man. A strange, glorious, Divine experience had come to him on the road
to Damascus and in the street called Straight. But it had to be interpreted, and he found no
interpreter. For three years, out in the solitude of Arabia and in the silences of the night, he wrestled
with his problems and the Lord illumined him, and he began to see new meanings in the ancient
Scriptures. They ceased to be a binding, deadening letter, and became life and spirit. His mind was
liberated as from chains. God ceased to be simply the God of the Jews, a national God. He was the
Heavenly Father to whom all men are dear, and the Lord Jesus Christ was not simply a Messiah for
one people, a Military Conqueror, winning and building up His Kingdom by the power of His sword.
He was 'the Desire of all Nations,' bringing spiritual deliverance to all men, not with sword and battle
and ' garments rolled in blood,' but by the shame and power of the cross, winning His Kingdom not
by the slaughter of His enemies, but by becoming 'the suffering Servant ' of all.
In Paul's Epistles, and especially in his Epistle to the Romans, we find many quotations from the
Psalms and the old prophets, and these quotations are portions of the ancient scriptures into which
the Holy Spirit was flashing new meanings to the mind of Paul, and they became the sheet anchor of
his faith when storms swept over his soul and bitter enemies denounced his claims to be an Apostle.
One day his call came. The risen Jesus spoke to him and appointed him the Apostle to the Gentiles.
He wanted to stay at home and preach to his own people, but the Lord said: 'They will not receive
thy testimony concerning Me.' But Paul argued back: 'Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in
every synagogue them that believed on Thee: and when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I
also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.'
Surely, thought Paul, they will, they must, receive my testimony. Little did he yet know the willful
stubbornness and fierce bigotry of unbelief. But the call was insistent 'Depart, for I will send thee far
hence unto the Gentiles,' and Paul 'was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.' 'I will show him
how great things he must suffer for My name's sake,' said Jesus to Ananias, when he sent him to the
blinded Saul that he might receive his sight 'and be filled with the Holy Ghost.' Little did Paul know
what lay before him in the untrodden future. That was graciously hidden from him as from you and
me.
There is a threefold ministry to which we are called: the ministry of service, the ministry of sacrifice,
and the ministry of suffering. Some men seem called and fitted for one and some for another, but
Paul was called and chosen to each and all of these ways of ministering the Gospel to his fellowmen.
'Great things' he suffered. Great sacrifices were demanded of him. Immeasurable toil and great and
insistent cares pressed ceaselessly upon him. Body, mind, and soul were each taxed to the limit in
his great task. It was not always by some open vision or cheering voice, but often by the things he
suffered that his Master taught and fashioned him.
Once in Asia some great trouble befell him, and he writes: 'We were pressed out of measure, above
strength, insomuch that we despaired of life: but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we
should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great a
death.' In such manner Jesus trained and developed the faith of Paul and taught him to trust only in
God. Could he not in some easier way have taught Paul to trust? Possibly, but He chose this way, and
it must have been the best way. Paul was strong and self-reliant, and like Jacob at Jabbok, whose
thigh was disjointed, he had to be broken to become 'as a prince' and have 'power with God and
with men.'
In his letter to his Thessalonian converts he exhorts them to 'comfort the feeble-minded, support
the weak, be patient toward all men.' How did Paul, with his trained and master mind, learn to be
'gentle' with the 'feeble-minded' 'as a nurse cherisheth her children'? How, with his passionate,
aggressive nature, did he come to put his strength at the disposal of the 'weak'? How, with his
impetuous and fiery spirit, did he ever become 'patient toward all'? Like his Master, who, in the days
of His humanity, 'learned obedience by the things which He suffered,' so Paul was trained and so he
learned from Jesus in the school of suffering.
We see how latent lightnings in his soul could flash and leap forth like a thunder-bolt in his retort to
the High Priest who had commanded him to be smitten on the mouth: 'God shall smite thee, thou
whited wall for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to
the law?' It is true that when rebuked for so speaking to the High Priest, he meekly replied: 'I wist
not, brethren, that he was the High Priest for it is written, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of
Thy people."
But would Jesus have retorted as did Paul? When He was smitten by an officer because of His
perfectly reasonable answer to the High Priest, Jesus quietly said: 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness
of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?' Who am I that I should presume to judge Paul? I dare
not judge him. I love him too tenderly; I have lived with him too intimately for over forty years; I am
too greatly awed by his sacrificial life, his lofty character, his Christ-like spirit, to attempt to pass
judgment upon him, but if in that retort he fell below the standard of the Master, how is his spirit to
be made meek and lowly as the Master?
'I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,' he wrote the Corinthians.
How did he learn this meekness and gentleness of Christ? There is but one way. 'Take My yoke upon
you and learn of Me,' said Jesus,' 'for I am meek and lowly in heart.' Paul came to Jesus, took upon
him the yoke of Jesus, received the spirit of Jesus, and submitted whole-heartedly without
murmuring and complaint or self-pity to the discipline of Jesus, and so learned his lessons. >From
that day Jesus met him, on the Damascus road, he was no longer 'kicking against the pricks.' He
might stand stoutly up against a traducer, but he bowed instantly at the word of Jesus. 'The carnal
mind which is enmity against God,' went out of him for ever, and he followed Jesus with the
passionate ardor of the perfect lover and the docility of the slave of love. Inbred sin is that
something within that leads a man to selfishly seek his own way instead of God's way, his own
pleasure instead of God's pleasure; that exalts itself, that frets and repines or stubbornly resists in
the presence of God's will. From all this Paul was set free.
That was 'the law -- the power -- of sin and death,' and with that he had painfully and hopelessly
struggled, until he felt that he was like the ancient Etrurian murderer, who, for punishment, was
chained face to face, chin to chin, limb to limb, to his dead, rotting, putrefying victim, and he cried
out 'O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body?' But meeting Jesus,
believing on Jesus, casting himself in self despair upon Jesus, yielding to Jesus, Paul exultingly cries
out: 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.' His heart was pure of sin, but purity is not maturity. Purity comes instantly
when the surrendered, pardoned soul intelligently and gladly, in simple faith, yields all its redeemed
faculties and powers in an utter, unconditional, irreversible dedication to its Lord. But the ripe
mellowness, the serene wisdom, the Christlike composure of maturity can only come through
manifold experiences as we walk with Jesus in service, in sacrifice, and suffering, and learn of Him.
Paul's spirit had to be disciplined, and he had much to learn as well as much to suffer. When Jesus
commissioned him, He said: 'I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister
and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen' -- the things he had already learned -- 'and
of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.' So the teaching and training and maturing of
Paul began and continued through the years until at last he could write: 'The time of my departure is
at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.'
His Lord did not spare him, but He never failed him. And so out of wide experience and intimate
knowledge Paul could write letters that were the revelation of the plan, the purpose, the mind, the
character of God in Christ; letters that have come down across two thousand years and are still as
sweet and fresh and life-giving as clear waters from everlasting springs, bubbling up in deep, cool
valleys, fed by eternal snows from great mountains.
Jesus meant, and Paul felt, that his experiences were not for himself alone. Through him Jesus was
teaching the whole Church for all time -- teaching you and me. When in Paul's sore trials and
tribulations his faithful Lord comforted him, he says that it was that he might comfort others with
'the comfort wherewith he was comforted of God.' ' For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so
our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and
Salvation . . . or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and Salvation.'
We may be sure that when Paul writes he writes out of experience. When he wrote to those he
loved at Ephesus, 'put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the Devil,' we rest assured that he had first-hand knowledge of those wiles and the hopelessness of
any defense unless panoplied in 'the whole armour of God.' When he writes, 'Above all, taking the
shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,' there flashed
into his memory some dark and lonely, painful and prolonged period when the arch-enemy of his
soul, 'the accuser of the brethren,' plied him with questionings and doubts and fears and
forebodings for the future and accusations for the past, until his harassed soul seemed to him like
some soldier on the field of battle, who was the target of archers who had dipped their darts in pitch
and flame, and against which darts his only defense was his shield, the shield of faith. These darts
would quench their flame in his life blood, if he did not manfully use this shield; but against it they
fell harmless.
In the first of his letters, the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, he reminded them that in spite of the
painful and shameful and dangerous treatment he received at Philippi: 'We were bold in our God to
speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention.' Bold. But listen. In one of his letters, his
Epistle to the Ephesians, written from Rome, where, he says, he is 'an ambassador in bonds,' he asks
for the prayers of his brethren 'That I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.' Do we not get a hint
from this of the temptation from which he suffered, and against which he girded himself and asked
the sympathetic help of his brethren? He was old and worn, bruised and scarred, chained in prison
and surrounded by relentless foes, and he was tempted to timidity and cowardice in preaching his
gospel. Dear old Paul. Like his Master and ours, 'he was tempted in all points as we are.' But he
fought on and triumphed. It is no sin to be tempted. It is sinful to yield. Paul did not yield, and so he
remained in the school of Christ, and so Christ trained him.
It was out of such manifold experiences that he could write with an assurance that has reassured
myriads of tempted, harassed souls: 'There hath no temptation overtaken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.'
Paul had mountain peak and paradisiacal experiences, but he also had hours of depression. How
could it be otherwise, unless miracles had periodically been wrought for his deliverance?
Jesus would not turn stones into bread to satisfy His own hunger after forty days of fasting. And in
training Paul, He did not pet and pamper and so spoil him. Heroes, martyrs, world-conquerors,
saints, are not made that way. 'Who are these arrayed in white robes before the throne? And
whence came they?' asked John in the Apocalypse. 'These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb,' was the
answer. Paul had great tribulation, and how could he escape the depression of reaction, when
bruised from beatings and stonings, smarting and bleeding from cruel whippings, when hungry and
thirsty, pinched with cold, and exhausted from shipwreck and long and painful journeys? Add to
these physical hardships his constant 'care of all the churches,' his anxiety for his poor, persecuted
converts in far-off heathen cities; add further his constant danger from relentless enemies, who
followed him from city to city; and, finally, add to all these the hellish darts of Satan, and we get
some conception of the infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses in and
through which Jesus trained, disciplined, beautified, enriched, perfected, and matured the spirit of
Paul, until he gloried and took pleasure in his infirmities, for in these it was revealed to his faith,
rather than in his own native strength, and powers, did the power of Christ rest upon him. He says, 'I
have learned' -- and learning is a process often prolonged and painful -- 'I have learned in
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased ' -- old-time
Salvationists, from force of circumstances, had to learn that lesson, but Paul adds: 'I know how to
abound' a very difficult lesson, and one very dangerous not to learn -- 'everywhere and in all things I
am instructed' -- still in the school of Christ -- 'both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and
to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.' Hallelujah!
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, And he bears a ladened breast,
Full of sad experience moving Towards the stillness of his rest.
I see Thy school is not an easy one, O Christ, and I would learn of Thee. Train me, teach me.
Dost Thou reply to me as to James and John: 'Ye know not what ye ask?' Still, O Lord, train me,
discipline me, teach me.
Dost Thou ask, 'Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with? 'Thou knowest, O Lord, I trust Thy love and Thy wisdom, and into Thy hands I commit
my spirit; so, teach me, train me, that I, with Paul, may 'know Thee and the power of Thy
resurrection and the fellowship of Thy sufferings ' -- 'the fellowship of Thy sufferings.' That I may
'comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and know the
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that I may be filled with all the fullness of God' and thereby
'show to this generation Thy strength, and Thy power to every one that is to come.'
Keeping The Flock
The soul-winner must give much time and thought and prayer and effort to keep and strengthen his
converts. He ought to say with Paul, "Now we live if ye stand fast," and again like Paul he should pray
"night and day exceedingly that we might perfect that which is lacking in your faith." (1 Thess. 3:8,
10.) Paul's ambition was not simply to get people converted and united with some local corps or
church, but to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." (See Col. 1:28.)
There is danger of spending far more effort and care in getting people to the penitent-form or the
inquiry room, than in keeping them after they are there. After a baby is born it must be intelligently
and constantly cared for, or it will very likely die. Soul-winners are not spiritual incubators, but
fathers and mothers in Israel, with all the measureless responsibility not only of saving souls, but of
keeping them after they are saved.
The General once said to a few of us on a New England train, "Look well to the fire in your own souls,
for the tendency of fire is to go out."
And yet a fire will never go out if it is frequently well shaken down and fresh fuel is added. We must
look well to the spark of fire kindled in the hearts of our converts, and fan it gently but surely to a
flame and help them to care for it, that it may never go out. The saddest thing in all this mighty work
of soul-saving is the fact that in so many instances the fire goes out, the light ceases to shine, the salt
loses its savor, and the soul that was redeemed and washed with "precious Blood," made a partaker
of the Holy Ghost," and had "tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,"
falls away and returns to its old sins, "like the dog to his vomit" and the "sow that was washed to her
wallowing in the mire." Judas backslid from the very face and ministry of Jesus Himself; and on
another occasion, after one of His searching sermons, we read that, "from that time many of His
disciples went back and walked no more with Him." (John 6:66.)
Paul had to mourn the backsliding of "Demas, who loved this present world." He foresaw and
foretold the backsliding of some of the Ephesian local officers (see Acts 20:29-30), and after his
mighty victories there, which radiated to all the surrounding nations, he had sorrowfully to write to
Timothy, "This thou knowest, that all they that are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are
Phygellus and Hermogenes." "Offenses must needs come," and backslidings will follow, but the soulwinner must strive mightily against this, until, like Paul, he can appeal to his people and say, "I take
you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God." (Acts 20:26, 27.) He must not only save sinners, but must keep his
converts.
I. (a.) They should be visited. Some time ago I called at a corps in California. The Ensign met me at
the train, and on the way to the quarters remarked, "We got one of the worst drunkards in town
saved last night, and I have seen him twice this morning and he is doing well." Of course he would do
well with such love and care as that! If they cannot be visited at once, drop them a note and enclose
a suitable tract. A business man of about fifty years of age, together with his wife, got saved in my
meetings. I missed him one night, then I wrote him a note telling him I was praying for him, etc. The
next night he was present and told how he had been sorely tempted, but that note blessed him and
helped him to get the victory. He became a good soldier. In all probability it was that timely little
note, written in five minutes and costing only two cents to mail that kept him saved.
(b.) They should be encouraged to read their Bible daily, together with other good books. The RedHot Library is well adapted to young converts. When I was in Boston as Captain I went to the Bible
Society and got them to donate me forty little five-cent Testaments, one of which I used to give each
convert, after having marked a number of helpful texts and written his name on the fly-leaf. Years
afterward I was visiting a corps. A young man asked me if I didn't remember him. I did not. He pulled
out a little, well-worn Testament, pointed to his name and asked if I knew that writing. I did. Said he,
"You gave me this Testament years ago when you were Captain in Boston I have kept it and read it
ever since, and am to be sworn in as a soldier tonight"
(c.) They must be taught to pray and urged to much regular and frequent secret prayer, until they
know its sweetness and unspeakable necessity and profit.
(d.) They must be instructed to keep believing and made to see the difference between sin and
temptation.
(e.) They should be patiently encouraged to work for others, especially for their own people
"Andrew findeth his own brother Simon, and he brought him to Jesus," the Bible says, and our
converts must do likewise.
(f.) They should be patiently, tenderly, firmly led into the experience of sanctification or perfect love.
They must not be allowed to stop at consecration, but must be pressed on into a definite experience
of full salvation. It was at this point that President Mahan says Finney failed during his early ministry.
He was unexcelled in getting sinners to a complete renunciation of all sin, to making right of all past
disobedience, followed by a complete consecration of all to Jesus. He would start them off for the
future with vows to obey God at all points, while nothing was said to them about trusting Jesus to
cleanse their hearts at once and fill them with the Holy Spirit. Our vows are only ropes of sand, until
the Holy Ghost has come with consuming fire into our hearts, filling them with perfect love. Mahan
says: "No individual, I believe, ever disciplined believers so severely and with such intense and
tireless perseverance, on that principle as my brother Finney, before he learned the way of the Lord
more perfectly. Appalled at the back slidings which followed his revivals, his most earnest efforts
were put forth to induce among believers permanence in the divine life. In accomplishing this, he
knew of but one method -- absolute and fixed renunciation of sin, consecration to God and purpose
of obedience." Not a word about the faith that receives.
"During his pastorate in New York, for example, he held for weeks in succession special meetings of
his church for perfecting this work, and never were a class of poor creatures carried through a
severer discipline than were these. Years after, as their pastor informed me, these believers said
they had never recovered from the internal weakness and exhaustion which had resulted from the
terrible discipline through which Mr. Finney had carried them.
"When he came to Oberlin and entered upon the duties of his professorship, he felt that God had
given him a blessed opportunity to realize in perfection his ideal of a ministry for the churches He
had before him a mass of talented and promising theological students, who had implicit confidence
in the wisdom of their teachers, and with equal sincerity would follow their instructions. He,
accordingly, for months in succession, gathered together these students at stated seasons,
instructed them most carefully in regard to the nature of the renunciation of sin, consecration to
Christ, and purpose of obedience required of them. Then, under his teachings and exhortations, they
would renew their renunciations, consecrations and purposes of obedience, with all the intensity
and fixedness of resolve of which they were capable The result in every case was one and the same - not the new life of joy and peace and power that was expected, but groaning bondage under the
law of sin and death At the commencement and during the progress of each meeting, their
confessions and renunciations, their solemn consecrations and vows of obedience, were renewed, if
possible, with fuller determination than ever before. Each meeting, however, was closed with the
same dirge songs:
"Look how we grovel here below,
"Return, O Holy Dove, return."
and as they went out, not their songs of joy and gladness were heard, but their groans; 'They
followed, and followed hard after the law of righteousness, but did not attain to the law of
righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the
law;' that is, by self-originated efforts and determinations." (Mahan's Autobiography, pages 246-7.)
Thank God, Finney learned better, and soul-winners should profit by his example. Converts must
utterly renounce sin, make wrong things right and consecrate themselves fully to the Lord to obey
Him in all things great and small; but they must understand fully that that is only man's part, and
that they must now wait on their Heavenly Father and believe for him to do His part, which is to
cleanse their hearts and fill them with the Holy Ghost. They must continue in glad, believing,
wrestling, never-give-in prayer, till the Comforter comes into their hearts in all His cleansing,
sanctifying, comforting power. They must "tarry in Jerusalem till they are endued with power from
on high." They must believe God and receive the Holy Ghost, remembering that God is "more willing
to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than parents are to give good gifts unto their children."
That is so. Hallelujah! I have proved it.
II. The soul-winner should so organize his work and train his people that he shall have wide-awake,
willing workers and local officers to assist him in looking after the converts.
It will take patience and tact and prayer to train these workers, but it will abundantly repay all effort.
"To every man his work," is the inspired plan. Moses had such helpers. (See Ex.18:21-26.) Paul
depended much on such help. (2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 1:5.) But there must not be too many irons in the
fire. Everything must be subordinated to this one end of saving men and making them into valiant
soldiers of Jesus Christ. Paul said: "This one thing I do." Organization must not be overdone, lest the
workers become like David in Saul's armor, lest they become like a mighty engine that has not
sufficient power to run itself. Let the machinery be simple and the divine, Holy Ghost power be
abundant. For this there must be much prayer and patient waiting upon God. The power is His and
can be had when persistently, believingly, humbly and boldly applied for. Glory to God!
III. Love must abound. In England, France, Germany and other European countries, the populations
are practically homogeneous -- that is, in England they are all English; in France, French, etc.; but in
this country we are a mixed people, with different ideals, tastes, maxims, prejudices, hereditary
instincts, influences and religious training, which make it more difficult for us to combine for
religious purposes and work harmoniously together.
In order to do this we must be melted or heated by a great common passion, and welded together
like two pieces of iron, until there is no longer "Greek or Jew," Englishman or Irishman, French or
German, American or European, "but Christ is all and in all." Love is the only thing that will do this,
and love will do it. I heard one of our officers say: "I got saved in an Army meeting where I could not
understand a word spoken. But the love of Jesus was there and I understood that."
In cold weather men of all nations will gather around a stove in which there is a fire, and so they will
gather around officers and soldiers who are full of love. Love is "the bond of perfectness," according
to Paul. It is that which quenches jealousies, destroys envyings, burns up suspicions, begets
confidence and holds men together with bonds stronger than death. Let us have it and have it more
abundantly. More love, more love, more love! Without it we are nothing.
We may be gifted in speech and song as an angel; we may be shrewd and farseeing and able to
accurately forecast the future; we may be encyclopedic in our knowledge; we may have mountainmoving faith; we may be charitably inclined and feed and shelter many poor to the extent of using
up all our resources and wearing out our bodies, but if we have not the gentle, holy, humble,
longsuffering, self-forgetful, unfailing unsuspicious, self-sacrificing, generous, lowly love of Jesus, we
are nothing -- we are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. (1 Cor. 13:1-8.)
It was this love that enabled Paul to write: "I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but
you .... And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the
less I be loved." (2 Cor. 12:14-15.) And here is another bit of Paul's autobiography that ought to be
put on the wall of every minister's study and every officers quarters throughout the land, every word
of which is freighted with the love that filled his great heart: "For yourselves, brethren, know our
entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain; but even after we had been shamefully entreated at
Philippi we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention.
"For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile; but as we were allowed of
God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth
our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of
covetousness; God is witness; nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others, when we
might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a
nurse cherisheth her children; so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have
imparted unto you, not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto
us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail; for laboring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and
God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe; as ye
know how we exhorted and comforted, and charged e very one of you, as a father doth his children,
that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His Kingdom and glory." (1 Thess. 2:112.)
And again he says: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have
taught you publicly, and from house to house,..... I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God ..... Therefore watch, and remember, that by the
space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears." (Acts 20:20, 26, 27,
31.)
This is the love that will build up our converts, and nothing else will. We must have love, love, love!
We must look for love, pray for love, believe for love. We must exercise love ourselves, and inspire
all our people to love, and then they will watch over one another, and pray and weep for each other,
and bless one another, and be united as one man, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against us.
Oh, that we all as soul-winners may have melting baptisms of holy love that shall make us, like Jesus,
patient, gentle, faithful, courageous, tireless, undismayed and utterly unselfish. Then shall our
spiritual children abound and be strong, and The Army of the Lord shall become more terrible to
evildoers than "an army with banners."
If we haven't this love, God will give it to us in answer to persistent, believing prayer. He surely will.
Glory to God!
King David's Use Of His Bible
David said, "Princes also did sit and speak against me; but Thy servant did meditate in Thy statutes.
Thy testimonies are also my delight and my counsellors." (Psalm 119:23, 24)
What a picture! Evil men are plotting against him, digging a pit for him, gnashing on him with their
teeth, but he sits quietly meditating on God's statutes. These statutes are his counsellors. He talks
over his affairs with them and finds out what they have to say. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and
Moses and Joshua are his advisers. To be sure they are dead, but they live more vitally in the truths
they spoke and exemplified than they did in their bodies.
Paul says in writing to the Romans, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Rom. 15:4.)
David discovered this blessed secret for himself, and although his Bible was much more limited than
ours, he made glorious use of it. Here are some of the blessings he got from it:
1 Wisdom and understanding. We are very foolish and shortsighted, but the wisdom and foresight of
God are at the disposal of our faith. David says, "Thou, through Thy commandments hast made me
wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my
teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I
keep Thy precepts." I have often been amazed and delighted at the keen insight and uncommon
common sense of otherwise ignorant and illiterate men and women who have been full of the Holy
Ghost, and who were lovers and diligent students of their Bibles. They have more wisdom than their
teachers, and easily outwit and confound all their enemies. Paul in writing to Timothy said, "The Holy
Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim.
3:15.)
2. Joy. "The joy of the Lord is your strength," said Nehemiah.
"But how am I to get this joy?" you ask. By receiving the Lord of joy Himself into your heart, which
you do by hearty faith in what He says. Once upon a time my wife said "Yes," and because I believed
and acted upon my faith, that filled me with joy that has been increasing for years. God has said
great things, given us "exceeding great and precious promises." If we believe them and act upon our
faith He will come into our lives and our joy shall be full. (1 John 1:4.) Hear David: "I have rejoiced in
the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all riches." "I rejoice at Thy Word, as one that findeth great
spoil."
The Word of God was the well of salvation from which David drew water with joy. There is the outer
shell of the letter and the inner kernel of spirit and life in the Word of God. Those who have learned
the secret of getting at the kernel in a text and hearing the whisper of the voice of Jesus in it, and
have caught the flash of the love-light and tender sympathy of His eye through it, will understand
David's joy.
3. Hope. Faith has to do with the present, hope with the future. Many a man fails, not because of the
present trouble, but because the future looks dark and his hope fails, and in discouragement he
casts away his shield of faith and gives up the fight. Well does Paul name hope as one of the three
divine graces. He who wins in the battle of life must "hope to the end." During the darkest days of
the Revolution, Washington never lost hope. Amid the awful suspense and uncertainties of the Civil
War, Lincoln remained confident and hoped on. And so it was with David. He passed through dark
hours. Taken from the quiet, sheltered life of a shepherd, he was placed in a palace and made sonin-law to the king, only to be hated and hunted for his life for years, while his wife was given to
another. His own people murmured against him and would have stoned him. His own son rebelled
against him and sought his life, until in the agony and perplexity of his soul he cried out, "All Thy
waves and Thy billows have gone over me."
But then he remembered God's promises and cried out again, "Remember Thy word unto Thy
servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope." My soul fainteth for Thy salvation; but I hope in
Thy word," and then he questions and assures his soul, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and
why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, 'who is the health of
my countenance and my God."
4. Comfort. The idea of comfort in the Bible is not simply to soothe, but to aid, strengthen, inspire
and encourage. And when God comforts us He draws nigh to us and draws us nigh to Himself, and
wipes away our tears and assures and strengthens our hearts and fills us with a sense of His
presence and almighty sufficiency, until our poor little fears and sorrows vanish and a great calm, a
river of joy, and a holy courage take possession of our souls. In youth we start out strong and
defiant, asking only a platform on which to display and prove our powers, but sooner or later we
each come to that pathetic spot where our heads droop and our hearts fail and we want comfort. It
was so with Paul, and he cries out, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.... For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." And even our blessed
Lord Himself was strengthened by an angel in the days of His flesh. (Matt 22:43.)
Shall we not follow David in his diligent study of God's truth, and shall we not thank God for His
immeasurable and unspeakable gift, and prize as never before the infinite treasure He has bestowed
upon us in His Word?
Knowing Jesus
What an astonishing thing that we can know Jesus! And yet nothing is more clearly taught in
Scripture or more joyously testified to in experience by godly people than this fact.
This is an age of specialists, when men devote their lives to the pursuit of special departments of
knowledge. One learned professor will give fourteen hours a day for forty years to the study of
fishes, another to the study of birds, another to that of bugs, and yet another to that of old bones.
Another, more ambitious, devotes his life to the study of history, the rise and fall of nations, and yet
another to astronomy, the origin and history of worlds. But to know Jesus Christ is infinitely better
than to know all that has been learned or dreamed of by these professors, for He it was that 'made
the worlds,' and 'without Him was not any thing made that was made' (John i. 3).
Personally, I am inclined to think that to know Edison would be worth more than knowing one or all
of his works, and so to know Jesus Christ is the first and best of all knowledge. Amen!
The knowledge of the naturalist, the astronomer, the historian, may be of passing value, but in due
time it will be antedated and fail. But the knowledge of Jesus Christ is of infinite value, and will never
pass away. It is profitable for this world, and for that which is to come, and only by it does a man
come to the knowledge of himself; without which it would be better never to have been born.
I. In this knowledge of Jesus is hidden the germ of all knowledge, for Paul tells us that in Him 'are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' (Col. ii. 3). Am I eager for learning and knowledge? Let
me then constantly seek to know Him, and in due time, in this world or in the next, I shall know all
that is of value for me to know.
II. In this knowledge lies true culture of both head and heart; especially of the heart. In the words of
one of the greatest living Christian philosophers, 'it enlarges the individual life with universal ideas,
lifts time into the stream of an eternal purpose, and fills it with eternal issues; and makes the
simplest moral act great as a real factor in the evolution of a higher order and an immortal
character.' It makes a man patient with the ignorant and erring and wayward, courteous to his
equals and superiors, kindly and generous to his inferiors, gentle and considerate in his own home,
and to the woman who is now his wife -- as he was to her when she was his sweetheart. It makes
him loving and forbearing with children, thoughtful and tender with the aged -- in fact, the
knowledge of Jesus (not simply scraps of knowledge about Jesus) makes the possessor in his
measure like Jesus. Glory to God!
The essence of this knowledge is love. John says, 'Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth
God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love' (I John iv. 7-8). This love is a heavenly
thing. The sinner, farthest away -- from God -- loves his own, loves those who love him and do him
good. But this love is that which pours itself out upon strangers, upon enemies, and upon those that
despitefully use us and say all manner of evil against us. Thus we come to see that to know Jesus, we
must be like Jesus, must have an affinity with Him, must be transformed into His image. In other
words, we must be born again and sanctified by His indwelling Spirit.
Judas lived with Jesus in the intimacy of a disciple for three years, but if he ever knew Jesus he must
have lost that knowledge before he could have gone out to betray Him with a kiss. So we may
profess the knowledge of Jesus, but when by wicked tempers and unholy conduct, and deceitful and
sinful character, we manifest a spirit contrary to His, we give the lie to our profession. In so far as we
are unlike Him, to that extent we are ignorant of Him.
How then shall we come to the knowledge of Jesus?
I. We must utterly and for ever renounce sin, and seek forgiveness for past bad conduct trusting in
the merits of His atonement for acceptance with God, singing from our hearts, 'Oh, the Blood, the
Blood, is all my plea.' When we do this, we shall come into an initial knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
II. But we must not only renounce our sins; we must also renounce self. In an all-night of prayer,
several years ago, I looked at the great audience and queried of the Lord in my heart, 'How can all
these people get to Heaven?' and in the depths of my soul sounded back the words, 'He bowed His
head, and gave up the ghost.'
And I saw how men get to Heaven, and how they gain the knowledge of Jesus. He gave Himself for
us, and we must give ourselves for Him, and trust and obey, and wait expectantly until He comes to
our hearts and reveals Himself to our wondering souls; for we only know Him as He reveals Himself
to us, and this will He do when we seek Him with all the heart. He surely will.
Paul said, 'But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ' (Phil. iii. 7), by which he
referred to his lineage from Abraham, his exact fulfillment of the law, and his zeal for his church and
adds, 'Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I
may win Christ, and be found in Him . . that I may know Him . . ' (Phil. iii. 8-10).
People who seek this knowledge without this sacrifice of self may flatter themselves that they know
Him, but when the testing time comes, the hours of loneliness and loss, and sickness and pain, and
disappointment and perplexity, and thwarted hopes and desolation, they will find their sad mistake.
The fire will reveal their dross and sin. But to those who make and abide in this sacrifice, and,
fighting the good fight of faith, steadfastly and joyously believe, furnace fires and lions' dens and
dungeon cells but disclose more fully the loveliness of His face, the certainty of His presence, the
unfailing strength and comforts of His love.
III. This knowledge, to be maintained, must be cultivated, which is done by communion with Him. It
is possible for a husband and wife to live together for many years, and instead of increasing, except
in the most superficial way, in the knowledge of each other, to grow apart, until after many years
they are heart strangers to each other, with separate interests, conflicting desires and tempers and
alien affinities. To really know each other they must be bound together by stronger ties than mere
legal forms; they must commune with each other, live in each other's hearts, enter into each other's
joys, and share each other's sorrows, counsel each other in perplexity, seek the same ends and
cultivate the same spirit.
And so to know Jesus, there must be sympathy, fellowship, friendship, constantly cultivated. The
heart must turn to Him, pour itself out before Him, share its hopes, its joys, its fears with Him, draw
its consolations, its strength, its courage, its sufficiency, its life from Him, trust and obey Him and
delight itself in Him as its everlasting portion.
Secret prayer must often bring the soul face to face with Him, and the Bible, God's record of Him,
must be daily, diligently and lovingly searched, and faithfully applied to the daily life. Thus shall we
know Him, and be 'changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord' (2 Cor. iii. 18), and people shall see and feel Christ in us, 'the hope of glory.'
O Jesus, Saviour, how I bless Thee that Thou didst seek me when lost and far from Thee and
altogether unlike Thee, and didst woo me, and win me, and lead me to Thyself; and reveal Thyself to
me, and make me to know Thee, and ravish my heart, and humble my pride with the joy and love
and glory that that best of all knowledge brings! Still reveal Thyself; O Lord, to Thy people, that they
may know Thee, and glorify Thee and be satisfied with Thy loving-kindness, and fill the earth with
Thy fame!
Letting The Truth Slip
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any
time we should let them slip" (Heb. iii. 1).
The truth that saves the soul is not picked up as we would pick up the pebbles along the beach, but
it is obtained rather as gold and silver, after diligent search and much digging. Solomon says: "If thou
criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and
searchest for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God" (Prov. ii. 3-5). The man who seeks to obtain the truth will have to use his wits; he
will need much prayer, self-examination and self-denial. He must listen diligently in his own soul for
God's voice. He must watch lest he fall into sin and forgetfulness, and he must meditate in the truth
of God day and night.
Getting saved is not like taking a holiday outing. The men and women who are full of the truth -who are walking embodiments of the troth -- have not become so without effort. They have digged
for truth; they have loved it; they have longed for it more than for their necessary food; they have
sacrificed all for it. When they have fallen they have risen again, and when defeated they have not
yielded to discouragement, but with more care and watchfulness and greater earnestness, they have
renewed their efforts to attain to the truth. They have counted not their lives dear unto themselves
that they might know the truth. Wealth, ease, a name among men, reputation, pleasure, everything
the world holds, has been counted as dung and dross in their pursuit of truth, and just at that point
where truth took precedence over all creation they found it -- the truth that saves the soul, that
satisfies the heart, that answers the questions of life, that brings fellowship with God and joy
unutterable and perfect peace.
But just as it costs effort to find the truth, so it requires watching to keep it. "Riches have wings,"
and, if unguarded, flee away. So with truth. It will slip away if not earnestly heeded. "Buy the truth,
and sell it not (Prov. xxiii. 23). It usury slips away little by little. It is lost as leaking water is lost -- not
all at once, but by degrees.
Here is a man who was once full of the truth. He loved his enemies and prayed for them; but, little
by little, he neglected that truth that we should love our enemies, and it slipped away, and instead
of love and prayer for his enemies, has come bitterness and sharpness.
Another once poured out his money upon the poor, and for the spread of the Gospel. He was not
afraid to trust God to supply all his wants. He was so full of truth that all fear was gone, and he was
certain that if he sought "first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all other things would be
added" (Matt. vi. 33) unto him. He did not fear that God would forget him and forsake him and leave
his seed to beg bread. He served God gladly and with all his heart; was satisfied with a crust, and was
happy and careless as the sparrow that tucks its tiny head under its little wing and goes to sleep, not
knowing from where its breakfast is to come, but trusts to the great God, who "openeth His hand
and satisfieth the desire of every living thing, and gives them their meat in due season." But, little by
little, the devil's prudence got into his heart, and, little by little, he let the truth of God's faithfulness
and fatherly, provident care slip, and now he is stingy and grasping and anxious about the morrow,
and altogether unlike his liberal, loving Lord.
Here is another man who was once praying all the time. He loved to pray. Prayer was the very breath
of his life. But, little by little, he let the truth that "men ought always to pray and not faint" (Luke
xviii. 1) slip, and now prayer is a cold, dead form with him.
Another once went to every meeting he could find. But he began to neglect the truth that we should
"not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is," (Heb. x. 25), and now
he prefers going to the park, or the riverside, or the club-room, to going to religious meetings.
Another once sprang to his feet the moment an opportunity to testify was given, and whenever he
met a comrade on the street he must speak of the good things of God; but, little by little, he gave
way to "foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient" (Eph. v.4)" and let the truth that "they
which feared the Lord spake often one to another" slip, and at last he quite forgot the solemn words
of our Lord Jesus, "that for every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment" (Matt. xii. 36). He no longer remembers that the Bible says, "Life and death are
in the power of the tongue" (Prov. xviii. 21), and that we must let our "speech be always with grace
seasoned with salt" (Col. iv. 6), and so, now he can talk glibly on every subject but that of personal
religion and holiness. The old, thoughtful, fiery testimony that stirred the hearts of men, that
brought terrible warning to careless sinners, that encouraged fainting, timid hearts, and brought
cheer and strength to soldiers and saints, has given place to a few set phrases which have lost their
meaning to his own heart, which have about the same effect upon a meeting that big icicles would
have on a fire, and which are altogether as fruitless as the broken shells in a last year's bird's-nest.
Another once believed with all her heart that "women professing godliness" should "adorn
themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair or costly
array, but with good works" (I Tim. ii. 9); but, little by little, she let the truth of God slip; she listened
to the smooth whisperings of the tempter, and she fell as surely as Eve fell when she listened to the
devil and ate the forbidden fruit. Now, instead of neat, "modest apparel," she is decked out with
flowers and feathers and "costly array"; but she has lost the "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price" (I Pet. iii. 4).
But what shall these people do?
Let them remember whence they have fallen, repent and do their first works over again. Let them
dig for truth again as men dig for gold, and search for her as for hid treasures, and they will find her
again. God "is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. xi. 6).
This may be hard work. So it is hard to dig for gold. It may be slow work. So it is to search for hidden
treasure. But it is sure work. "Seek and ye shall find" (Luke xi. 9). And it is necessary work. Your soul's
eternal destiny depends upon it.
What shall those who have the truth do to prevent its slipping?
1. Heed the word of David to his son Solomon: "Keep and seek for all the commandments of the
Lord your God" (I Chron. xxviii. 8).
2. Do what God commanded Joshua: "Meditate therein day and night." For what? "That thou mayest
observe to do according to" -- some of the things "written therein"? No! "All that is written therein"
(Joshua i. 8).
A young rabbi asked his old uncle if he might not study Greek philosophy. The old rabbi quoted the
text: "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day
and night," and then replied: "Find an hour that is neither day nor night; in that thou mayest study
Greek philosophy."
The "blessed man" of David is not only a "man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor
standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but," notice, "his delight is in
the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night" (Ps. i.).
If you want to hold the truth fast and not let it slip, you must read and read and re-read the Bible.
You must constantly refresh your mind with its truths, just as the diligent student constantly
refreshes his mind by reviewing his textbooks, just as the lawyer who wishes to succeed constantly
studies his law books, or the doctor his medical works.
John Wesley, in his old age, after having read and read and re-read the Bible all his life, said of
himself: "I am homo unius libri" -- a man of one book.
The truth will surely slip, if you do not refresh your mind by constantly reading and meditating in the
Bible.
The Bible is God's recipe book for making holy people. You must follow the recipe exactly, if you
want to be a holy, Christ-like person.
The Bible is God's guide-book to show men and women the way to Heaven. You must pay strict
attention to its directions, and follow them accurately, if you are ever to get there.
The Bible is God's doctor's book, to show people how to get rid of soul-sickness. You must diligently
consider its diagnosis of soul-diseases, and its methods of cure, if you want soul-health.
Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God" (Matt. iv. 4); and again He said, "The words I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life" (John vi. 63).
3. "Quench not the Spirit" (I Thess. v. 19). Jesus calls the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of truth." Then, if you
do not wish the truth to slip, welcome the Spirit of truth to your heart, and pray Him to abide with
you. Cherish Him in your soul. Delight yourself in Him. Live in Him. Yield yourself to Him. Trust Him.
Commune with Him. Consider Him as your Friend, your Guide, your Teacher, your Comforter. Do not
look upon Him as some school-children look upon their teacher -- as an enemy, as one to be
outwitted, as one who is constantly watching a chance to punish and reprove and discipline. Of
course, the Holy Spirit will do this when necessary, but such a necessity grieves Him. His delight is to
comfort and cheer the children of God. He is love! Bless His holy name! "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. iv. 30).
Love Slaves
There was a law among the Hebrews that for sore poverty or debt or crime one man might become
the servant of another, but he could not be held in servitude beyond a certain period; at the end of
six years, he must be allowed to go free. (Ex. 21:1-6; Deut. 15:12-17). But if he loved his master and
preferred to remain with him as his slave, then the master, in the presence of judges was to place
the man against a door or door post and bore a hole through his ear, and this was to be the mark
that he was his master's servant slave forever. It was not the slavery of compulsion and law but the
willing and glad slavery of love.
And this was the voluntary attitude of Paul of Peter and James. Jesus won them by love. They had
sat at the feet of the Great Servant of Love, who came not to be served but to serve, to minister to
others, to give His life a ransom for all. They had seen Him giving Himself to the poor, the weary, the
heavy laden, the vile, the sinful, and the unthankful. They had seen Him "wounded for our
transgressions, ...bruised for our iniquities", chastised for our peace, and stricken that we might be
healed, and their hearts had been bowed and broken by His great love; henceforth they were His
bond-slaves, no longer free to come and go as they pleased but only as He willed, for the chains of
love held them, and the burning passion of love constrained them. Such bondage and service
became to them the most perfect liberty. Their only joy was to do those things that were pleasing in
His sight. Set at liberty to do this, their freedom was complete, for he only is free who is permitted to
do always that which pleases Him.
The love-slave has no pleasure like that of serving his master. this is his joy, and his very "crown of
rejoicing." The love-slave is altogether at his master's service. He is all eyes for his master. He
watches. He is all ears for his master. He listens. His mind is willing. His hands are ready. His feet are
swift to sit at the master's feet and look into his loved face, to listen to his voice and catch his words;
to run on his errands, to do his bidding, to share his privations and sorrows, to watch at his door, to
guard his honor, to praise his name, to defend his person, to seek and promote his interests, and, if
needs be, to die for his dear sake; this is the joy of the slave of love, and this he counts his perfect
freedom.
A fine black fellow was placed on a slave block in an Egyptian slave market. His master was selling
him. Men were bidding for him. A passing Englishman stopped, looked, listened, and began to bid.
The slave saw him and knew that the Englishman was a world-traveler. He thought that if the
Englishman bought him, he would be taken from Egypt, from friends and loved ones, and that he
would never see them any more. So he cursed the Englishman, raving and swearing and tugging at
his chain that he might reach and crush him. But the Englishman, unmoved, at last out-bid all others,
and the slave was sold to him. He paid the price, received the papers that made the slave his
property, and then handed them to the black man. "Take these papers; you are free," he said. "I
bought you that I might give you your freedom."
The slave looked at his deliverer and his ravings ceased. Tears flooded his eyes, as, falling at the
Englishman's feet and embracing his knees, he cried, "O sir, let me be your slave forever. Take me to
the ends of the earth. Let me serve you till I die!" Love had won his heart, and now love constrained
him, and he felt there could be no joy like serving such a master.
"My yoke is easy, and My burden is light," said Jesus. And this is His easy yoke and light burden. His
yoke is the yoke of love, and it is easy. Love makes it easy. His burden is the burden of love, and it is
light. Love makes it light. To the sinner the yoke looks intolerable, the burden looks unbearable. But
to those who have entered into the secret of the Master, His yoke is the badge of freedom, and his
burden gives wings to the soul. This is Holiness. It is wholeness of consecration and devotion. It is
singleness of eye. It is perfect love which casts out fear. The love slave does not fear the master, for
he joys in the master's will. "Not My will, but Thine be done"; "Though He slay me, yet will I trust
Him," says the slave of love. There can be no fear where there is such love. This is heart purity
accomplished by the expulsive power of a new and over mastering affection and purpose. Sin and
selfishness are consumed on the hot fires of this great love. Hallelujah! This is religion made easy.
This is God's Kingdom come, and His will done, on earth as it is in Heaven. For what more can the
angels do than to serve God with this unselfishness and passionate love?
The love-slave is gentle and forbearing and kind to all the children of the household and to all the
other slaves for the sake of his master. Are they not dear and valuable to the master? Then they are
dear and valuable to him for the master's sake. And he is ready to lay down his life to serve them
even as to serve the master. Such was the spirit of Paul when he wrote, "Yea, and if I be offered
upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." (Philippians 2:17". And so
likewise was it the spirit of beautiful Queen Esther when, in uttermost consecration for the salvation
of her people, she sent word to Mordecai, "So will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the
law: and if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16). This slave of love counts not his life dear unto himself.
(Acts 20:24). It belongs to his master.
The interests of the master are his interests. He has no other. He wants no other. He will have no
other. He cannot be bribed by gold or honors. He would rather suffer and starve for his master than
feast at another's table. Like Ruth, he says, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be
buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." (Ruth 1:16,17).
Do you ask, "How shall I enter into this sweet and gentle and yet all powerful bondage of love?" I
answer, "By your own choice and by God's revelation of Himself to your soul." If your love to Him
now is a very poor and powerless thing, it is because you do not know Him; you do not draw near
enough to see the beauty of Him. To the men of this world He is not beautiful, for they have not
sought to see Him. Let Him show Himself to you that you may fall in love with Him. St. Paul had seen
His glory and been blinded by it. The other Apostles had lived with Him and walked at His side. They
loved Him because they knew Him so well. For this reason they could make the great decision. Like
Moses they chose "rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." SO
YOU MUST CHOOSE! The choice must be complete, and it must be final.
Then as a love-slave you must wait upon the Master. If He is silent to you, watch. When He speaks to
you, listen. What He says to you, do. His will is recorded in His Word. Search the Scriptures. Meditate
therein day and night. Hide His Word in your heart. Be not forgetful. Take time to seek His face.
Think of a slave being too busy to wait on his master, to find out His wishes! Take time, find time,
make time to seek the Lord, and He will be found of you. He will reveal Himself to your longing,
loving soul, and you shall know the sweet compulsions of the slavery that is love.
Maintaining The Holiness Standard
The Salvation Army was born, not in a cloister, nor in a drawing-room, but on a spiritual battlefield -at the penitent-form. It has been nourished for spiritual conquests, not upon speculative doctrines
and fine-spun verbal distinctions, but upon those great doctrines which can be wrought into and
worked out in soul-satisfying experience. Hence, The Army compels the attention of all men
everywhere and appeals to the universal heart of humanity.
And in this it is in harmony with the scientific spirit and practice of the age, which refuses to be
committed to any theory which cannot be supported by facts.
One of The Army's central doctrines and most valued and precious experiences is that of Heart
Holiness. The bridge which The Army throws across the impassable gulf that separates the sinner
from the Saviour -- who pardons that He may purify, who saves that He may sanctify rests upon
these two abutments -- the forgiveness of sins through simple, penitent, obedient faith in a crucified
Redeemer, and the purifying of the heart and empowering of the soul through the anointing of the
Holy Spirit, given by its risen and ascended Lord, and received not by works, but by faith.
Remove either of these abutments and the bridge falls; preserve them in strength, and a world of
lost and despairing sinners can be confidently invited and urged to come and be gloriously saved.
The first abutment is deep grounded on such assurances as these: 'There is forgiveness with Thee,
that Thou mayest be feared' and 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
And the second firmly rests on such Scriptures as these: 'And God, who knoweth the hearts, bare
them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us
and them, purifying their hearts by faith.' 'If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin;' and 'Ye
shall receive power after hat the Holy Ghost is come upon you.'
Such is the doctrine passed on to us from the first Christians, and here are some Scriptures which
show how the doctrine was wrought into triumphant experience in their day: 'Know ye not,' wrote
Paul, 'that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such
were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.'
And again he writes: 'We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that
the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward men appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.'
Such was the doctrine of the first Christians, and such was their experience; and to this doctrine and
experience The Salvation Army has been committed from the beginning. This has been both its
reproach and its glory, and one of the chief secrets of its world-conquering power.
Some years ago the Founder was in New York, and for nearly a week stood before the thronging
multitudes by night and before his own people by day, pleading for righteousness for Holiness, for
God. He seemed to me an ambassador of the Lord, standing in Christ's stead, seeking to reconcile
men to his Master, and to bind to Him those who were reconciled in an unbreakable covenant of
loyalty and love. And as he toiled with flaming passion to accomplish his purpose, the first great
commandment began to unfold to me in fuller, richer meaning than ever before -- 'Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength.' As he poured out his heart upon us, pleading, as only he could plead, with sinners to
repent and turn to God, and with us, who had done so, to be utterly devoted to Him, I said to myself,
'There is a man who loves God with all his heart.'
Then, as I considered how his whole life was being poured without stint into God's service, I said.
'There is a man who loves God with all his soul.'
Again, when I noted how diligently and with what infinite study and pains he labored to make plain
the great thoughts of God to the feeblest intellect, to the most darkened and degraded, to the least
intelligent of his hearers, I said, 'There is a man who loves God with all his mind.'
And, finally, when I saw him old and worn, snowy white, and burdened with the weight of many
years, with great Meetings awaiting him on the morrow, and with the heavy load of a world
organization ceaselessly pressing hard upon him, still toiling. praying, singing, exhorting, into the late
hours of the night, that Jesus might triumph and sinners be won; when it seemed that he ought to
be seeking rest in sleep, or retiring from the fight to the quiet and comfort of a pleasant home, yet
wearily and heavily, but joyously pressing on, I said, 'There is a man who loves God with all his
strength.'
Afflicted, oftentimes wounded and heart-sore, burdened with care, he still seemed to me to fulfill
each part of that great fourfold commandment; and that, my comrades, was Holiness in action.
And it is this Holiness -- the doctrine -- the experience, the action -- that we Salvationists must
maintain, otherwise we shall betray our trust; we shall lose our birthright; we shall cease to be a
spiritual power in the earth; we shall have a name to live, and yet be dead; our glory will depart; and
we, like Samson shorn of his locks, shall become as other men; the souls with whom we are
entrusted will grope in darkness or go elsewhere for soul-nourishment and guidance; and while we
may still have titles and ranks, which will have become vainglorious, to bestow upon our children,
we shall have no heritage to bequeath them of martyr-like sacrifice, or spiritual power, or dare-devil
faith, of pure, deep joy, of burning love, of holy triumph.
In this matter an immeasurable debt is laid upon us. We owe it to our Lord, who redeemed us by His
Blood, not simply that the penalty of our sins should be remitted, and thereby we escape the just
deserts of our manifold transgressions, but that we should be sanctified, made holy; that we should
become temples of the Holy Ghost, and live henceforth not for our own profit or pleasure, but for
His glory, as His bondservants and friends, ready for service or sacrifice, and prepared for every good
work.
We owe a great debt to the cloud of witnesses -- the saintly souls who have gone before us. How
shall we meet them without confusion and shame, if we neglect or waste the heritage they have left
us, which they secured for us with infinite pains, with tears and prayers, with wearisome toil and
oftentimes with agony and blood? What a debt we owe to them!
We owe it to our children and our children's children. They look to us for the teaching that will direct
them into Full Salvation, and they will narrowly and constantly scan our lives to find in us an example
of its fullness and beauty, its richness and power, its simplicity, its humility, its self-denial, its
courage, its purity. unfailing constancy, and steadfast trust, its goodness and meekness, its longsuffering love, its peace and joy its patience and hope, and its deep and abiding satisfaction. How
jealous we should be not to fail or disappoint them!
We must pay this righteous debt, my comrades; and we will. We must and we will maintain our
Holiness standard in both our teaching and our experience, and in so doing we shall save both
ourselves and them that hear thee -- those entrusted to us; this will be our glory and our joy.
But how shall we do this? It is not a simple nor an easy task. It may require the courage and devotion
of a martyr. It will surely require the vigilance and prayerfulness, the wisdom and faithfulness, of a
saint.
1. We must remember that the standard is not man-made, but is revealed from Heaven, and that
those who experience the fullness of blessing still carry the treasure in earthen vessels; so that while
we should follow them as they follow Christ, yet we must not look to them, but to Him and to His
Word, for the perfect and unchangeable standard of Holiness.
Those who enter into this experience, and abide in it, are great students and lovers and seekers of
God's Word, and to it they appeal when opposers arise.
Mrs. General Booth, Mother of The Salvation Army, read the Bible through eight times before she
was twelve years old. Wesley said of himself: 'I am a man of one book.' Finney said: 'I never pretend
to make but one book my study; I read other books occasionally, but have little time or inclination to
read them much while I have so much to learn of my Bible. I find it a deep mine: the more I work it
the richer it grows. We must read the Bible more than any and all other books. We must pause and
pray over it, verse after verse, and compare part with part, dwell on it, digest it, and get it into our
minds. till we feel that the Spirit of God has filled us with the spirit of Holiness. I have often been
asked by young Converts and young men preparing for the ministry what they should read, and I
answer with emphasis, "Read the Bible." I would give the answer five hundred times over and above
all other things, study the Bible.'
A brainy young Soldier in New York plied me with his questionings and debatings recently, but finally
he settled down to his Bible and prayer, and God sanctified him and so filled and overwhelmed him
with joy that he besought the Lord to stay His hand, for the blessings and glory were more than he
could endure; and he wanted to wire me four hundred miles away to tell the story.
2. Familiarity with what the Bible says, with its doctrines and standards, will avail nothing unless the
teaching of the Bible is translated into conduct, into character, into life. It is not enough to know or
to approve this, but with our undivided will, with our whole being, we must choose to be holy.
Without the doctrine, the standard, the teaching, we shall never find the experience, or having
found it, we shall be likely to lose it. Without the experience we shall neglect the teaching, we shall
despise or doubt the doctrine, we shall lower the standard.
When Officers lose the experience, the Holiness Meetings languish, and when the Holiness Meetings
languish the spiritual life of the Corps droops and fails, and all manner of substitutes and expedients
are introduced to cover up the ghastly facts of spiritual loss, disease, and death.
3. If we are to maintain our Holiness standard we must not only know the doctrine and experience in
our own hearts, but we must teach it, preach it, press it upon the people in season, out of season,
until, like Paul, we can declare our faithfulness in 'warning every man, and teaching every man in all
wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.'
Personally, I find that the surest way to get sinners saved and backsliders reclaimed, as well as the
only way to get Christians sanctified, is to preach Holiness plainly, constantly, tenderly; then not only
do Christians see their need and privilege, but sinners lose their self-complacency, discover their
desperate condition, perceive the possibilities and joys of a true Christian life, and are inclined to
surrender and be saved.
4. We shall greatly help ourselves and others if we carefully and constantly read and scatter Holiness
literature, and we shall not have to go outside The Army to secure such literature. The Army has a
library of books and papers on this subject, and they are plain, simple, Scriptural, and full of the
thrill, passion, and compelling power of life and experience. Let us scatter these books everywhere,
but especially among our Young People, urging them to read everything The Army has published on
the subject.
Wesley declared that the Methodists need not hope to grow in experience unless they became a
reading people; and that, surely, is the feeling of our General with regard to Salvationists, for under
his direction The Army is publishing such a library of books on experimental religion as the world has
never before seen.
What stories I could tell you of the deep and glowing and abiding experiences people have entered
into through the reading of Army books! Let us sow all lands deep with this literature, then we shall
surely reap a harvest of great richness and prepare the way for the generation which shall come
after us.
5. If we would promote the experience of Heart Holiness each of us must judge himself with all
faithfulness and soberly, but we must be generous and sympathetic in our judgment of others. We
must help each other. Sharp, harsh criticism does not tend to promote Holiness, and especially so
when it is indulged in behind a person's back. Kindly, generous criticism which springs from love and
from a desire to help, and which is preceded and followed by heart-searching and prayer that it may
be offered and received in a true spirit and manner of brotherly love, will oftentimes work wonders
in helping a soul. We must not cease testifying to the experience and preaching the doctrine and
living the life, because others fail. We must be faithful witnesses, and we shall some day prove that
our labor has not been in vain. The Devil makes war upon this doctrine and experience. Let us resist
him, and he will flee.
The world will mock or turn away. Let us overcome the world by our faith. Faithfulness to this truth
and experience will sometimes require of us the endurance of hardness as good Soldiers of Jesus
Christ. The holy man does not live always in an ecstasy. Sometimes he passes through agony, and at
such times the weakness of the flesh will test one's firmness of purpose; but we must be true, and
we shall 'conquer though we die.'
I have known a Soldier who, when others have lapsed and failed, has remained clear in experience,
definite in testimony, and true and generous in holy living, to become the saving salt and guiding
light of a Corps. I have known a Field Officer jubilant in this experience to leaven and bless a whole
Province.
We must not be fault-finding, neither must we whine and wail and dolefully lament 'the good old
days ' which we may feel were better than these; but we must kneel down and pray in faith, and rise
up and shout and shine and sing, and in the name of the Lord command the sun to stand still in the
heavens till we have routed the Canaanites and gotten the victory. 'Thanks be unto God, which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in
every place.' 'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, ..... but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath
made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.'
6. We must not forget that 'our sufficiency is of God' -- that God is interested in this work and waits
to be our Helper.
We must not forget that with all our study and experience and knowledge and effort we shall fail,
unless patiently, daily, hourly, we wait upon God in prayer and watchful faith for the help and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He it is that opens our eyes and the eyes of our people to see spiritual
things in their true relations. He melts the heart, He bends the will, He illuminates the mind, He
subdues pride, sweeps away fear, begets faith, and bestows the Blessing, and He makes the
testimony, the preaching, and the written word mightily effective.
An Officer, who had lost the Blessing, attended one of my Officers' Meetings on the Continent and
went away with her heart breaking after God. It was Thursday; she prayed nearly all that night. The
next day, Friday, she spent reading the Bible and 'Helps to Holiness,' and crying to God for the
Blessing. Saturday she went about her duties, but with a yearning cry in her heart for the Blessing.
Sunday morning came, and she was again wrestling with God, when suddenly the great deep of her
soul was broken up and she was melted and flooded with light and love and peace and joy. The Holy
Ghost had come, Jesus was revealed in His loveliness and power to her soul. She went to the
Holiness Meeting that morning and told her experience. The Spirit fell on her Soldiers and they
flocked to the penitent-form and sought and found; then they laughed and wept for joy and said this
was what they had long been wanting but they knew not how to find it. It took the Holy Ghost to
bring them to the experience. And His Presence was an abiding Presence with that Officer. She went
on in the power of the Spirit, from the command of little struggling Corps, where she had barely held
the work together, to larger and yet larger Corps, where she had sweeping victory. If space allowed I
could multiply such instances.
Bless God! Our Lord still baptizes with the Holy Ghost and fire. He has given us a standard. He has
given us a doctrine, and He wants to give us an experience that shall incarnate both standard and
doctrine in a heavenly and all-conquering life.
A Chinaman got Full Salvation and his heathen neighbors said: 'There is no difference between him
and the Book'; and that should be said of you and me and every Salvationist. God has put us in the
vanguard of His hosts; the world not only looks to us for the Salvation of the lost, but the Church is
far more dependent upon us than they or we suspect for the inspiration of the Spirit and the
teaching of the Word that shall sanctify. God forbid that we should fail them.
Oh, my comrades, 'There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.' You and I
live on the banks of that river. Let us lave in its waters, and then shall we be like the blessed man
that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is..... he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall
be green: and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruits.'
Misrepresenting God
I read recently of a speaker who preached on the mercy of God 'until it seemed there was nothing in
God but mercy.' But I fear he misrepresented God. Such misrepresentation is easy, and to people
who do not think deeply, and who do not want to take life seriously, it is pleasant, but it is
unspeakably dangerous.
If we are to win souls and save our own, we must not distort the picture of God's character which we
hold up to view. It is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John xvii. 3); but it
must be the true and holy God, as He is, and not some false god who conforms to our poor little
warped human desires and opinions.
Some religious teachers misrepresent God by making Him utterly savage and cruel, and they gloat
over unutterably horrid pictures of Hell, where they imagine God delighting in the most exquisite
tortures of the damned, and thus men are embittered against God until they feel there is no hope of
His mercy.
Others misrepresent God by making Him appear as a sort of goody-goody God, who fawns upon
sinners with mawkish sympathy and looks upon worldlings and triflers and lukewarm professors with
weak, sentimental, old-womanish pity. Nothing can be further from the truth concerning God. We
find God Himself bitterly rebuking those who, living in sin, thought He did not disapprove their ways.
He sets before them a list of their sins (Psalm 1. 17-20), and then says: 'These things hast thou done,
and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove
thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you
in pieces, and there be none to deliver.' (vv. 21,22.)
The truth lies between these extremes. There is mercy in God, but it is mingled with severity; there is
wrath in God, but it is tempered with mercy.
The great soul-winners from Bible times till now have recognized this; they have held an even
balance between the goodness and the severity of God, because the Bible does so; and the Bible, of
all the innumerable books written, is the only one which gives us an authoritative representation of
God.
The book of nature reveals to us the goodness and the severity of God. Fire will not only bake our
food, and bless us, but it will also burn us; water will not only quench our thirst and refresh us, but if
we trifle with it, it will drown us; if we recognize God's ways of working in nature, and take heed and
obey, we shall find nature's laws most kind and helpful; but if we neglect or refuse to obey we shall
find them most terrible and destructive.
But if we want to know God in all the richness of His character, and all the fullness of His selfrevelation, we must study the Bible and compare Scripture with Scripture.
The Bible tells us of God's unutterable love leading Him to seek sinners in mercy; but His
righteousness requires of the sinner penitence, faith, separation from evil, and obedience to His will.
Various Bible descriptions show how God holds an even balance between His mercy and His
judgments.
'Behold the goodness and severity of God,' writes Paul: 'on them which fell, severity; but toward
thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness; otherwise,' he says (showing that God's goodness
does not destroy His severity), 'thou also shalt be cut off.' We must beware! Then he adds a touch of
tenderness -- making clear how even in His severity God waits to show mercy -- 'And they also,'
though they have been cut off, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in, for God is able to
graff them in again.' (Romans xi. 22, 23.)
Again Paul writes, 'I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
Salvation to every one that believeth..... For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith
to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith.' And then he adds, 'For the wrath of God is
revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness.' (Romans i. 16-18.)
And again he writes: 'Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by
patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but unto
them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil,.....but glory, honor, and peace
to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of
persons with' God.' (Romans ii. 4- 11.)
The saving mercy of God revealed in the Scriptures is invariably set over against the wrath of God, as
the great mountains are set over against the deep seas.
The writer to the Hebrews says of Jesus, 'He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him' (Hebrews vii. 25): while Paul writes of some upon whom 'wrath is come to the
uttermost.' (1 Thessalonians ii. 16.)
There is, then, an uttermost Salvation for all who 'trust and obey,' and an uttermost woe for all who
go on in selfish unbelief and worldliness and sin. Truly 'God is not mocked,' and He is a God of
judgment.
Again, we find Jesus keeping this even balance when He says that those who hear His sayings and do
them are like those who build upon a rock, against which rain and floods and winds cannot prevail,
while those who hear and do not obey are like those who build upon sand, which will be swept away
by rain and floods and wind. (Matthew vii. 24-27.) And again, He says that the wicked shall 'go away
into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.' (Matthew xxv. 46.)
Again, He tells of the shut door at the marriage, with some on the inside with their Lord, and some
on the outside, rejected and unknown; of the joy of their Lord into which good and faithful servants
enter, and the outer darkness, into which the wicked and slothful are cast; of the great, fixed gulf
which is impassable, with some on the right side in the bosom of comfort and security and peace,
and some on the wrong side in the bitter woe of fierce remorse and torment.
We find John the Baptist faithful to this great truth. He cries out, 'He that believeth on the Son of
God hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on Him.' (John iii. 36.)
Likewise all through the Old Testament this even balance is maintained. 'Wash you, make you clean;
put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek
judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land; but' and here is the unfailing alternative -- 'but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
devoured by the sword.' (Isaiah i. 16-20.)
These Bible word-pictures show us that no one word, not even the sweet word 'mercy,' will sum up
the rich and manifold character of God. The Bible says, 'God is love,' but it also says 'Our God is a
consuming fire.'
To penitent hearts who trust in Jesus, God will be found to be rich in mercy; but He will defend the
moral and spiritual order of His universe by uttermost penalties against those who go on proudly,
careless, or wickedly in their own ways.
When Dr. Johnson lay dying he was much concerned about his soul. A friend said to him : 'Sir, you
seem to forget the merits of the Redeemer.' 'No,' replied Dr. Johnson, 'I do not forget the merits of
the Redeemer, but I remember that He said that He would place some on His right hand, and some
on His left.'
Our only hope is in the wounds of Jesus, and the shelter of His Blood. There, and only there, shall we
find mercy, since we have sinned; but there mercy is boundless and free. Hallelujah!
Must You Be Fed With A Spoon?
I
I am watching with much interest and some personal profit the development of my grandchildren.
They are a luxury to my old heart; but, like all children, they are somewhat of a problem as well as a
joy to their parents. At first, when brought to the table, they were fed with a spoon, but one day the
spoon was put into their tiny hands and they were permitted to feed themselves. I was fascinated.
Plunge would go the spoon into the porridge or apple sauce and come up at various and sundry
angles and start on a wobbling journey to the sweet, wee, wide-open mouth. Sometimes it would hit
and sometimes it would miss. If it reached the open mouth, well. Its contents were soon lost in the
dark 'little red lane' below. But if it missed, or if there were miscalculation as to time, and the mouth
closed before the spoon arrived, it was awesome. The little mouth closed on air, and another plunge
and wobbling effort was made. The bib and plate and platter were often a fearsome sight, and the
small face was often battered and buttered in a way that was a joy to behold, but they were
learning. It was the only way they could learn. They could not always be fed with a spoon by others.
They must feed themselves, and some day they may have to feed others. But their first lesson is to
feed themselves.
Of course, their food is all prepared for them by other hands. But the day will come when they will
not only have to feed themselves, but they may have to prepare their own food. But before the food
can be prepared, it must be found. The farmer must cultivate the soil and raise wheat and corn. The
fisherman must catch the fish. The horticulturist must grow the fruit. The herdsmen must raise the
cattle and sheep. And it is just possible that in some far-oft day these children must not only feed
themselves, and prepare the food, but go out and find the food to prepare and eat; or they may toil
for the money with which to buy of those who have labored to produce.
The feeding of men is a complex process, which we may live a lifetime without considering, but
which is most instructive and humbling to consider.
II
Can you feed your own soul, or must you still be fed? Do you prepare your own soul-food, or do
others prepare it for you? Do you labor for it, or do others give it to you?
'I will guarantee I can send the worst kind of a backslidden Officer to the Corps at W., and in three
months the Soldiers will have prayed for him and helped him, and loved him and gotten him so
blessed that he will be on fire for God and souls.' So said young Divisional Commander Thomas Estill,
as reported to me the other day by an old Officer who knew him in those days of long ago, when we
were returning from the graveside of our friend and comrade, the Commissioner. Those Soldiers
were no longer spiritual babies that had to be fed with a spoon. No doubt they had vigorous spiritual
appetites, and enjoyed a meal of 'strong meat ' prepared for them. But they were no longer
dependent. They were independent. They were no longer babes in Christ. They had 'exercised their
senses' and become spiritual men and women, able to feed themselves; able to prepare their own
food; able to work and forage for themselves and find their own food. And not only so, but they
were able to feed others. If their Officers did not give them suitable soul-food, then they fed the
Officers. If nobody blessed them, then they rose up in their splendid spiritual manhood and
womanhood and blessed somebody else, and so blessed themselves. Like the widow of Sarepta,
who divided her poor little handful of meal and her few spoonsful of oil with Elijah, and found the
meal and oil unwasting through months of famine, so they gave of their spiritual food to more needy
souls, and found themselves enriched from God's unfailing supplies.
I know one of the finest Bands in the U.S.A., composed of a splendid group of Soldiers, who for years
would not have, and for ought I know to this day, will not have, as Bandsman, one who has not the
Blessing of a Clean Heart. 'We want our Band to be not only a Combination of musical instruments,
but also of harmonious hearts. We want to produce melody from our hearts as from our
instruments. We cannot have discord in our Band. We must have sweetest harmony.' And so, before
a man was admitted as a member of the Band, he must not only give evidence that he could play an
instrument, but that he could live peaceably, humbly, lovingly, loyally with his comrades. They were
prepared to pray with him and lead him into the blessed experience of Holiness, of perfect love, of
purity and power, and then gladly accept him as a comrade in the Band. They could feed themselves
and others too. And that Band became a great spiritual influence in that city and famous for a
hundred miles around.
One day Paul came to Corinth and found a certain Jew and his wife, Priscilla, and because he was of
the same trade he lived with them and worked, for they were tent-makers, just humble, lay people.
But they later moved to Ephesus, and then one day, Apollos, an eloquent man, mighty in the
Scriptures, came to the city, fervent in spirit and speaking and teaching diligently the things of the
Lord. He was a great orator, teacher, and preacher. But this humble tent-maker and his wife had
learned more from Paul than Apollos knew, so they invited him home to dinner with them, 'and
expounded unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly.' Read the story in Acts xviii. 1, 2, 24-28.
Aquila and Priscilla had learned to feed themselves and others too, even such a man as Apollos,
eloquent, burning with zeal and mighty in the Scriptures. They must have had fullness of love and
very gracious ways, and a divine tact to approach a great man like that and lead him into fullness of
blessing. Oh, for an army of soldiers like that!
III
We found ourselves sitting together after the Meeting on our way to our lodgings. ' I was at the
penitent-form,' said he.
'Were you? I missed you and wondered where you were.'
I had seen him sitting down in the audience while the Commissioner poured out his heart in a
torrent of searching truth upon the crowd. There was a look on his face that puzzled me. I was not
sure whether defiance, cynicism, questioning, indifference, or soul-hunger was revealed in that look.
When the Prayer Meeting began every head was bowed, but he sat erect with that puzzling look in
his face intensified. People were melting and flowing down to the penitent-form, but still he sat
erect, open-eyed, apparently unmoved. I knelt to deal with seekers, and when I looked again he was
gone, and not till after the Meeting did I learn that he had been to the penitent-form.
'Yes, I was at the penitent-form. An old Officer came and asked if he could help me, but I told him,
"No, I want to be left alone." I was vexed; half angry.'
'Angry! What were you angry about?'
'Well, while I listened to the Commissioner, I wondered, "Why don't our leaders feed us young
fellows? They don't have Meetings with us. Why don't they help us?" '
I had up to that time thought of him as a youngster. He belongs to the younger set of Officers. I had
known him since he was a small lad, and I had always thought of him as a young man, but when he
called himself a 'young fellow' my mind turned a somersault. I looked at him and asked, 'How old are
you?'
'Thirty-five.'
'And you have been married thirteen years and have a family of children, the oldest of whom is
twelve. You are not a young fellow. You are a middle-aged man. And you want your leaders to feed
you. But that is not what you need. You need to feed yourself. Your leaders cannot tell you anything
you do not know. But do you diligently practice what you know? You don't pray enough. You do not
search the Scriptures and feed on the Word of God as you should. "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Is not that your trouble? Do
you deny yourself as you should? Do you search for soul-food in good books? Or do you not spend
more time reading the sporting page of the morning and evening papers, than you spend over your
Bible and books that would enrich your mind and heart? Are you not starving yourself and waiting
for some one to come and feed you, when you should be feeding yourself?
I knew a Field Officer who, when I first met him, was sodden with drink. But within a few days he
was saved and sanctified. Shortly after he became an Officer, and then got himself a small, but
choice library of the most deeply spiritual books. He would sit up till after midnight reading, praying,
and meditating on what he read, until in a short time I marveled at him. His mind was all alert, his
soul was on fire and his mental and spiritual equipment was a joy to those who knew him. He
labored for spiritual food, and grew in mental and spiritual stature and in favor with God and man.
And he was soon able to feed others. Whenever I met him he wanted to talk on spiritual things. His
grasp of doctrine, his knowledge of Scripture and the literature of Holiness, and his intimate
acquaintance and communion with God delighted and refreshed me. He was an ordinary country
boy, but he became extraordinary by the diligence with which he sought fellowship with God, and
the eagerness with which he hunted for truth from books and from experienced comrades, and the
loving zeal with which he sought to impart the truth to other souls about him. Officers should feed
their Soldiers; Commissioners and Divisional Commanders should feed their Officers. But both
Officers and Soldiers should learn to find spiritual food and to feed themselves.
'Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is
prepared,' said wise old Nehemiah (Nehemiah viii. 10).
Learn to feed yourself, and not only so, but to share your soul-food with yet needier souls, and so
you shall know no soul-famine, but be 'fat and flourishing.'
My Testimony
(1860 -- 59 -- 1919)
Today (June 1, 1919) I am fifty-nine years old, and there is not a cloud in my spiritual heaven. My
mouth is full of laughter and my heart is full of joy. I feel so sorry for folks who don't like to grow old,
and who are trying all the time to hide the fact that they are growing old, and who are ashamed to
tell how old they are. I revel in my years. They enrich me. If God should say to me, 'I will let you
begin over again, and you may have your youth back once more,' I should say, 'O dear Lord, if Thou
dost not mind, I prefer to go on growing old!'
I would not exchange the peace of mind, the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have
gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life, the confirmed faith I now have
in the moral order of the universe, and in the unfailing mercies and love of God, for all the bright but
uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth. Indeed, I would not!
These are the best years of my life -- the sweetest, the freest from anxious care and fear. The way
grows brighter, the birds sing sweeter, the winds blow softer, the sun shines more radiantly than
ever before. I suppose my outward man is perishing, but my inward man is being joyously renewed
day by day.
Victor Hugo said (I quote from memory): 'For fifty years I have been expressing myself in sonnet and
song, in history, biography, essays, philosophy, drama, tragedy, and fiction, but I have not expressed
a thousandth part of what is within me.' And then he added, 'The frosts of seventy winters are upon
my head, but the springtime of eternal youth is in my heart.' Truly, that is the way I feel these days
One of the prayers of my heart, as I grow older, is that of David: 'Now, also, when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not until I have showed Thy strength unto this generation and Thy power
to every one that is to come!' David was jealous for the glory of God and for the highest well-being
of his own generation and every generation that was to follow, and he prayed no selfish prayer, but
poured out his heart to God that he might so live and speak and write that God's glory and goodness
and power might be made known to the men of his own time and to all that should come after him.
And how wonderfully God heard and answered his prayer! Oh, that God would grant me a like grace!
If the eye of any friend falls upon this testimony, let me beseech you to unite with me and for me in
this prayer of David, which I make my own.
This past year has been wonderful. Since the first of January considerably over three thousand souls
have knelt at the penitent-form in my Meetings, seeking pardon and purity. Seldom have I seen such
manifestations of God's presence and power as during these months. I rejoice in God my Saviour,
and my soul doth magnify the Lord.
I wish I knew more of it and could better tell to others the secret of growing old gladly. But some
lessons that I have learned, or partially learned, I here pass on:
1. Have faith in God -- In His providence, In His superintending care, in His unfailing love.
2. Accept the bitter with the sweet and rejoice in both. The bitter may be better for us than the
sweet. Don't grow impatient and fretful. If you fall into divers temptations, count it all joy, knowing
that the trial of your faith worketh patience; and let patience have her perfect work, that you may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
What a high state of grace that is -- to be 'perfect and entire, wanting nothing! ' And yet it is to be
attained through the joyful acceptance of annoying trials and petty vexations, as a part of God's
discipline. (James i. 2-7.)
3. Keep a heart full of love toward everybody. Learn to be patient with folks who try your patience. If
you can't love them with complacency, then love them with compassion and pity; but love them,
pray for them, and don't carry around hard thoughts and feelings -- toward them.
Here is a tender little poem by Whittier, our Quaker poet:
My heart was heavy, for its trust had been Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong; So,
turning gloomily from my fellow-men, One summer Sabbath Day I strolled among The green mounds
of the village burial-place, Where, pondering how all human love and hate Find one sad level; and
how, soon or late, Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face, And cold hands folded over
a still heart, Pass the green threshold of our common grave, Whither all footsteps tend, whence
none depart, Awed for myself and pitying my race, Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave, Swept
all my pride away, and, trembling, I forgave
4. Don't waste time and fritter away faith by living in the past, by mourning over the failures of
yesterday and the long ago. Commit them to God and look upward and onward. 'Forgetting those
things which are behind,' said Paul, 'and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.'
Some one has said that there are two things we should never worry over and two days about which
we should never be anxious. First, we should not worry over the things that we can help, but set to
work manfully to help them; second, we should not worry, over the things that we cannot help, but
commit them to God and go on with the duties close at hand. Again, we should not be anxious about
yesterday. Our anxieties will not mend its failures nor restore its losses. Second, we should not be
anxious about tomorrow. We cannot borrow its grace. Why, then, should we borrow its care?
5. Give good heed to failing bodily strength. The Founder once said that the body and soul, being
very near neighbors, have a great influence upon each other. We must remember that our bodies
are to be treated like our beast, and Solomon says that 'a righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast.' When young we could stay up all night, eat ice-cream, nuts, and cake at midnight, and go
about our work next day, not much the worse, so far as we could judge, for the shameful
mistreatment of our bodies; but woe unto the man or woman, growing old, who thinks he can treat
his body so!
We must remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost; hence, while they need
sufficient nourishing food and restful sleep, they must in no sense be pampered, and all nervous
excesses must be strictly avoided, or the body will react upon the mind and the spirit, and weakness
and impatience and gloom will cloud the soul. And then, instead of ripening into mellow sweetness
with age, the soul will turn bitter and sour; and what can be more pitiful than an embittered and
soured old soul?
Oh, the joy of living a life of sobriety, of faith, of quietness and confidence, of meekness, of service,
of love, of 'growing up unto Him in all things, which is the Head -- Even Christ! ' Such a life is never
old, but eternally renewing itself, eternally youthful, like a springing, sparkling fountain that is fed by
unfailing waters that flow down from the heights of the everlasting hills. Hallelujah!
In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust! Oh, how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them
that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men! (Psalm
xxxi. 1-19.)
Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our
times are in His hand Who saith, 'A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be
afraid.'
Then welcome each rebuff That turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor
stand but go! Be our joys three parts pain! Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the
pang; dare, never grudge the throe!
He fixed thee 'mid the dance Of plastic circumstance, This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain
arrest; Machinery just meant To give thy soul its bent, Try thee and turn thee forth, sufficiently
impressed.
The Future I may face now I have proved the Past.
Obedience
"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," said Paul, and in that saying he reveals the secret of
his wonderful success as a soul-winner. The soul-winner is a man sent by God, and will have visions
and revelations and secret orders that, if affectionately heeded and heartily and courageously
obeyed, will surely lead to success. He is preeminently "a worker together with God," and a soldier
of Jesus Christ, and as such must obey. It is his business to take orders and carry them out.
"Before I formed thee I knew thee, and before thou camest forth I sanctified thee and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nation," said the Lord to Jeremiah, and when Jeremiah interrupted and said,
"Ah, Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child," the Lord said to him, "Say not I am a child, for
thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not
afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee," saith the Lord; "thou therefore gird up thy
loins and arise and speak unto them all that I shall command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces
lest I confound thee before them."
"If they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should
have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings," said the Lord of the false
prophets. (Jeremiah 23:22.)
"Not what is proper, but what is right must be my fearless and constant inquiry. Jesus, still lead on!"
was the motto of Joseph Parker, one of London's mightiest preachers.
The soul-winner must get his message from God and speak what and when He commands. He is a
servant of God, a friend of Jesus, a prophet of the Most High, an ambassador of heaven to the sons
of men, and he must needs speak heaven's words and represent heaven's court and King and not
seek his own will, but seek the will of Him that sent him. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."
He must not trim his course to suit men, nor stop to ask what this man or that shall do, but he must
attend strictly to his Lord and steadfastly follow Jesus. Paul tells us that Jesus was "obedient unto
death" (Phil. 2:8), and again and again he calls himself "a servant of Jesus Christ."
First: This obedience must be prompt. In spite of the appeals and encouragements of Joshua and
Caleb, the children of Israel refused to go over into Canaan, but afterwards, seeing their sin in
refusing to obey promptly, they essayed to go over in spite of the warnings of Moses not now to
attempt it, and met with bitter defeat. Promptness would have saved them forty years of wandering
in the wilderness. Once the soul-winner knows the Master's will, he must not delay to fulfill it. If he is
in doubt he can take time to assure himself as to what that will is. God would not have him run
before he is sure he is sent, nor go before he has his message, nor falter and possibly fall because of
uncertainty. But once he has received his orders and got his message, let him remember that "the
King's business requires haste;" let him "strike while the iron is hot;" act and speak when the Spirit
moves, and not, like covetous Balaam, dilly-dally to see if God will not change His mind and His
orders.
Dewey's matchless victory at Manila was won, and the geographical boundaries of the nations
changed, by the promptness with which he carried out his orders to destroy the Spanish fleet.
I have noticed that if I speak when the Spirit moves me, I can usually introduce the subject of religion
and God's claims to any individual or company of men with happy results, but if I delay, the
opportunity slips by, not to return again, or if it does return, it does so with increased difficulties.
Second: This obedience must be exact. Saul lost his kingdom and his life because his obedience was
only partial. (See 1 Sam. 15.) So also did the prophet who warned the wicked King Jeroboam. (See 1
Kings, 13.)
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it," said Mary to the servants at the marriage of Cana, and when
they obeyed Him Jesus wrought His first miracle. And so He will work miracles today through His
chosen people, if they will do whatever He saith. The soul-winner must beware of quenching the
blessed Spirit, and then he will find that it is not himself but the Spirit that speaks in him, so that he
can say with Jesus, "The words that I speak, I speak not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in
Me, He doeth the works," for does not Jesus say, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name,
that will I do"?
Third: This obedience must be courageous. "Be not afraid of their faces," said the Lord to Jeremiah.
And again He said to Ezekiel, "And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their
words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of
their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak
My words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear." He was not to say that
which would please the people, but that which God gave him to say, and that without fear of
consequences.
"And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord,
because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." No wonder God cast him off and gave his
crown and kingdom to another! God says, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I
am thy God; I will strengthen thee: yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of
My righteousness." Let the soul-winner recognize that he is on picket duty for heaven, and let him
throw himself on heaven's protection and rest in the assurance of his Heavenly Father's care, and
the utmost sympathy and support of Jesus, and do his duty courageously, saying with Paul, "I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Again and again I have comforted myself with the assurance of good King Jehoshaphat, "Deal
courageously and the Lord shall be with the good," and encouraged myself with the bold declaration
of Peter to the enraged and outwitted Sanhedrin, "We ought to obey God rather than men," and
measured myself by the self-forgetful words of Nehemiah, "Should such a man as I flee, and who is
there that being as I am would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in." (Neh. 6:11.) And
of Paul "Neither count I my life dear unto myself. so that I might finish my course with joy and the
ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God." And of the
three Hebrew children: "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be
so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver
us out of thine hand, O king; but if not, O, king, be it known unto thee that we will not serve thy gods
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
That is the kind of stuff out of which God makes soul-winners.
Do you ask, how can a man get such a spirit of courageous obedience? I answer by dying -- dying to
your selfish interests, dying to the love of praise, the fear of censure, the hope of reward in this
world, and by a daredevil faith in the reward that God will give in the world to come; by a steadfast
looking unto and following of Jesus, and a constant comparison of time with eternity. I read the
other day that it was only dead men who were living preachers.
Fourth: The obedience must be glad. The command is, "Serve the Lord with gladness." "I delight to
do thy will, O God," wrote the Psalmist. There was no grudging about his obedience; it was his joy. It
is a love service God wants, and that is always a joy service. "My meat and My drink is to do the will
of Him that sent Me," said Jesus, and Paul declares, "If I do this thing willingly, I have a reward." It is
a glad love service God calls us to, and once we are wholly His and the Comforter abides in us, we
shall not find it irksome to obey, and by obedience we shall both save ourselves and others to whom
the Lord may send us.
Our Mothers -- Thoughts For Mother's Day
How fitting, how beautiful, that a day should be set aside by the nation and the nations to do honour
to that vast army of delicate soldiers, infinitely greater in numbers than the men who fought in the
Great War, that numberless host whose sentinel watch is never done, whose arms are never laid
down, whose warfare permits of no discharge, and in which there is never an armistice until they fall
on the field of battle -- the great army of mothers.
We hail them today and do them honour. They are a sacrificial host, the great givers and sufferers of
the race. We never see a strong man striding forth in his strength for whom some mother has not
suffered and given of her strength. We never see a blooming girl with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes
and bewitching curls for whom some mother has not gradually faded and given of her own bloom
and beauty and youth.
They bleed that we may be blessed; they keep watch that we may take rest and sleep; they suffer
and oft-times die that we may live.
Our mothers are our comforters in sorrow and the healers of our hearts when they are hurt. When
the little child cries with loneliness in the dark and still night, and sobs and moans, and reaches out
little hands and arms, it is for mother.
When it is hurt it runs to mother and finds in her kiss its balm, and in the warmth and tenderness of
her encircling arms its comfort for all fear and grief, and healing for every wound.
When the big, foolish, awkward boy has a problem that perplexes, a hunger to satisfy, a shame to
confess, or a triumph to announce, he goes to mother, for she will understand.
When the strong man is wearied by the toil and strife of life and his heart is harassed by
uncertainties and doubt, he turns to mother and mother's God.
And when at last death wrestles with a man and tightens its icy fingers upon him, and mocks him
and claims him for its own as his strength fails, how often his thoughts turn to mother! When stern
old Thomas Carlyle lay dying, he was asked if there was anything he wanted; turning his face to the
wall, the granite of his Scotch heart broke up, and the old man sobbed: 'I want ma mither.' In the
hour of death his heart turned as a little child to his mother.
Here is the might and the responsibility of motherhood. She can hold her children to goodness and
God, not by force, but by affection, not by the compulsion of command, but by the compulsion of
high and holy character.
I have been asked how mothers can hold their boy and keep them in paths of rectitude and
godliness, and I can only reply to such questioning mothers 'You will help your boys, not so much by
what you say as by what you are and what you do. Command their respect, their admiration, and
their love by loftiness and firmness of character, by patient steadfastness in well doing, by sweetness
of spirit, by gentleness and graciousness of speech, by the power of the Spirit of Christ abiding
ungrieved in your cleansed heart, and though they may for a time wander away from you, yet
unseen chains still bind them to you, and they will return, drawn back by mysterious cords of love
and reverence.'
Abraham Lincoln's mother died when he was only eight years old, but at the height of his fame and
power he said, "All I am I owe to my angel mother.'
I had just passed my fifteenth birthday and was away at school when one day the first telegram I
ever received was handed me. I read, 'Come home, come quickly, mother is dying!' and when I got
home she was dead. For the next twelve years I had no home. I went off to school and college, but I
received no home letters. When holiday time came I saw the other students trooping to the train
with laughter, for they were going home; but I stayed behind, for no home awaited me. But my
mother's sweet face was ever before me. Her lovelit eyes were ever turned upon me, so it seemed
to me, and if ever I was tempted to evil, grief and reproach seemed to fill her eyes, while I could see
love and sweet joy beaming in her face and from her eyes when I resisted the temptation. Indeed,
her memory and influence were like a presence ever before and about me, and like a flaming shield
between me and youth's temptations. And I have known many a boy whose love and high and
tender regard and reverence for his mother were like a pillar of fire and cloud to guide and protect
him by day and by night. One boy I intimately know wrote to his mother and told her she was to him
as 'A piece of God, a dear little piece of God.' And every mother should be to their boys and girls as
'A piece of God, a dear little piece of God.' And so she may be if she loves God with all her heart and
seeks in all her words and ways to represent Him to her children.
Some mothers are not worthy of the love and respect of their children. A little orphaned boy was
committed to one of our Children's Homes, and in its sweet and sacred atmosphere he was
convicted of sin, but he said: 'I can't get saved. When my mother was dying, I spit in her face.'
Her wickedness had reproduced itself in her little boy, and strangers had to undo the deadly work
wrought in his poor little child heart by her sin.
It is religion pure and undefiled that crowns motherhood.
The glory of motherhood is the glory of sacrifice. A little lad noticed that tradesmen presented his
mother with a bill for service. So a happy thought wakened within him and he presented a bill:
'Mother debtor to Tommy' -Minding the baby ................ s.0 d.6
Chopping and bringing in wood ... s.0 d.9
Mailing letters for a week ...... s.1 d.0
Going to the shop ............... s.0 d.6
TOTAL... 2 9
and this he laid on her plate at the table. Mother looked at it, smiled, and then grew serious. At the
next meal Tommy found a bill at his plate:
'Tommy debtor to Mother' –
For caring for him through years of infancy .................s.0 d.0
For nursing him through two dangerous illnesses ..........s.0 d.0
For getting his meals for him for ten years every day ..........s.0 d.0
For washing and mending his clothes ......................s.0 d.0
TOTAL.... 0 0
Poor Tommy! When he read it the long sacrifice and unwearied devotion of mother dawned upon
him, and with tears in his eyes he threw his arms around his mother and begged pardon for his
thoughtlessness.
The glory of motherhood is the glory of unfailing patience.
The father of John and Charles Wesley said to Susanna, the mother, one day:
Mother, why do you tell Charles the same thing over twenty times?
She quietly replied: 'Because nineteen times won't do.'
Oh, the patience of mothers!
The glory of motherhood is the glory of unwavering faith and undying hope. A mother dedicated her
baby to God, and in prayer felt a conviction and assurance that he would preach the Gospel. But
instead of giving his heart to God, he fell into sin, and instead of preaching, he became a drunken
infidel lawyer, mouthing infidelity. But the mother still prayed and believed and hoped on. One day
she was sent for and told that he was dying of delirium tremens. She went quietly to his home,
saying, 'He is not dying. He will live and yet preach the Gospel.' And live he did and preach the
Gospel he did like a living flame of fire; and years after his sweet granddaughter, too, preached the
Gospel in The Salvation Army.
The glory of motherhood is the glory of self forgetful unselfishness.
A Salvation Army mother with six sons and daughters in The Army Work lay dying. Her youngest
daughter, a Cadet in the Training Garrison, hastened to her side, but the saintly mother said 'Dear, I
shall be cared for. I dedicated you, and God has called you to His work. Return to the Training
Garrison and continue your studies. We shall meet in the Morning at home in Heaven.' The dying
mother forgot herself in her love for Christ and her holy ambition for her child.
The glory of motherhood is the glory of love that never faileth. Some time ago I was in a city where is
located a great State's prison. In my Meetings I noticed a sweet-faced, tiny woman with silvery hair
and the peace of God in her face. One Sunday we went to the great prison for a service with the
prisoners and she was there. Her boy -- I think he was her only boy -- had wandered away from
home, fallen in with evil people, and was shut in behind the grim prison walls. When the little
mother heard the heart-breaking news, all the tender love of her heart for her wayward boy burst
into flame, and she left her home in the north and came to this city to live, that she might be near
her son. And every Sunday she went to the prison to see him, seeking to win him back to goodness
and God.
You can never wear it out, mother-love is strong; It will live through sin and shame, hurt and cruel
wrong; Even though the world revile and your friendships die, Though your hands be black with sin,
she will hear your cry, And she'll love you and forgive.
Such is the glory of all true mothers, and for them we give praise to God, and to them we give the
tribute of our reverence and tenderest affection. The bravest battles that were ever fought, Shall I
tell you where and when? On the maps of the world you'll find them not, They were fought by the
mothers of men.
Nay, not with the battle or cannon's shot, With sword or nobler pen; Nay, not with the eloquent
words or thought >From the lips of wonderful men;
But deep in a walled-up woman's heart, A woman that would not yield, But bravely and silently bore
her part, Lo, there is the battlefield.
No marshalling of troops, no bivouac song, No banners to gleam and wave, But Oh! these battles
they last so long, >From babyhood to the grave.
Paul A Pattern
Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus made him 'a pattern to them which should hereafter believe' (I Tim.
i. 16). This fact makes his life and experience exceptionally interesting and valuable to us. And it is an
especial mark of our Heavenly Father's wisdom and love that He has given us in Paul such a striking
example in every particular of the saving power of Jesus. People say Jesus was Divine, and so excuse
themselves for their unlikeness to Him, but Paul was human, and if he was like Jesus, so may we be.
Let us study his experience.
I. His sufferings. It is difficult to conceive any form of suffering to which Paul was not subjected; in
every instance the grace of Christ was all-sufficient. Here is a catalogue of his sufferings recorded by
himself: 'In labors more abundant.' If anyone exceeds him in their labors, it is only because of the
improved facilities of later ages for doing more in the same space of time. 'In stripes above measure'
-- so many and so often inflicted as to be beyond his computation. 'In prisons more frequent, in
deaths oft . . . once was I stoned.' I was stoned once with one brick, and nearly killed, but Paul
received many stones, and was dragged out of the city like a beast, and left for dead.
'Thrice I suffered shipwreck.' There have been Salvationist leaders who have suffered shipwreck
once, and escaped immediately; but, 'a night and a day I have been in the deep,' says Paul. 'In
journeyings often,' under such disagreeable circumstances as we who live in the days of Pullman
cars and ocean steamers can scarcely imagine. 'In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by
mine own countrymen' -- the Jews, who hated him bitterly, and sought his life in every city. 'In perils
by the heathen' -- whom he sought to save through the knowledge of Jesus, but who clung to their
idols. 'In perils in the City' -- by wild, mad mobs. In perils in the wilderness' -- from ferocious beasts
and yet more ferocious men. 'In perils in the sea' -- from drowning and from monsters of the deep.
'In perils among false brethren' -- to whom he would naturally look for help and sympathy. 'In
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all
the churches' (2 Cor. xi. 23-28) which were organized from Jewish and heathen converts, and were
bitterly opposed by the idolatrous heathen on the one side, and the bigoted Jews on the other, and
which must have been far more difficult to properly organize, train and manage, than any Salvation
Army corps. Nor could he look forward to brighter days, when circumstances would be more
favorable, and life more free from pain and care, for he says, 'the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me' (Acts. xx. 23).
II. His faith in God and love for man. And yet, in spite of all these afflictions and physical sufferings
and bitter persecutions, he maintained a joyful faith in God and a tender, self-sacrificing love for all
men. And when God the Holy Ghost testifies there will be no 'let up' to his stupendous trials, he cries
out, 'But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself (Acts xx. 24). 'I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake' (2
Cor. xii. 10). And in face of all these things he asks, 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' And though
he adds, 'we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter,' yet, 'in all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord'
(Rom. viii. 35-39). And at the last, almost in sight of the block and axe, where his multitudinous
sufferings were to be crowned by a martyr's death, he exclaimed, 'I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith' (2 Tim. iv. 7).
Just as his faith in his Lord was not in the least hindered or destroyed by his sufferings, so also was
his love for his fellow men untouched by them. He says of the Jews, who were his perpetual and
bitter enemies, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites'
(Rom. ix. I -4). This is perfect love. It is love that 'suffereth long, and is kind.' It is love like that of the
Lord Jesus Himself.
Then again, in writing to his corps in Corinth, many of whom seemed to have gone wrong, and to
have made many unjust and contemptuous criticisms of Paul himself he says, 'I seek not yours but
you: . . . and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you,
the less I be loved' (2 Cor. xii. 14-15). Many floods could not quench his love nor drown his faith.
III. The secret. The secret of Paul's marvelous endurance, his quenchless faith and burning love is
found in his testimony, 'I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision' (Acts xxvi. 19).
Away back in the days when he was a persecutor and was scattering the little flock of Christ, and
driving them to death, Jesus met him -- met him just as He meets men to-day, showed him a 'strait
gate' and a 'narrow way,' and Paul was 'not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.' Obedience meant
social ostracism, banishment from home and friends, the overturning of all his plans and ambitions,
a life of toil and shame and suffering, the loss of all things and the sacrifice of his life; yet he was not
disobedient to the heavenly vision. And, maintaining this obedient spirit to the end, everything else
followed. The reason why so few have an experience like Paul's is because so few count the cost as
he did, and obey the heavenly vision Jesus gives them.
Several years ago a bright young girl of eighteen, full of fun and love of society, was induced by a
friend to enter an Army meeting for the first time. No sooner had she entered than the faces of the
soldiers enchained her eyes, and their testimonies went to her heart. She sat for a while, and Jesus
came to her, not in visible presence, or with audible voice, but in a spiritual vision. She left the
meeting convicted of sin. On her way home the vision spoke with her, 'You ought to have got saved
to-night,' But I am engaged for that dance next Wednesday night.' 'You should give up the dance.'
'But there are my lovely white dress and slippers. I will get saved after the dance.' 'But you may die
before Wednesday night, and lose your lovely dress and the dance and your soul.' That was
sufficient for this young girl. She tore the feathers from her hat, and threw them into the fire. She
rushed upstairs, got her lovely white dress, cut it up and cast it into the fire.
The next evening she went to the meeting. At last a sister, probably discerning in her face the hunger
of her heart, went to her and asked, 'Don't you want to get saved to-night?' 'Of course I do,' replied
the girl; 'why did you not come to me before?' and immediately she rushed to the Penitent-form,
where, in obedience to the heavenly vision, she found Jesus almighty to save. And after four years
her face shines with the glory of her Lord, and her voice rings with triumph as she testifies to the
cleansing power of His Blood and the sanctifying power and presence of His Spirit. She was not
disobedient to the heavenly vision.
A man, a millionaire, came into a meeting and listened to an Army Captain, and the heavenly vision
came to him, and he saw the Cross, and the 'strait gate,' and the 'narrow way,' and like the rich
young man who came to Jesus, he went away, saying, 'If it were not for the red stripes round that
fellow's collar I would have gone forward,' He was disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Sooner or later the heavenly vision comes to all men. It comes in the whisperings of conscience, in
the strivings of the Spirit, in the calls of duty, in the moments of regret for an evil past, in moments
of tenderness and sorrow, in the crises of life, in the entreaties of God's people. It comes in
afflictions and losses, in the thunders of the law, in fearful, ominous threatenings of eternal
judgment, in the death of loved ones, in crushed hopes, disappointed plans and thwarted ambitions.
In all these things Jesus hides Himself as He hid Himself in the burning bush, which Moses saw on
Horeb. If men would but turn aside and heed the vision as Moses did, a voice would speak and cause
them to know the Lord, and if they would not be disobedient to the heavenly vision, Jesus would
turn them back from the pit, and satisfy every questioning of their minds and every longing of their
hearts. God so satisfied the heart and mind of Paul.
Some people imagine that Paul tells his best religious experience in Romans vii. 24, when he cries
out, 'O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' But the fact is,
he is here describing his condition under the law, when, as a convicted sinner, the law showed him
what he ought to do, but brought no power to deliver him from his guilty past and the corruptions of
his own heart. However, in the eighth chapter he finds the secret of deliverance from the
condemnation of the past and the Carnal mind, which prevent his doing the will of God on earth as
the angels do it in heaven.
From that point he rises to such marvelous testimonies as, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live -- I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me' (Gal. ii. 20). And through a consecration in which he
counted all things loss for Christ and a faith by which he reckoned himself 'dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Rom. vi. I t), he entered into an experience in which,
as one has well said, he was 'free from a repining temper, for he had learned in every state
therewith to be content. He was free from vanity, pride, and unsanctified ambitions, for he gloried
only in the Cross of Christ. He was free from every feeling of resentment, for he was ready to die
accursed by his enemies. He was free from selfishness, for he was ready to spend and be spent for
those whose love diminished for him in proportion as his love abounded for them. He was free from
covetousness, for he counted all things but dung and dross for Christ. He was free from unbelief, for
he knew in Whom he had trusted, and was persuaded that nothing could separate him from the love
of Christ. He was free from the fear of man, for stripes, imprisonment and martyrdom had no terrors
-- being ready to be offered up. He was free from the love of the world having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ. The absence of these corruptions implied the maturity of the graces of the Holy
Spirit -- the fulness of love. Indeed, it was that love which constrained him, which cast out fear, and
counteracted every tendency opposed to its hallowing influence.'
What a great salvation was this that Paul found through obeying the heavenly vision! It is ten million
leagues beyond the poor little salvation from wrongdoing which most people seek in order to escape
hell. It is a salvation not only from sin, but from self; a divine union with God in Christ, so intimate
and so sacred that father and mother and wife and brother and sister and child, yea, and his own
life, are all shut outside. And yet it does not make him nerveless, and lead him to 'sing himself away
to everlasting bliss,' but rather to lavish his love upon all men regardless of their hatred or affection,
and to pour his life out, a sacrifice for the world. Well might he say, 'Be ye followers of me, even as I
also am of Christ' (I Cor. xi. 1).
And by the grace of God I will follow.
Will you?
Perfect Peace
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee"
(Isaiah xxvi. 3).
A wonderful promise is that, and it ought to be the aim of every one of us to make it our experience.
The way to do this is simple: it is to keep our minds stayed on our Lord. But while it is simple, I
confess it is no easy matter for most men to do it. They would rather think about business, about
pleasure, about the news of the day, about politics, education, music, or about the work of the Lord,
than about the Lord Himself.
Now, business and other things must needs take some of our thought, and we must pay attention to
the work of the Lord, if we love Him and the souls for whom He died; but, just as the maiden in all
her work and pleasure thinks of her lover, and just as the young bride filled with new cares is in her
heart communing with her husband, though he may be far from her, so we should in everything
think of, and commune with, Jesus, and let our hearts fully trust His wisdom, love and power, and
then we shall be kept in "perfect peace."
Just think of it! "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid" in Him, and we, in our
ignorance and foolishness, are "complete in Him." We may not understand, but He understands. We
may not know, but He knows. We may be perplexed, but He is not perplexed. Then we ought to trust
Him if we are His, and we shall be kept in "perfect peace."
Ten thousand times I have been at my wits' end, but, oh! how it comforted me to know that Jesus
saw the end from the beginning and was making all things work together for my good because I
loved and trusted Him! Jesus is never at His wits" end, and when we are most puzzled and
confounded by our foolishness and short-sightedness, Jesus, in the fullness of His love and with all
the infinity of His wisdom and power, is working out the desires of our hearts, if they be holy desires;
for does He not say, "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him" (Ps. cxlv. 19)?
Jesus not only has wisdom and love, but He assures us that "all power in Heaven and earth" is His, so
that the counsels of His wisdom and the tender desire of His love cannot fail for lack of power to
fulfill them. He can turn the hearts of kings, and make them do His will, and His faithful love will lead
Him to do it, if we but trust Him. Nothing is more surprising to the children of God, who trust Him
and watch His ways, than the marvelous and unexpected deliverances He works out for them, and
the kind of people He uses to fulfill His will.
Our hearts long to see the glory of the Lord and the prosperity of Zion, and we pray to God and
wonder how the desire of our hearts is to be obtained; but we trust and look unto God, and He sets
to work, with the most unlikely people and in the most unheard-of way, to answer our prayers and
reward our patient faith. And so, in all the little vexatious trials and delays of our everyday, plodding
life, if we trust and keep on rejoicing right through all that bothers us, we will find God at work for
us, for He says He is a "present help in trouble" -- all trouble -- and so He is to all who keep their
minds stayed on Him. Only a short period has elapsed since the Lord has been allowing me to pass
through a series of the most troublesome little times, just calculated to annoy me to the uttermost.
But while waiting on Him in prayer, He showed me that if I had more confidence in Him in my
difficulties, I would keep on rejoicing, and so get blessings out of my trials, as Samson got honey out
of the carcass of the lion he slew, and so I proved it to be. Bless His holy name! I did rejoice, and one
trial after the other vanished away, and only the sweetness of my Lord's presence and blessing
remained, and my heart has been kept in perfect peace since.
Does not God do all this to hide pride from us, to humble us, and make us see that our character
before Him is of more consequence than our service to Him; to teach us to walk by faith and not by
sight, and to encourage us to trust and be at peace?
Now, let no honest soul whose faith is small, nor any of those big busybodies, who seem to think
that if they did not worry and fret and rush about and make a great noise the universe would come
to a standstill and go to ruin, suppose for an instant that there is any likeness whatever between
"perfect peace" and perfect indifference. Indifference is a child of sloth. Peace is the offspring of a
faith that is ceaseless in its activity -- an activity that is the most perfect, and the mightiest of which
man is capable, for through it, poor unarmed men have "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of
the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again" (Heb. xi. 33-35).
To exercise this mighty faith which brings "perfect peace," we must receive the Holy Ghost into our
hearts, and recognize Him, not as an influence or an attribute of God, but as God Himself. He is a
Person, and He will make us know Jesus, and understand His mind and will, and realize His constant
presence, if we trust Him. Jesus is ever present with us, and, if we long for Him, it will so please Him
that He will always help us to stay our minds on Him.
It will require some effort on our part, however; for the world, business, the weakness of the flesh,
the infirmities of our minds, the careless example of the people about us, and the devil with all his
wiles, will so seek to turn our thoughts from our Lord and make us forget Him, that, maybe, not
more than once or twice in twenty-four hours shall our thoughts and affections turn to Him, and
then only by a strong and prolonged effort, and even in times of prayer we may not really find God.
Let us then cultivate the habit of communing with Jesus. When our thoughts wander from Him, let
us turn them back again; but let us do this quietly and patiently, for any impatience, even with
ourselves, is dangerous, disturbing our inward peace, drowning the still small voice of the Spirit, and
hindering the grace of God from mastering us and subduing our hearts.
But if, in all meekness and lowliness of heart, we allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and are
obedient to His voice, He will keep our hearts in a holy calm in the midst of ten thousand cares and
weaknesses and troubles.
"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
keep [garrison your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus" (Phil. iv. 6, 7).
Practical Lessons Of The Resurrection
Paul tells us that the same power which raised Christ from the dead is in us who believe (Eph. i.1720). He says of Jesus: 'When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto
men' (Eph. iv. 8). He says of himself, 'But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I
may win Christ. . . . That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection' (Phil. iii. 7, 8, 10). The
practical, everyday teaching of these Scriptures to me is this: that since Jesus rose from the dead and
ascended on high, He puts at my disposal the same power to do and suffer His will that His Heavenly
Father gave to Him. Jesus 'was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God' (2
Cor. xiii. 4), and when He rose from the dead He broke every fetter forged by Satan, sin and Hell, and
carried them captive, and opened a way by which every child of man may go free and enter into
union with God through the indwelling Holy Ghost, and have the power of God working mightily and
triumphantly in him. Bless God for ever! In ancient times victorious generals carried captive the
captains and kings whom they conquered, with all the wealth they could lay their hands upon, and
when they returned to their own people, they distributed gifts from the spoils of the enemy. So
Jesus, having triumphed over all the power of the enemy, distributes gifts of love and joy and faith
and patience and spiritual insight and wisdom to His people, that shall enable them also to have
power over all the power of the enemy.
He came as a lowly stranger into the iron furnace of this sin-cursed, devil-enslaved world. He toiled
with its toiling millions, He suffered their sorrows and their sicknesses, their poverty and their
temptations, and when He had impressed upon a few of them a faint sense of His divinity, hid under
the humble garb of His humanity, He suffered their death and dashed their hopes, as they supposed,
for ever. But He rose again and ascended 'far above all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion' (Eph. i. 21), and is set down at the right hand of the Father as our Intercessor, and our
Advocate. From that place of power He pleads our cause, watches our interests, guides our steps,
strengthens our hearts, illuminates our minds, secures for us boundless gifts and graces and
immunities, which we are at liberty to take by faith and use for the advancement of His kingdom of
holiness and humility, of righteousness and joy in our hearts and the hearts of others.
It is His purpose that we should, in a most important sense, sustain the same relation to Him now
that He sustained to His Heavenly Father in the days of His humanity; that we should be baptized
with the same Spirit, and preach with the same authority, and secure the same results, and gain the
same final and eternal victory, and at last sit down with Him on His Throne for evermore.
This being so, I am under as much obligation now to be holy, to be empowered by the Spirit, and to
be about my Lord's business, as I shall be in Heaven. And, bless God, this is not only an obligation,
but an inspiration!
Who, having caught a glimpse of this high and holy purpose of His resurrected Lord, can ever be
content again to grope in the malarial fogs of unbelief, and grovel on the dung-hill of this world's
poor little pleasures and riches and honors? Who would not forsake father and mother, and wife
and children, and houses and lands, pluck out a right eye, cut off a right hand or foot, cast off every
weight and easily-besetting sin, deny himself, take up his cross, esteem all this world's gain as loss,
and if needs be sacrifice his life in order to 'know the power of His resurrection,' enter into this 'life
hid with Christ in God' and not disappoint his Lord? It was for this we were born, and to fall short of
this will be infinite, eternal loss, and doom us to an everlasting night of shame and contempt.
Prayer
Prayer is the way of approach to God, and the soul-winner keeps it open by constant use. It is the
channel by which all spiritual blessings and power are received, and therefore the life of the soulwinner must be one of ceaseless prayer. "Pray without ceasing," wrote Paul. It is the breath of the
soul, and other things being equal, it is the secret of power.
It is written of Jesus, "And it came to pass in those days that He went out into. a mountain to pray,
and continued all night in prayer to God." And this was followed by mighty works.
What an amazing statement is this: "Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them;" and this: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in My name, He will give it you;" and this: "If ye abide in Me and My words abide in
you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you!" And yet, amazing as they are, there
they stand in "the Scripture of truth," a challenge to every child of God who is jealous for God's
glory, who longs for the triumph of righteousness and who seeks the salvation of souls.
The soul-winner must pray in secret; he must get alone with God and pour his heart into his
Heavenly Father's ear with intercessions and pleadings and arguments, if he would have good
success. There is no substitute for much wide-awake, expectant, secret waiting upon God for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the gift of wisdom, strength, courage, hope, faith, discernment of
times and spirits, and a glowing, burning, comprehensive message from Him to the people. If men
fail at this point, they will in due time fail at every point Jesus said: "When thou prayest, enter into
thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Here, then, is the secret of success closet
communion and counselings and conversations with God, who is our Father, and who can and will
no more turn away from us when we come in the spirit of an obedient and affectionate child, than
can the sunlight when we throw open the windows and doors and stand in its beams. I say it
reverently. He cannot turn away from us, but will surely reward us, and that openly, because He said
He would, and He cannot lie.
Prayer must be definite. Once, when Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimeus sat by the wayside begging, and when he heard Jesus was passing by, he
began to cry out and say: "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me," but that prayer was not
definite -- it was altogether too general. Jesus knew what Bartimeus wanted, but He desired
Bartimeus to state exactly what he desired, and said to him:
"What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" Then the blind man prayed a definite prayer.
"Lord, that I might receive my sight," and the definite prayer then received a definite answer, for
Jesus said unto him:
"Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole," and immediately he received his sight.
We should be as definite when we go to God, in asking him for what we want, as we are when we go
to the store. The salesman is prepared to sell us anything and everything in the store, but he in
reality sells us nothing until we tell him what we want, and so it is with our Heavenly Father.
Our prayers must be bold Paul said: "We have a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and was tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin," and adds: "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace in time of need." Of course this boldness must be coupled with
humility, but the greater the humility, the greater the boldness, if mixed with faith. I have often been
amused and amazed at the boldness with which children come to their parents for the things they
need and the things they want, and how gladly does the true parent respond to the child's request,
especially if it expresses a genuine need! And Jesus said: "If ye then being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to them
that ask Him?"
The devil stands mocking and teasing the praying souls to drive him from his knees and from his
Father's face, but let him rather come boldly in the name of Jesus and wait patiently for the things
he desires, and he shall have an abundant reward. It is not our Heavenly Father's will to disappoint
His trusting children, but rather to give them their utmost desire, yea, "exceeding abundantly above
all they ask or think," for His heart is all love toward them; therefore let them not be timid and
wavering, but steadfast and bold as His dear children.
Prayer must be importunate, persevering. Jesus teaches this very clearly in His parable of the
importunate friend "Which of you," said Jesus, "shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight
and shall say unto him; 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey has come to
me and I have nothing to set before him and he from within shall say, 'Trouble me not, the door is
now shut, and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto you, though he
will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and
give him as many as he needeth;" and then Jesus adds: "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that
seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened unto him;" by which Jesus means to
teach that we are to hold on in prayer till we get an answer. If the answer is delayed, our own hearts
will be searched, the purity of our motives will be proved, and our faith will be purified, tried,
developed and strengthened for future and greater triumph.
Jesus prayed three times that the cup of death in the garden of Gethsemane might pass from Him. It
was not death on the Cross, but death in the garden He feared and the apostle tells us, in Hebrews
5:7, that He was heard. Daniel abstained from all pleasant food for three weeks at one time, and
prayed until God appeared unto him and said: "O man, greatly beloved, fear not; peace be unto
thee; be strong; yea, be strong;" and added, "I will show thee that which is noted in the Scriptures of
truth," and then told him all that he desired to know. And Elijah, after his victory over the priests of
Baal, sent his servant seven times to look for the cloud that should bring rain, while he bowed his
face between his knees, and poured out his heart to God in prayer until the cloud appeared that
should bring the floods of rain. Muller sometimes prayed every day, and often several times a day,
and that for months and years for some things he wanted, before the answer came, but come it did
in due time. Though the answer be delayed, it is not God's purpose to deny us without letting us
know the reason why.
Prayer must be for the glory of God and according to His will. If we ask things simply to gratify our
own desires, God cannot grant them. James said of certain ones, Ye ask ..... but ye ask amiss, that ye
may consume it upon your lusts," but John said, "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if
we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.; and if we know that He heareth us..... we know
that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" Jesus said, "If ye abide in Me and My words abide
in you. ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."
We are to ask according, to the things revealed as His will in His Word, and according to the
principles laid down therein; therefore we should study His Word constantly and hide it in our own
hearts, and see to it that we hide ourselves in His heart and thus be filled with the truth; we shall
then not ask amiss, and being filled with the Spirit, we shall not be denied.
Prayer must be mixed with faith -- must be believing prayer. "Whatsoever ye desire when ye pray,
believe that ye receive and ye shall have." Oh, what a victory I got one morning over the devil, when
he tried to shake my faith and confidence! I laid hold of that promise and wrestled through to the
solid rock of believing prayer, and had one of the most glorious soul-saving days in my life! The man
whose faith is constantly wavering shall receive nothing from the Lord. (James 1: 6-7.)
Finally, prayer must be in the name of Jesus. "Whatsoever ye will ask in My name that will I do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son," said Jesus.
"The Blood, the Blood is all my plea," and with that plea the vilest sinner may come, while the child
of God may approach with unabashed boldness into the presence of his Heavenly Father and claim
all the resources of Heaven in his warfare against sin, in his effort to save sinners and build up the
kingdom of God.
Present-Day Witnesses To The Resurrection
Several years ago, I knelt in prayer with a young woman who wanted to be holy. I asked her if she
would give up everything for Jesus. She answered that she would. I then thought I would put a hard
test to her, and asked her if she would be willing to go to Africa as a missionary for Jesus. She said,
"Yes." Then we prayed, and while we were praying, she burst into tears and cried out, "O Jesus!"
She had never seen Jesus. She had never heard His voice, and before this hour she had no more idea
of such a revelation of Jesus to her soul than a man born blind has of a rainbow. But she knew Him!
She had no more need that some one should tell her this was Jesus than you have need of the light
of a tallow candle to see the sun come up. The sun brings its own light, and so did Jesus.
She knew Him, she loved Him, she rejoiced in Him with "joy unspeakable and full of glory"; and from
that hour she testified of Him and followed Him -- followed Him to Africa, to help Him win the
heathen to Himself; till one day He said to her, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. xxv. 23), and then she went up to Heaven, to behold with open vision
His unveiled glory.
This young woman was a witness for Jesus -- a witness that He is not dead but living, and as such was
a witness to His resurrection.
Such witnesses are needed in every age. They are needed today as much as in the days of the
Apostles. Men's hearts are just as wicked, their pride just as stubborn, their selfishness is just as
universal, and their unbelief is just as obstinate as at any time in the world's history, and it takes just
as powerful evidence to subdue their hearts and beget in them living faith as it ever did.
There are two kinds of evidence, each of which seems to be necessary to get men to accept the truth
and be saved. They are: the evidence we get from history, and the evidence we get from living men
who tell about that of which they are conscious.
In the Bible and in the writings of early Christians, we have the historical evidences of God's plans for
men and His dealings with them; of the life and death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and of the
coming of the Holy Spirit. But these records alone do not seem sufficient to destroy the unbelief of
men and bring them into humble, glad submission to God, and into childlike faith in His dear love.
They may produce an historical faith. That is, men may believe what they say about God, about men,
about sin, life, death, judgment, Heaven and Hell, just as they believe what history says about Julius
Caesar, Bonaparte or Washington; and this faith may lead men to be very religious, to build temples,
to deny themselves, and go through many forms of worship; to forsake gross outward sin and to live
lives of decorum and morality, and yet leave them dead to God. It does not lead them into that living
union with the Lord Jesus which slays inward and outward sin, and takes away the fear of death, and
fills the heart with joyful hope of immortality.
The faith that saves, is the faith that brings the life and power of God into the soul -- a faith that
makes the proud man humble, the impatient man patient, the haughty man lowly in heart, the
stingy man openhanded and liberal, the lustful man clean and chaste, the fighting, quarrelsome man
meek and gentle, the liar truthful, the thief honest, the light and foolish sober and grave, a faith that
purifies the heart, that sets the Lord always before the eyes, and fills the soul with humble, holy,
patient love toward God and man.
To beget this faith, is needed not only the Bible, with its historical evidences, but also a living
witness; one who has "tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come" (Heb. vi.
5); one who knows that Jesus is not dead, but alive; one who can witness to the resurrection,
because he is acquainted with the Lord who was resurrected, and knows the Lord, who is "the
Resurrection and the Life" (John xi. 25).
I remember a little girl in Boston, whose quiet, earnest testimony for Jesus drew people to our
meetings just to hear her speak. One day, as we were walking along the street, she said to me: "The
other evening, as I was in my room getting ready for the meeting, Jesus was with me. I felt He was
there, and I knew Him."
I replied, "We may be more conscious of His presence than of any earthly friend."
Then, to my surprise and joy, she said, "Yes, for He is in our hearts."
Paul had to be such a witness, in order to bring salvation to the Gentiles. He was not a witness of the
resurrection, in the lower sense, that he saw Jesus in the body with his natural eyes; but in the
higher, spiritual sense, in that he had the Son of God "revealed" in him -- (Gal. i. 16) -- and his
testimony was just as mighty in convincing men of the truth and slaying their unbelief; as was that of
Peter or John.
And this power to so witness was not confined to the Apostles, who had been with Jesus, and to
Paul, who was specially chosen to be an Apostle, but is the common heritage of believers. Many
years after Pentecost, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, away off in Europe, "Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. xiii. 5). And, in writing to the
Colossians about the mystery of the Gospel, he said it is "Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. i. 27).
In fact, this is the very highest purpose for which Jesus promised to send the Holy Ghost. He said,
"When He, the Spirit of truth, is come ... He shall not speak of Himself ... He shall testify of Me. He
shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John xvi. 14).
This is His chief work -- to reveal Jesus to the spiritual consciousness of each individual believer, and
by so doing to purify his heart, to destroy all evil dispositions, and to implant in the soul of the
believer the very tempers and dispositions of Jesus Himself.
Indeed, the inward revelation of the mind and heart of Jesus, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
was necessary in order to make fit witnesses out of the very men who had been with Him for three
years and who were eye-witnesses of His death and resurrection.
He did not rise from the dead and send them out at once to tell the fact to every one they met. He
remained with them a few days, teaching them certain things, and then, just before He ascended to
Heaven, instead of saying to them, "You have been with Me for three years, you know My life, you
have heard My teachings, you saw Me die, you witnessed My resurrection -- now go into all the
world, and tell them about these things," we read that He "commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me.
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence ... ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto Me" (Acts i. 4, 5, 8).
They had been with Him for three years, but they did not understand Him. He had been revealed to
them in flesh and blood, but now He was to be revealed in them by the Spirit; and in that hour they
knew His divinity, and understood His character, His mission, His holiness, His everlasting love and
His saving power as they otherwise could not had He lived with them in the flesh to all eternity. This
it was that led Jesus to say to them, just before His death, "It is expedient (better) for you that I go
away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you" (John xvi. 7); and if the Comforter
had not come, they could not possibly have known Jesus except in the flesh.
Oh, how tenderly Jesus loved them, and with what unutterable longings did He wish to make Himself
fully known to them! Just so, today, does He want to make Himself fully known to His people, and to
reveal Himself in their hearts.
It is this knowledge of Jesus that sinners demand Christians shall have before they believe.
Now, if it is true that the children of God can so know Christ, that the Holy Ghost does so reveal Him,
that Jesus does so earnestly wish to be known by His people, and that sinners demand that
Christians shall have such knowledge before they will believe, is it not the duty of every follower of
Jesus to seek Him with the whole heart, till he is filled with this knowledge and this power to so
witness? Further, this knowledge should be sought, not simply for usefulness, but for personal
comfort and safety, because it is salvation -- it is eternal life. Jesus said, "This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John xvii. 3).
One may know ten thousand things about the Lord, may be very eloquent in speaking about His
character and His works, and yet be utterly destitute of any heart-acquaintance with Him. A peasant
may know many things about an earthly ruler -- may believe in his justice, and be ready to trust his
clemency, though he has never seen him; but it is his son and daughter and the members of his
household who really know him. This universal revelation of the Lord Jesus is more than conversion - it is the positive side of that experience which we call a "clean heart" or "holiness."
Do you want to know Him in this way? If your whole soul desires it, you may.
First, be sure your sins are forgiven. If you have wronged anybody, undo the wrong so far as you can.
Zacchaeus said to Jesus, "The half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (Luke xix. 8), and Jesus saved him right on the
spot. Submit to God, confess your sins, then trust Jesus, and as sure as you live all your sins shall be
forgiven, and He will blot out all your transgressions as a thick cloud, "and remember them no
more."
Second, now that you are forgiven, come to Him with your will, your affection, your very self, and
ask Him to cleanse you from every evil temper, from every selfish wish, from every secret doubt, and
to come and dwell in your heart and keep you pure, and use you for His own glory. Then struggle no
more, but walk in the light He gives you, and patiently, expectantly trust Him to answer your prayer,
and as sure as you live you shall soon "be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. iii. 19). Just at this
point, do not become impatient and yield to secret doubts and fears, but "hold fast the profession of
your faith" (Heb. x. 23); for, as Paul says, "Ye have need of patience that, after ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the promise; for yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will
not tarry" (Heb. x. 36, 37). God will come to you! He will! And when He comes, He will satisfy the
uttermost longings of your heart.
Recent Acts Of The Holy Ghost
Someone has said that 'The Acts of the Apostles' should have been called 'The Acts of the Holy
Ghost,' because it is here that His personality, who is the 'other Comforter,' whom Jesus promised,
and His work and leadership are made manifest and shown large. And to show that He still works
and leads, and makes men triumphant and glad as in those far-away days of the Apostles, as in the
days of Wesley, and the early days of The Army, I want to pass on portions of two letters I have
recently received, one from an Officer and one from a young Soldier, one from the Pacific Coast and
the other from the Atlantic seaboard:
'My DEAR COLONEL, --
I feel I must write and tell you, knowing you will be interested, that on May 3rd of this year God
wonderfully sanctified me. Though for many years I had claimed the Blessing, through the preaching
of a wonderful man of God, I was shown that there were still carnal propensities dwelling in my
heart. I have felt for some time that there was something wrong with my experience. I was not
making the progress along spiritual lines I wanted to make, nor was I seeing the success I wanted to
see.
That night I saw it all, and though it took me nearly a week to pray through, on the 3rd of May the
work was really accomplished in my heart.
What a wonderful peace filled my soul! I never experienced anything like it before. I really received
the Holy Ghost that afternoon. He still abides.
As I see my experience now it is like this: About fourteen years ago I claimed the experience and
have gone on ever since thinking I had the Blessing, but the Devil simply duped me. Though God
came to my help when I taught the experience, I was just duped, for I had never really died to sin,
and really never knew "the old man" to be crucified until the above date. 'But now, thank God there
is something more than thinking, than work is done.'
When a man faces his unsatisfactory experience courageously, willing to know the worst about
himself, and sets himself to pray before the Lord and to 'pray through,' the Holy Ghost will surely
come, and having come will abide. Hallelujah! But before He can come in to abide, 'the old man'
must be crucified and put off. In closing his letter this brother writes
'I presume you will remember me as a Lieutenant at A_____ when you visited that place thirteen
years ago. I remember this incident that occurred at that time. You gave me some letters to put in
the post office, and stood at the door while I mailed them. I remember distinctly looking at them to
see to whom they were addressed. While it was not a sin against God, it was a sin against you and a
very great breach of good manners. I want to apologize and ask your pardon.'
I do not admit that the brother sinned against me, but rather against his own conscience; and this is
a fine illustration of the delicacy and tenderness of conscience the Holy Spirit begets, and how
courteous and considerate of each other He would make us! And it is because of failure to obey the
Spirit in such minor matters that many people are so spiritually coarse and unlovely, or so lean and
barren in soul. 'The little foxes spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes.'
The other comrade writes:
My DEAR COLONEL, -I have been praying for you. As for me, I have entered into a new experience with Jesus. He has lifted
me on to a higher plane and showed me things that I never saw before; more light, more love, more
peace, more joy, and a better victory.
I have discovered many things about the Devil. It was God's will that I should go through such dark
experiences as I wrote you about before. The Lord did not leave me, but He showed me the reality of
the Devil and his tricks. (Ephesians vi. 11.) That certainly was "The Slough of Despond," but I came
out more than conqueror, Hallelujah!
The Devil surprises me by his perseverance. He is never discouraged. If he can't get the big things, he
will try for the small ones. He is putting up a hard fight, but what can he do? The more I fight the
stronger I become and the more I love Jesus. I can't describe to you my experience with Jesus. It is
glorious, Hallelujah! He pays me special visits, sometimes in shouting and jumping and the
overflowing of the spirit; and sometimes in calmness with a shower of tears. But, Oh, how sweet
those tears are! He does not leave me alone, although sometimes I think He does, but I find Him
hiding behind that trouble, which He turns into a Blessing later.
My heart is flooded with light, love, peace, and joy, and sometimes it is so overflowing that I can't
bear it and do not know what to do with myself. Oh, what a change! It began about the time of our
correspondence, when you were in C______ , and it is still going higher. The best is yet to come.
Hallelujah!
I do not know that I ever saw any one who had greater darkness and difficulties than this second
writer. When I first met him about a year and a half ago, he was full of doubts and questionings and
trouble and seemed almost hopelessly in the dark. Again and again he seemed about ready to give
up entirely, but with help and encouragement he kept on praying, reading, seeking, and now he has
found and his joy is almost too big for utterance. If people who are not satisfied in their experience
would take time to 'pray through,' they would find their dark tunnels leading out into a large place
and into broad day. Jesus still lives and keeps 'watch above His own' who hunger to be right, and He
pours out the Holy Spirit upon every one who obeys Him and seeks Him with all the heart. But
before we can be filled we must be emptied. Before we can have the 'life more abundant,' we must
die to sin. The 'old man ' must be crucified and put off before Jesus can abide in our hearts and
satisfy the hunger of our souls.
Are you satisfied, my comrades? If not, begin right now and stir up yourself to seek until you have
found. Rouse yourself. Find a secret place and pray, and pray again, and yet again, and you shall
'pray through ' and be satisfied. I know, for I have prayed through. I know, for Jesus has said:
Ask, and it shall be given you;
Seek, and ye shall find:
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you,'
and what Jesus has said is true. And what the Lord has done for these two writers, He waits and
longs to do for you. He is no respecter of persons, and 'now is the accepted time.' Say to Him as did
Charles Wesley:
In vain Thou strugglest to get free, I never will unloose my hold;
Art Thou the Man who died for me? The secret of Thy love unfold
Wrestling, I will not let Thee go, Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.
Yield to me now, for I am weak, But confident in self-despair
Speak to my heart, in blessing speak; Be conquered by my instant prayer:
Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move, And tell me if Thy name is Love.
And you will soon be crying out as did Wesley:
'Tis Love! 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me; I hear Thy whisper in my heart
The morning breaks, the shadows flee, Pure universal Love Thou art:
To me, to all Thy mercies move, Thy nature and Thy name is Love.
Redeeming The Time
"See that ye walk circumspect, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are
evil." (Eph. 5:15, 16.)
The soul-winner must value time. Diamonds and gold nuggets are not so precious as minutes. One
morning, about five o'clock, John Wesley lost ten minutes through the tardiness of his coachman,
and mourned for them more than over lost treasure.
Dr. Johnson tells us that "Whenever Melanchthon made an appointment, he expected not only the
hour, but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idleness of suspense." A lady
told me that she was sure she got a position as a teacher once by being sharp on time. Another
young lady, better fitted for the position, arrived a bit late, and remarked, "I thought it wouldn't
make any difference if I were a few minutes late." She was politely informed that her services were
not wanted, as a teacher had been secured. Eternity is made up of moments, and "lost time is lost
eternity."
"Believe me," said Gladstone, "when I tell you that thrift of time will repay you in after life with a
usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and that the waste of it will make you dwindle
alike in intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reckonings."
And yet thoughtless idlers try to "kill time," and thus destroy their most valuable possession,
What is life but a glad, present consciousness of God and self and duty, and a hearty obedience
thereto? But he that kills time seeks to forget, and would be far better dead.
"The future is nothing but a coming present," wrote Jean Paul Richter, "and the present which thou
despisest was once a future which thou desiredst" Said a heathen philosopher, "Every man's life lies
within the present, for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain."
If you would redeem the time, begin the moment your eyes open in the morning. Let no idle, foolish,
hurtful thoughts be harbored for an instant, but begin at once to pray and praise God and to
meditate on His glories, His goodness and faithfulness and truth, and your heart will soon burn
within you and bubble over with joy. Bounce out of your bed at once and get the start of your work
and push it, else it will get the start and push you. For
If you in the morning. Throw minutes away, You can't pick them up In the course of the day.
You may hurry and scurry, And flurry and worry, You've lost them forever, Forever and aye."
Said a chief divisional officer to me the other day, "There is much in the habit of work. If a man forms
the habit he naturally turns to it. I find it so with myself. I squander less time now than I used to do."
The difference between wise men and fools, rich men and poor men, saints and sinners, saved men
and damned men, does not usually result so much from difference of circumstances, and the start
they had in life as the difference in their use of time. One redeemed it for the purpose he had in
view; the other squandered it. One was a miser of the minutes; the other was a spendthrift of the
days and months and years.
The one was ever up and doing, packing into every hour some search for truth, some prayer to God,
some communion with Jesus, some service to man, some counsel to a saint, some warning or
entreaty to a sinner; the other was ever neglecting the opportunity of the present, but full of vague
purposes and dreams for an ever-receding will-o'-the-wisp-like future.
The one plods his way patiently and surely to "glory and honor, and peace, and immortality, and
eternal life;" the other drifts dreamily, but certainly into the regions of "indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish," and finally lands in hell (See Rom. 2:6-10.)
To redeem time one does not want feverish hurry, but a prompt, steady, quiet use of the minutes. It
was said of John Wesley that he was always in haste, but never in a hurry. "Make haste slowly," is a
wise old adage.
To save time the soul-winner will find it profitable to go to bed promptly after his meeting at night,
and to get up promptly on waking in the morning. Men who have accomplished anything in the
world have usually gone to work early in the day.
The Rev. Albert Barnes wrote sixteen volumes in less than an equal number of years, devoting to
them only the hours before breakfast.
If you would save time, have a Bible, a notebook and a pencil always at hand. Never go on to the
street or take a journey without at least a Testament with you, and some other useful book if
possible. And don't forget to use them. The Gospel of St. Matthew can be read through in two hours.
This may not be the most profitable way to read it, and yet it will pay to read it right through at one
sitting, that we may see the life of Jesus as a whole as we would the life of any man.
Paul's first letter to Timothy can be read in twenty minutes, while Jude can be read in three minutes
easily. Then don't throw away these minutes.
Mrs. General Booth had to snatch time from household duties and the care of small children to
prepare her marvelous addresses that stirred England, and helped so much in making and molding
the Army.
The minister who sits about smoking and reading novels, and The Salvation Army officer who whiles
away the minutes idly thrumming on his guitar and reading the daily papers will not succeed at soulsaving work
Again, the soul-winner can redeem time by being "instant in season, out of season," in dealing with
men about the things of God. Uncle John Vassar, an eccentric but marvelously successful soulwinner, once saw two ladies in the parlor of a Boston hotel, and immediately inquired if they were at
peace with God, and kindly and earnestly preached Jesus to them, and urged them to make ready
for death and judgment by accepting Him as Saviour and Lord. A few moments later the husband of
one of them came in and found them in tears. He inquired for the reason, when his wife said, "A
strange little man has just been talking to us about religion and urging us to get right with God."
"Well," said the man, "if I had been here I should have told him to go about his business."
"My dear," replied me wife, "if you had been here, you would have thought he was about his
business."
That blessed young saint of God, James Brainerd Taylor, met a traveler at a watering trough one day,
and during the five minutes their horses were drinking he so preached Jesus to the stranger that he
was saved and afterwards became a missionary to Africa They met no more and the stranger was
ever wondering who the angel of mercy was that pointed him to Jesus. One day in Africa he received
a box of books, and on opening a small volume of memoirs, he saw the picture of the saintly and
sainted young man who was about his Father's business and redeemed the time at that watering
trough by preaching Jesus and saving a soul, instead of idly gossiping about the weather.
It takes no more time to ask a man about his soul than about his health, but it will require more love
and prayer and holy tact and soul-wakefulness to do it with profit, and these the soul-winner must
have.
With many much time is lost for want of system. Things are done at haphazard, duties are
performed at random, and after one thing is done time is wasted in deciding what to do next. It is
well, then, to have a program for every day, or, better still, for every hour and minute, as our
General does when he goes on a tour. For months ahead the General will have a program for every
hour of the day, and whether he succeeds or not in perfectly carrying it out in all its details, he at
least works to it, saves anxious worry, loses no time and accomplishes a well-nigh incredible amount
of business. Of course in this busy world, full of surprises and unexpected calls, any program must be
flexible and not like cast iron, and in times of emergency the soul-winner must be prepared to cast it
to the winds and follow according to his best judgment where the Spirit leads, singing with all his
heart:
"I would the precious time redeem, And longer live for this alone To spend and to be spent for them,
Who have not yet the Saviour known, And turn them to a pardoning God And quench the brands in
Jesus' Blood.
My talents, gifts and graces, Lord, Into Thy blessed hands receive. And let me live to preach Thy
Word, And let me to Thy glory live; My every sacred moment spend In publishing the sinner's
Friend."
Finally, if you would redeem the time, keep a conscience void of offense, keep your soul at whiteheat with love for Jesus and the dying world. "Have faith in God." Expect victory. Nothing saps a
man's energies, dulls his faculties and takes from him all incentive to holy and high effort like doubt
and discouragement. It is your duty to expect victory. Hallelujah! After the defeat at Ai, Joshua in a
fit of discouragement stopped all efforts and fell flat on his face and stayed there till God came by
and said, "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned and they have
also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; for they have even taken of the accursed
thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand
before their enemies..... neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing
among you. Up, sanctify the people and say, "Sanctify yourselves," (Joshua 7:10-13.)
God wanted Joshua to be up and doing, and if he could not whip the enemy, then he was to clean
out his own camp and not be discouraged. Trust God, and trust man, and where men cannot be
trusted, then love them and pray for them, and you will surely redeem the time and win souls to
God.
Sanctification v. Consecration
A state senator's wife regularly attended a series of our holiness meetings, and apparently became
quite interested. One day she came to me, and said, "Brother Brengle, I wish you would call it
"consecration" instead of 'sanctification.' We could all agree on that."
"But I don't mean consecration, sister; I mean sanctification; and there is as big a difference between
the two as there is between earth and Heaven, between man's work and God's work," I replied.
This woman's mistake is a very common one. She wanted to rob religion of its supernatural element
and rest in her own works.
It is quite the fashion now to be "consecrated" and to talk much about "consecration." Lovely ladies,
robed in silk, bedecked with jewels, gay with feathers and flowers, and gentlemen, with soft hands
and raiment, and odorous with perfume, talk with honeyed words and sweet, low voices about
being consecrated to the Lord.
And I would not discourage them; but I do want to lift up my voice with a loud warning that
consecration, as such people ordinarily think of it, is simply man's work, and is not enough to save
the soul.
Elijah piled his altar on Mount Carmel, slew his bullock and placed him on the altar, and then poured
water over the whole. That was consecration.
But Baal's priests had done that, with the exception of putting on the water. They had built their
altar, they had slain their bullocks, they had spent the day in the most earnest religious devotions,
and, so far as men could see, their zeal far exceeded that of Elijah.
What did Elijah more than they?
Nothing, except to put a few barrels of water on his sacrifice -- a big venture of faith. If he had
stopped there, the world would never have heard of him. But he believed for Gad to do something.
He expected it, he prayed for it" and God split the heavens and poured down fire to consume his
sacrifice, and the stones of his altar, and the very water that lay in the trenches. That was
sanctification!
What power had cold stones and water and a dead bullock to glorify God and convert an apostate
nation? But when they were flaming, and being consumed with the fire from Heaven, then "the
people fell on their faces, and said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God."
What do great gifts and talk and so-called consecration amount to in saving the world and glorifying
God? "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and
have not love, it profiteth me nothing" (I Cor. xiii. 3). It is God in men that enables them to glorify
Him, and work together with Him for the salvation of the world.
God wants sanctified men. Of course, men must be consecrated -- that is, given up to God -- in order
to be sanctified. But when once they have yielded themselves to Him, yielded their very inmost
selves, their memories, minds and wills, their tongues, their hands and feet, their reputations, not
only among sinners, but also among saints; their doubts and fears, their likes and dislikes, their
disposition to talk back at God and pity themselves and murmur and repine when He puts their
consecration to the test; when they have really done this and taken their hands off; as Elijah placed
his bullock on the altar and took his hands off for ever, then they must wait on God and cry to Him
with a humble, yet bold, persistent faith till He baptizes them with the Holy Ghost and fire. He
promised to do it, and He will do it, but men must expect it, look for it, pray for it, and if it tarry, wait
for it. A soldier went home from one of our meetings, fell on his knees, and said: "Lord, I will not get
up from here till You baptize me with the Holy Ghost!" God saw He had a man on His hands who
meant business, who wanted God more than all creation, and so He there and then baptized him
with the Holy Ghost.
But a Captain and Lieutenant whom I know found that "the vision tarried," so they waited for it, and
spent all the spare time they had for three weeks, crying to God to fill them with the Spirit. They did
not get discouraged; they held on to God with a desperate faith; they would not let Him go, and they
got their heart's desire. I saw that Lieutenant some time afterward, and oh! how I was amazed at the
wonders of God's grace in him. The spirit of the prophets was upon him.
"All Heaven is free plunder to faith," says a friend of mine.
Oh, this waiting on God! It is far easier to plunge madly at this thing and that, and do, do, do, till life
and heart are exhausted in joyless and comparatively fruitless toil, than it is to wait on God in
patient, unwavering, heart-searching faith, till He comes and fills you with the Almighty power of the
Holy Ghost, which gives you supernatural endurance and wisdom and might, and enables you to do
in a day what otherwise you could not do in a thousand years, and yet strips you of all pride, and
leads you to give all the glory to your Lord.
Waiting on God empties us that we may be filled. Few wait until they are emptied, and hence so few
are filled. Few will bear the heart-searchings, the humiliations, the suspense, the taunt of Satan as
he inquires, "Where is your God now?" Oh! the questionings and whisperings of unbelief that are
involved in waiting upon God, hence the people are but few who, in understanding, are men and
women in Christ Jesus and pillars in the temple of God.
Jesus commanded the disciples, saying: "Tarry in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high" (Luke xxiv. 49). That must have been quite a restraint put on restless, impulsive
Peter; but he waited with his brethren, and they cried to God, and searched their hearts, and forgot
their fears and the angry rulers who had murdered their Lord, forgot their jealousies and selfish
ambitions and childish differences, until they were exhausted of all self-love and self-goodness and
self-trust, and their hearts were as the heart of one man, and they had but one desire, and that a
mighty, consuming hunger for God; and then suddenly God came -- came in power, came with fire,
came to purge, and cleanse, and sanctify them through and through, and dwell in their hearts, and
make them bold in the presence of their enemies, humble in the midst of success, patient in fiery
conflicts and persecutions, steadfast and unswerving in spite of threats and whippings and
imprisonment, joyful in loneliness and mis representations, and fearless and triumphant in the face
of death. God made them wise to win souls, and filled them with the very spirit of their Master, till
they -- poor humble men that they were -- turned the world upside down, and took none of the
glory to themselves, either.
So, sanctification is the result not only of giving, but also of receiving. And hence we are under as
solemn an obligation to receive the Holy Ghost and "be filled with the Spirit," as we are to give
ourselves to God. And if we are not filled at once, we are not to suppose that the blessing is not for
us, and, in the subtle, mock-humility of unbelief, fold our hands and stop our crying to God. But we
should cry all the more, and search the Scriptures for light and truth, and search and humble
ourselves, and take God's part against unbelief, against our own hearts and the devil, and never faint
until we have taken the kingdom of Heaven by violence, and He says, "O man, O woman, great is thy
faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
God loves to be compelled, God wants to be compelled, God will be compelled by the importunate
prayer and faith of His children. I imagine God is often grieved and disappointed and angry with us,
as the prophet was with the king who shot but three arrows when he should have shot half a dozen
or more, because we ask so little, and are so easily turned away without the blessing we profess to
want, and so quickly satisfied with a little comfort when it is the Comforter Himself we need.
The Syro-Phoenician woman, who came to Jesus to have the devil cast out of her daughter, is a
sample believer, and puts most Christians to shame by the boldness and persistence of her faith. She
would not be turned away without the blessing she sought. At first, Jesus answered her not a word,
and so He often treats us today. We pray and get no answer. God is silent. Then He rebuffed her by
saying that He had not come to such as she, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That was
enough to make blaspheming skeptics of most nineteenth-century folks. But not so with her. Her
desperate faith grows awfully sublime. At last, Jesus seemed to add insult to injury by declaring: "It is
not meet to give the children's bread to *[pet --see original] dogs."
Then the woman's faith conquered, and compelled Him, for she said:
"Truth, Lord, but the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the children's table."
She was willing to take the dogs' place and receive the dogs' portion. Glory to God! Oh, how her faith
triumphed, and Jesus, amazed, said:
"O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
Jesus meant to bless her all the time, if her faith would hold out. And so He means to bless you.
Now, there are two classes of people who progress to consecrate themselves to God, but upon
inquiry it will usually appear that they are consecrated more to some line of work than to God
Himself. They are God's housekeepers, rather than the bride of His Son -- very busy people, with
little or no time nor inclination for real heart-fellowship with Jesus. The first class might be termed
pleasure-seekers. They see that sanctified people are happy, and, thinking it is due to what they
have given and done, they begin to give and to do, never dreaming of the infinite Treasure these
sanctified ones have received. The secret of him who said, "God, my exceeding joy," and, "The Lord
is the portion of my soul," is hidden from them. So they never find God. They are seeking happiness,
not holiness. They will hardly admit their need of holiness -- they were always good -- and God is
found only by those who, feeling the deep depravity and need of their hearts, want to be holy.
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matt. v. 6).
This class are usually good livers, hearty eaters, very sociable, always dressed in the fashion -religious epicures.
The other class may be rightly called misery-hunters. They are always seeking something hard to do.
They believe in being on the rack perpetually. Like Baal's priests, they cut themselves -- not their
bodies, but their minds and souls; they give their goods to feed the poor, they give their bodies to be
burned, and yet it profits them nothing (I Cor. xiii. 3). They wear themselves out in a hard bondservice. It is not joy they want, but misery. They judge of their acceptance with God, not by the joyproducing presence of the indwelling Comforter that makes the yoke easy and the burden light, but
rather by the amount of misery they are ready to endure or have endured; and they are not happy,
and they fear they are not saved, unless there is some sacrifice for them to make that will produce in
them the most exquisite torment. They have died a thousand deaths, and yet are not dead. Their
religion does not consist in "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," but rather of grit
and resolution and misery.
But these people do not really make greater sacrifices than sanctified people, only they make more
ado over them. Not being dead, it hurts them to submit to God, and yet they feel compelled to do
so. Nor are their sorrows greater than those of sanctified people, only they are of a different kind,
and spring from a different root. They have misery and sorrow because of the sacrifices they have to
make, while the sanctified man counts these things all joy for Jesus' sake; and yet he has continual
sorrow, for the sorrows and woes of a world are upon his heart, and, but for the comfort and
sympathy Jesus gives him, his heart would sometimes break.
Still, these people are good and do good. God bless them! But what they need is a faith that
sanctifies (Acts xxvi. 18), that, through the operation of the Spirit, will kill them and put them out of
their misery for ever, and bring joy and peace into their tired hearts, so that in newness of life they
can drink of the river of God's pleasures and never thirst any more, and make all manner of sacrifices
for Jesus' sake with all gladness.
It is sanctification, then, that we need, and that God wants us to have, and that the Holy Spirit is
urging upon us, every one. It is a way of childlike faith that receives all God has to give, and of
perfect love that joyfully gives all back to God; a way that keeps the soul from Laodicean sloth and
ease on the one hand, and from hard, cold Pharisaical bondage on the other; a way of inward peace
and pleasantness and abounding spiritual life, in which the soul, always wary of its enemies, is not
unduly elated by success, nor cast down by disappointment, does not measure itself by others, nor
compare itself with others, but, looking unto Jesus, attends strictly to its own business, walking by
faith, and trusting Him in due time and order to fulfill all the exceeding great and precious promises
of His love.
Saving Truth
All truth is precious, but not all truth is adapted to secure the immediate conversion and
sanctification of men, any more than all medicine is adapted to cure heart-disease or rheumatism.
There are certain truths which, preached in the power of the Holy Ghost, are as much adapted to
convert and sanctify souls as food to satisfy hunger, or fire to melt ice; while there are other truths,
equally Biblical, that will no more secure such results than will the truths of the multiplication table
comfort a brokenhearted mother while mourning for her lost children, or those of astronomy quiet a
guilty conscience roused from the slumber of sin.
Some time since I read the amazing and humbling statement that "there were over 3,000 churches
in two of the leading denominations of this country that did not report a single member added by
profession of faith last year." Well may the writer add, "Think of more than 3,000 ministers in two
denominations world-renowned for their schools and culture, preaching a whole year, and aided by
deacons and Sabbath-school teachers and Christian parents and church members and prayer
meetings and Sabbath schools and Christian Endeavor Societies, and helps and helpers innumerable,
and all without one conversion!"
Why this stupendous failure? It cannot be that truth was not preached and taught in the Sunday
schools and prayer meetings. These preachers and teachers and parents were orthodox, cultured,
and skilled in Biblical lore. No doubt they preached and taught truth from one end of the year to the
other, but it was not the truth -- the truth that saves, the truth that first smites the conscience, lays
bare the secrets of the heart, and arouses the slumbering soul until, self-convicted, it feels that every
man it meets is acquainted with its guilt, and every wind and every footfall is an accusing voice, and
no cover can hide from God's searching eye, and when conviction has wrought its purpose, and
penitence is complete, whispers of forgiveness and peace, and offers mercy and salvation full and
free through the bleeding Lamb of God, "before the world's foundation slain."
Such truth preached faithfully and constantly in these pulpits and churches -- not timidly and feebly,
like powder and shot buried by a child's hand, but rather with power, like thunderbolts from the
cannon's mouth -- might have set the nation in a blaze of revival fire.
The fact is there are different kinds or grades of truth for different classes of people, just as there are
different medicines for various diseases, and food for different ages and constitutions. Jesus declares
this when He says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." (John
16:12.) The soul-winner must recognize this fact, and seek rightly to divide the word of truth. The
Christian needs a different kind and application of truth from that needed by the sinner or
backslider, and the sanctified man can receive the strong meat of God's Word, while babes in Christ
must be fed on milk. (1 Cor. 3:1, 2; Heb. 5:12, 14.)
With the sinner, the principal attack should be made on the conscience and the will; he may be
moral, and more or less amiable in his family and social relations, and honorable among his business
associates, but be sure that under this is secret selfishness and heart sin. He seeks his own way, is
disobedient to the light, careless to the dying love of Jesus, and in reality, if not in profession, he is
an enemy to God, and must be convinced of these facts, and faithfully and lovingly and firmly
warned of his utter ruin if he does not repent. Repentance, deep, thorough and heartfelt, that leads
to a confession and an utter, eternal renunciation of all sin and a complete amendment of life and a
making right as far as possible of all past wrong, must be presented as the "strait gate" through
which alone he can enter the highway to heaven. We must insist on an immediate and unconditional
surrender to all the light God gives, and offer him mercy and tender love through Jesus Christ only if
he yields.
The motives that lead to repentance are drawn from eternity, and there is a whole armory of truth
with which the sinner can and must be bombarded to bring him to terms, such as the certainty that
what he sows he shall reap; that his sins will surely find him out; that death will speedily overtake
him; and that if, refusing mercy, he presumes on the goodness of God, and continues in selfishness
and sin, hell shall be his portion forever; while a life of peace and joy here, a happy deathbed, and
eternal glory can be offered him as the alternative, on condition of obedient faith.
About the same kind of truth is necessary for the backslider, except that the proportions may have
to be varied. If he is stubborn, thunder the law at him until he hoists the white flag and sues for
mercy. If he is sorry he has backslidden, but fears it is vain to try again, then he should be
encouraged in every possible way to look up and trust, and the infinite love and pity of God revealed
in Jesus should be pressed upon his attention, and he should be urged to cast himself upon God's
mercy.
If these foundation truths of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ are fully,
affectionately, and prayerfully presented, and the sinner or backslider grasps and trusts them, he
will be converted, accepted by the Lord, and adopted into His family. He must now be fed upon
truths different from those he was fed on before. He will have a tender heart, and so it will be most
unwise to thunder the law at him, though he should be fully instructed as to the spirituality of the
law, and that it is the law by which God wishes us to order our conduct, and for which abundant
grace will be given. Nor should he now be asked to surrender since he is saved; but he should be
intelligently instructed as to the nature and extent of the consecration that is expected from him,
and he should be urged, and wisely and tenderly encouraged to make the consecration, presenting
his body a living sacrifice and yielding himself to God, "as those that are alive from the dead."
He should now be instructed as to the fact of inbred sin, which he will soon find stirring within him,
and the importance and possibility of having this enemy cast out. Holiness should be presented not
so much as a stern demand of a holy God, but rather as his glorious privilege as a child of God. He
should be taught that it is an experience in which "perfect love casteth out fear" -- a rest of soul, in
which, as our bones and sinews are so covered with flesh as to be unperceived, so the fact of duty,
while still remaining in force, is yet clothed upon and hidden by love.
Therefore, while the necessity of holiness should be presented, and a gentle and constant pressure
be brought to bear upon the will, yet the principal effort should be made to remove slavish fear by
instructing the understanding, and so drawing out the confidence and affections that the soul which
in conversion bowed at the feet of Jesus as its Conqueror, will now intelligently and rapturously yield
to Him as its Heavenly Bridegroom and fall so desperately in love with Him by the incoming of the
Holy Spirit that it shall cry out with David, "I delight to do Thy will, O God!" and with Jesus "My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Me."
If the soul-winner does not keep a clear, warm, tender experience of full salvation himself, there is a
danger of driving the people to a legal experience instead of leading them into a "perfect-love"
experience. A legal experience is one in which the man braces up to his duty because the law
demands it, in which he is prodded and pushed up to it by the terrors of the law rather than led up
to it by the sweet wooings and gentle drawings of love.
In a holiness meeting, where there are sinners and backsliders, there will be a strong temptation to
address them, and as the kind of truth they need differs from that needed by converts, if this is
done, confusion is likely to result and an uncertain experience engendered in the hearts of
Christians. It will usually be found wisest to leave the sinners and backsliders alone in this meeting,
and go straight for the Christians, to get them sanctified. The Lord has been pleased to give me
victory along this line, and usually I find also there are some sinners saved in my holiness meetings.
Jesus likens a Christian to a sheep. Our duty then in the holiness meeting is not to club them with the
law, but rather to feed them with the promises and assurances of the Gospel, and to teach them to
discern the voice of the good Shepherd and to remove all fear, that they may gladly follow Him.
The staple diet of all saints should be the promises, seasoned with the commandments to give them
a healthy relish.
The promises draw us on in the narrow way, and the commandments hedge us in that we do not
lose the way. The promises should be so presented and the fullness there is in the Gospel and in
Jesus so be brought to view that the souls of the people will run hard after Him and not need
continual beatings to keep them from breaking through the hedge on to the devil's territory.
To discern clearly and apply skillfully the truth needed by the souls we are set to save, requires
heavenly wisdom, and well does Paul exhort Timothy, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." But our study will be
in vain unless we, in lowliness of mind, sit at the feet of Jesus, seek wisdom from God, and submit
ourselves in glad, prayerful faith to the Spirit of truth who can and will guide "into all truth." (John
16:13.)
The Bible, which contains the revealed truth necessary to salvation, will surely puzzle and mystify all
who come to it in the big and swelling conceit of worldly wisdom, but it will open its treasure to the
plain and humble men who come to it full of the Spirit that moved holy men of old to write it.
O Lord, evermore give to Thy people leaders and teachers filled with this Spirit, and clothed with this
wisdom!
Shouting
Nothing is more completely hidden from wise and prudent folk than the blessed fact that there is a
secret spring of power and victory in shouting and praising God.
The devil often throws a spell over people which can be broken in no other way. Many an honest,
seeking soul, who might step forth into perfect and perpetual liberty if he would only dare to look
the devil in the eye and shout "Glory to God!" goes mourning all his days under this spell. Frequently
whole congregations will be under it. There will be a vacant or a listless or a restless look in their
eyes. There is no attention, no expectation. A stifling stillness and the serenity of "death" settles
upon them. But let a Spirit-baptized man, with a weight of glory in his soul, bless the Lord, and the
spell will be broken. Every man there will come to his senses, will wake up, will remember where he
is, and will begin to expect something to happen.
Shouting and praising God is to salvation what flame is to fire. You may have a very hot and useful
fire without a blaze, but not till it bursts forth into flame does it become irresistible and sweep
everything before it. So people may be very good and have a measure of salvation, but it is not until
they become so full of the Holy Ghost that they are likely to burst forth in praises to their glorious
God at any hour of the day or night, both in private and public, that their salvation becomes
irresistibly catching.
The shouting of some people is as terrible as the noise of an empty wagon rolling over cobble
stones; it is like the firing of blank cartridges. It is all noise. Their religion consists in making a racket.
But there are others who wait on God in secret places, who seek His face with their whole hearts,
who groan in prayer with unutterable longing to know God in all His fullness and to see His kingdom
come with power; who plead the promises, who search the word of God and meditate on it day and
night, until they are full of the great though and truths of God, and faith is made perfect. Then the
Holy Ghost comes pressing down on them with an eternal weight of glory that compels praise, and
when they shout it takes effect. Every cartridge is loaded, and at times their shouting will be like the
boom of a big gun, and will have the speed and power of a cannon-ball.
An old friend of mine in Vermont once remarked, that "when he went into a store or railway station,
he found the place full of devils, and the atmosphere choked his soul till he shouted; then every devil
hied himself away, the atmosphere was purified, and he had possession of the place, and could say
and do what he pleased." The Marechale once wrote: "Nothing fills all Hell with dismay like a
reckless, dare-devil shouting faith." Nothing can stand before a man with a genuine shout in his soul.
Earth and Hell flee before him, and all Heaven throngs about him to help him fight his battles.
When Joshua's armies shouted, the walls of Jericho "fell down flat" before them. When
Jehoshaphat's people "began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments against Ammon, Moab,
and Mount Seir, and they were smitten." When Paul and Silas, with bruised and bleeding backs, in
the inner dungeon of that horrible Philippian jail, at midnight, "prayed and sang praises unto God,"
the Lord sent an earthquake, shook the foundations of the prison, loosed the prisoners, and
converted the jailer and all his family. And there is no conceivable difficulty that will not vanish
before the man who prays and praises God.
When Billy Bray wanted bread, he prayed and shouted, to give the devil to understand that he felt
under no obligation to him, but had perfect confidence in his Heavenly Father. When Dr. Cullis, of
Boston, had not a penny in his treasury, and heavy obligations rested upon him, and he knew not
how he could buy food for the patients in his home for consumptives, he would go into his office and
read the Bible and pray and walk the floor, praising God and telling Him he would trust, and money
would roll in from the ends of the earth. Victory always comes where a man, having poured Out his
heart in prayer, dares to trust God and express his faith in praise.
Shouting is the final and highest expression of faith made perfect in its various stages. When a sinner
comes to God in hearty repentance and surrender, and, throwing himself fully on the mercy of God,
looks to Jesus only for salvation, and by faith fully and fearlessly grasps the blessing of justification,
the first expression of that faith will be one of confidence and praise. No doubt, there are many who
claim justification who never praise God; but either they are deceived, or their faith is weak and
mixed with doubt and fear. When it is perfect, praise will be spontaneous.
And when this justified man comes to see the holiness of God, and the exceeding breadth of His
commandment, and the absolute claim of God upon every power of his being, and realizes the
remaining selfishness and earthiness of his heart; when he, after many failures to purify himself, and
inward questionings of soul, and debatings of conscience, and haltings of faith, comes to God to be
made holy through the precious Blood and the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, the final
expression of the faith that resolutely and perfectly grasps the blessing will not be prayer, but praise
and hallelujahs.
And when this saved and sanctified man, seeing the woes of a lost world and feeling the holy passion
of Jesus working mightily in Him, goes forth to war with "principalities, and powers, and the rulers of
the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in heavenly places," in order to rescue the slaves of sin
and Hell, after weeping and agonizing in prayer to God for an outpouring of the Spirit, and after
preaching to, and teaching men, and pleading with them to yield utterly to God, and after many
fastings and trials and conflicts, in which faith and patience for other men are made perfect and
victorious, prayer will be transformed into praise, and weeping into shouting, and apparent defeat
into overwhelming victory!
Where there is victory, there is shouting, and where there is no shouting, faith and patience are
either in retreat, or are engaged in conflict, the issue of which for the time being seems uncertain.
But:
Oh, for a faith that will not shrink Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink Of any earthly woe.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks to that alone,
Laughs at impossibilities, And cries, "It shall be done!"
And what is true in individual experience is revealed to be true of the Church in its final triumph. For
after the long ages of stress and conflict and patient waiting and fiery trial; after the ceaseless
intercessions of Jesus, and the unutterable groaning of the Spirit in the hearts of believers, the
Church shall finally come to perfect faith and patience and unity of love, according to the prayer of
Jesus in John xvli., and then "The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God" (I Thess. iv. 16), and seeming defeat shall be
turned into eternal victory.
But let no one hastily conclude that he should not shout and praise God unless he feels a mighty
wave of triumph rushing through his soul. Paul says, "We know not what we should pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. viii.
26). But if a man refused to pray till he felt this tremendous pleading of the Spirit in his heart, which
John Fletcher said is "like a God wrestling with a God," he would never pray at all. We must stir up
the gift of prayer that is within us, we must exercise ourselves in prayer until our souls sweat, and
then we shall realize the mighty energy of the Holy Ghost interceding within us. We must never
forget that "the spirit of the prophets is subject unto the prophets." Just so we must stir up and
exercise the gift of praise within us.
We must put our will into it. When Habakkuk the prophet had lost everything, and was surrounded
with utter desolation, he shouted: "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation!"
We are workers together with God, and if we will praise Him, He will see to it that we have
something for which to praise Him. We often hear of Daniel praying three times a day, but we pass
over the fact that at the same time "he gave thanks," which is a kind of praise. David says: "Seven
times a day do I praise Thee." Over and over, again and again, we are exhorted and commanded to
praise God and shout aloud and rejoice evermore. But if, through fear or shame, men will not
rejoice, they need not be surprised that they have no joy and no sweeping victories.
But if they will get alone with God in their own hearts-note, alone with God, alone with God in their
own hearts; there is the place to get alone with God, and a shout is nothing more or less than an
expression of joy at finding God in our hearts -- and will praise Him for His wonderful works, praise
Him because He is worthy of praise, praise Him whether they feel like it or not, praise Him in the
darkness as well as the light, praise Him in seasons of fierce conflict as well as in moments of victory;
they will soon be able to shout aloud for joy. And their joy no man will be able to take from them,
but God will make them to drink of the river of His pleasures, and He Himself will be their "exceeding
joy."
Many a soul, in fierce temptation and hellish darkness, has poured out his heart in prayer and then
sunk back in despair, who, if he had only closed his prayer with thanks, and dared in the name of
God to shout, would have filled Hell with confusion, and won a victory that would have struck all the
harps of Heaven and made the angels shout with glee. Many a prayer meeting has failed at the
shouting point. Songs were sung, testimonies had been given, the Bible had been read and
explained, sinners had been warned and entreated, prayers had been poured forth to God, but no
one wrestled through to the point where he could and would intelligently praise God for victory,
and, so far as could be seen, the battle was lost for want of a shout.
From the moment we are born of God, straight through our pilgrim journey, up to the moment of
open vision, where we are for ever glorified and see Jesus as He is, we have a right to rejoice, and we
ought to do it. It is our highest privilege and our most solemn duty. And if we do it not, I think it must
fill the angels with confusion, and the fiends of the bottomless pit with a kind of hideous joy. We
ought to do it, for this is almost the only thing we do on earth that we shall not cease to do in
Heaven. Weeping and fasting and watching and praying and self-denying and cross-bearing and
conflict with Hell will cease; but praise to God, and hallelujahs "unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own Blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and His Father," shall ring
through Heaven eternally. Blessed be God and the Lamb for evermore! Amen.
Sins Against Chastity
The preceding chapter was originally published as an article in 'The War Cry,' and in various Army
periodicals in other countries. One result was that I shortly after received a communication from
across the sea, in which a man wrote: 'I observe that you make a statement concerning Eli with
which I do not altogether agree.' The writer says he does not consider Eli's appeal to his sons to be
weak, as was stated in the article. Then he compares the sins of the sons of Eli (recorded in I Samuel
ii. 12-17 and 22-25) with the sins of Samuel's sons (recorded in I Samuel viii. 1-3), and argues that the
sins of Samuel's sons were more heinous than the sins of Eli's sons, 'one of which,' he writes, 'was a
sin against morality, a natural following out of an instinct for the propagation of the race, and the
other a violation of a ceremonial law. But the dealings of Samuel's sons constituted a violation of
fundamental righteousness.
Then my correspondent questions why such terrible judgments fell upon Eli and his sons, while, so
far as the record shows, Samuel and his sons escaped. Finally, he asks, 'Why this differentiation? Do
you consider that it is a more heinous sin to go against forms and ceremonials in connection with
religion than it is to deal unrighteously with your neighbor?'
This letter is private, but it raises the question of the comparative wickedness of sins against
womanhood and chastity -- a question that is seldom discussed except in private or in scientific or
semi-scientific books which are not generally read. If I may, I wish to reply to it publicly, as follows:-1. First, I have no lawyer's brief for Samuel. He is one of the very few men in the Bible of whom no ill
thing is written. He seems to have been acceptable to God from his youth up, and since God has
recorded no charge against him I can bring none. 'To his own Master he standeth or falleth.' I can
only rejoice with him, as a brother, in his victorious life and walk with God. There is no record as to
how Samuel dealt with his miscreant sons, but since he retained God's favor he must have acted in
harmony with God's will. I have no doubt, however, that his sons were rewarded according to their
works, if not in this world then in the next, even though no mention is made of it in the Bible.
(Ezekiel x. 10-13.)
2. As regards Eli, he seems to have been a kindly old man, but weak in his abhorrence and
condemnation of evil, at least in his own sons. In I Samuel iii. 13, God tells us plainly His reasons for
dealing as He did with the old man and his vicious son, 'because his sons made themselves vile
(margin, 'accursed'), and he restrained them not' (margin frowned not upon them). He knew their
evil; as judge and high priest he had the authority and power to put a stop to their evil doings, and,
according to the law of the land, which was the law of God, it was his duty to do so, therefore he
should so have acted. But all he did was to offer a feeble reproof. My correspondent objects to my
describing it thus, and writes, 'To me it seems one of the most pathetic and moving appeals that an
aged father could make to reprobate sons; he points out to them in moving language the difference
between sinning against man and sinning against God.'
But Eli was not only a father -- he was a ruler, clothed with authority and power, he should therefore
have done more than make 'a pathetic and moving appeal.' He should have exercised all the
authority and power of his great office to put a stop to the vile practices of his reprobate sons. 'He
that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me,' said Jesus. 'Cursed be he that doeth
the work of the Lord deceitfully (margin, negligently '), and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword
from blood,' said the Lord to His ancient people. (Jeremiah xlviii. 10.)
Eli might have saved himself, and possibly his boys, if he had acted, as he ought, promptly and
vigorously, and as a righteous ruler abhorring evil and bent on protecting the sacred rights of society
and the reverent worship of God. It is the duty of a ruler to rule diligently (Romans xii. 8) and
impartially, and of a priest to insist on reverence in the service of God. Here Eli failed, so the terrible
and swift judgment of God cut him and his family down, and the priesthood and judgeship passed to
others.
3. As to the comparative heinousness of the sins of the two sets of men, the sin of Eli's sons was far
the worse. Let any right-minded man consider what it would mean to have the sacred shelter of his
home invaded, and the purity of the wife or sister or daughter he loves assailed, and he must admit
this. To rob a man of money is bad, but to rob a woman of her virtue is worse. To defraud a man in a
court of justice and mete out to him injustice is vile, but to rob him of the sanctity of his home and
the purity of his wife or mother or sister or daughter is far more vile. To debauch the future mothers
of the race, and so to rob unborn children and generations yet to be, of the noblest of all rights -- the
right of pure, sweet, holy, reverent motherhood -- seems to me to be like poisoning the wells and
springs from which cities must drink or perish, and hence the supremest of all crimes.
All the moralities and sanctions of religion were despised and cast away, and all the sacred rights of
men were trampled upon and imperiled by the apostate sons of Eli. They were set apart as the
heralds and guardians of both religion and morality, yet their actions seem to have been the grossest
insult to both God and man and the most flagrant neglect and violation possible of their high and
sacred calling.
My correspondent writes that the offense of Eli's sons was 'a natural following out of the instinct for
the propagation of the species,' as though that were some palliation of their crime. But among all
nations, and even among savage races, there is a higher instinct that forbids men following the lower
instinct, except lawfully, and among many tribes the punishment was death where this law was
violated. Further, it was not the propagation of the species, but the gratification of lust, that moved
these sons of Eli, as it is with all who break the law of chastity. The propagation of the species is the
last thing such people desire, the one thing they wish to avoid.
The instinct and power of reproduction is the noblest physical gift God has bestowed upon man; it
makes man a partner with God in the creation of the race, and therefore the prostitution of that
noble instinct and power is the vilest and worst of all crimes, and has brought into the world more
sorrow, shame, disease, ruin, and woe than probably all other crimes combined.
It is far more dangerous to the morals and ultimate well-being of society, to say nothing of the sin
against God, for ministers of religion in exalted positions, such as were Eli's sons, to fall into open,
flagrant, unblushing immorality and sacrilege than for a judge to cause justice to miscarry, wicked as
that is. When will war against the unjust judge and condemn him, but what can they do when the
sanctions of religion are destroyed, when the holy fear of God is lost, and when all the foundations
of morality are rotted away -- when their fathers are slaves of lust and full of corruption, and when
the mothers of the race -- who are our first and best teachers of righteousness and reverence -- have
no virtue? 'If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?' asks the Psalmist. The sins
of the sons of Eli seem to me to be in the forefront of the worst sins and crimes mentioned in the
Bible or committed among men.
'Do you consider that it is a more heinous sin to go against forms and ceremonies in connection with
religion than it is to deal unrighteously with your neighbor? ' asks my correspondent. I answer, No!
But the sons of Eli were doing far more than going 'against forms and ceremonies in connection with
religion.' They were violating the most sacred rights of their neighbors, as well as robbing God of
that reverent service which He claimed and which was His due, and so were bringing the service and
worship of God into contempt and undermining all morality at one and the same time.
In all this I am not forgetting nor condoning the wickedness of Samuel's sons, nor do I suspect for an
instant that they escaped the due judgments of God. Why there is no record of His dealing with
them we do not know. We do know, however, that the Bible declares the principles of God's moral
government, and we may rest assured that in every instance He acts in harmony with those
principles, whether or not we have a record of it.
Some Of God's Words To Me
"God doth talk with man, and he liveth" (Deut. v.24).
God did not cease speaking to men when the canon of Scripture was complete. Though the manner
of communication may have changed somewhat yet the communication itself is something to which
every Spirit-born soul can joyfully testify. Every one sorry for sin, and sighing and crying for
deliverance, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, will soon find Out, as did the Israelites,
that "God doth talk with man."
God has most commonly and most powerfully spoken to me through the words of Scripture. Some
of them stand out to my mental and spiritual vision like mighty mountain-peaks, rising from a vast,
extended plain. The Spirit that moved "holy men of old" to write the words of the Bible has moved
me to understand them, by leading me along the lines of spiritual experience first trodden by these
men, and has "taken the things of Christ and revealed them" unto me, until I have been filled with a
Divine certainty as altogether satisfactory and absolute as that wrought in my intellect by a
mathematical demonstration.
The first words which I now remember coming to me with this irresistible Divine force, came when I
was seeking the blessing of a clean heart. Although I was hungering and thirsting for the blessing, yet
at times a feeling of utter indifference -- a kind of spiritual stupor -- would come over me and
threaten to devour all my holy longings, as Pharaoh's lean kine devoured the fat ones. I was in great
distress, and did not know what to do. To stop seeking I saw meant infinite, eternal loss; yet to
continue seeking seemed quite out of the question with such a paralysis of desire and feeling. But
one day I read: "There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of
Thee" (Isa. lxiv. 7).
God spoke to me in these words as unmistakably as He spoke to Moses from the burning bush, or
the children of Israel from the cloudy mount. It was an altogether new experience to me. The word
came as a rebuke to my unbelief and lazy indifference, and yet it put hope into me, and I said to
myself:
"By the grace of God, if nobody else does I will stir myself up to seek Him, feeling or no feelings."
That was ten years ago, but from then till now, regardless of my feeling, I have sought God. I have
not waited to be stirred up, but when necessary I have fasted and prayed and stirred myself up. I
have often prayed, as did the royal Psalmist, "quicken me, O Lord, according to Thy lovingkindness";
but, whether I have felt any immediate quickening or not, I have laid hold of Him, I have sought Him,
and, bless Him! I have found Him. "Seek, and ye shall find."
So that before finding God in the fullness of His love and favor, hindrances must be removed,
"weights" and "easily-besetting sins" must be laid aside, and self smitten in the citadel of its
ambitions and hopes.
The young man of today is ambitious. He wants to be Prime Minister if he goes into politics. He must
be a multi-millionaire if he goes into business, and he aims to be a bishop if he enters the Church.
The ruling passion of my soul, and that which for years I longed after more than for holiness or
Heaven, was to do something and be somebody who should win the esteem and compel the
applause of thoughtful, educated men; and just as the Angel smote Jacob's thigh and put it out of
joint, causing him for ever after to limp on it, the strongest part of his body, so God, in order to
sanctify me wholly, and "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," smote and
humbled me in this ruling propensity and strongest passion of my nature.
For several years before God sanctified me wholly, I knew there was such an experience, and I
prayed by fits and starts for it, and all the time I hungered and thirsted for -- I hardly knew what!
Holiness in itself seemed desirable, but I saw as clearly then as I have since I obtained the blessing,
that with it came the cross and an irrepressible conflict with the carnal mind in each human being I
met, whether he professed to be a Christian or avowed himself a sinner; whether cultured and
thoughtful, or a raw, ignorant pagan; and this I knew instinctively would as surely bar my way to the
esteem and applause of the people, whose goodwill and admiration I valued, as it did that of Jesus
and Paul. And yet, so subtle is the deceitfulness of the unsanctified heart, that I would not then have
acknowledged it to myself, although I am now persuaded that unwillingness to take up this cross
was for years the lurking foe that barred the gates against the willing, waiting Sanctifier. At last I
heard a distinguished evangelist and soul-winner preach a sermon on the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
and I said to myself, "That is what I need and want; I must have it!" And I began to seek and pray for
this, all the time with a secret thought in my heart that I, too, should become a great soul-winner
and live in the eye of the world. I sought with considerable earnestness; but God was very merciful
and hid Himself away from me, in this way arousing the wholesome fear of the Lord in my heart,
and, at the same time, intensifying my spiritual hunger. I wept and prayed and besought the Lord to
baptize me with the Spirit, and wondered why He did not, until one day I read those words of Paul,
"That no flesh should glory in His presence" (I Cor. i. 29).
Here I saw the enemy of the Lord -- self. There stood the idol of my soul -- the passionate,
consuming desire for glory -- no longer hidden and nourished in the secret chambers of my heart,
but discovered before the Lord as Agag was before Samuel; and those words, "No flesh shall glory in
His presence," constituted "the sword of the Spirit," which pierced self through and through, and
showed me I never could be holy and receive the baptism of the Spirit while I secretly cherished a
desire for the honor that comes from man, and sought not "the honour that cometh from God only."
That word was with power, and from then till now I have not sought the glory of this world. But
while I no longer sought the glory of the world, yet this same powerful principle in me had to be yet
further uncovered and smitten, in order to make me willing to lose what little glory I already had, or
imagined I had, and be content to be accounted a fool for Christ.
The ruling propensity of the carnal nature seeks for gratification. If it can secure this lawfully, well;
but gratification it will have, if it has to gain it unlawfully. Every way is unlawful for me which would
be unlawful for Jesus. The Christian who is not entirely sanctified does not deliberately plan to do
that which he knows to be wrong, but is rather betrayed by the deceitful heart within. He is
overcome, if he is overcome (which, thank God, he need not be), secretly or suddenly, in a way
which makes him abhor himself, but which, it seems, is the only way by which God can convince him
of his depravity and need of a clean heart.
Now, twice I was so betrayed -- once to cheat in an examination, and once to use the outline of
another man's sermon. The first deed I bitterly repented of and confessed but the second was not so
clearly wrong, since I had used materials of my own to fill in an outline, and especially since the
outline was probably much better than any I could prepare. It was one of Finney's. In fact, if I had
used the outline in the right spirit, I do not know that it would have been wrong at all. But God's
word, which is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," searched me out, and revealed
to my astonished, humbled soul, not merely the bearing and character of my act, but also of my
spirit. He smote and humbled me again with these words: "If any man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth" (1 Pet. iv. 11).
When I read those words I felt as mean and guilty as though I had stolen ten thousand dollars. I
began to see then the true character and mission of a preacher and a prophet: that he is a man sent
from God and must, if he would please God and seek the glory He alone gives, wait upon God in
prayer and diligent searching of His Word till he gets his message direct from the Throne. Then only
can he speak "as the oracles of God," and "minister as of the ability which God giveth." I was not led
to despise human teachers and human learning where God is in them, but I was led to exalt direct
inspiration, and to see the absolute necessity of it for every one who sets himself to turn men to
righteousness, and tell them how to find God and get to Heaven. I saw that instead of everlastingly
sitting at the feet of human teachers, poring over commentaries, studying another man's sermons
and diving into other men's volumes of anecdotes, and then tickling the ears of people with pretty
speeches and winning their one-day, empty applause by elaborately finished sermons, logically and
rhetorically,
Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null,
God meant the man He sent to speak His words, to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him, to get
alone in some secret place on his knees and study the word of God under the direct illumination of
the Holy Ghost, to study the holiness and righteous judgments of God until he got some red-hot
thunderbolts that would burn the itching ears of the people, arouse their slumbering consciences,
prick their hard hearts, and make them cry, "What shall we do?" I saw that he must study and
meditate on the tender, boundless compassion and love of God in Christ, the perfect atonement for
sin in its root and trunk and branch, and the simple way to appropriate it in penitence and selfsurrender by faith, until he was fully possessed of it himself, and knew how to lead every broken
heart directly to Jesus for perfect healing, to comfort mourners, to loose prisoners, to set captives
free, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.
This view greatly humbled me, and what to do I did not know. At last it was suggested to my mind
that, as I had confessed the false examination, so now I ought to stand before the people and
confess the stolen sermon outline. This fairly peeled my conscience, and it quivered with an
indescribable agony. For about three weeks I struggled with this problem. I argued the matter with
myself. I pleaded with God to show me if it were His will, and over and over again I promised Him I
would do it, only to draw back in my heart. At last I told an intimate friend. He assured me it was not
of God, and said he was going to preach in a revival meeting that night, and use materials he had
gathered from another man's sermon. I coveted his freedom, but this brought no relief to me. I
could not get away from my sin. Like David's, it was "ever before me."
One morning, while in this frame of mind, I picked up a little book on experimental religion, hoping
to get light, when, on opening it, the very first subject that my eyes fell on was "Confession." I was
cornered. My soul was brought to a full halt. I could seek no further light. I wanted to die, and that
moment my heart broke within me. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a
contrite heart ..."; and from the depths of my broken heart, my conquered spirit said to God, "I will."
I had said it before with my lips, but now I said it with my heart. Then God spoke directly to my soul,
not by printed words through my eyes, but by His Spirit in my heart. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John i. 9). The
first part about forgiveness I knew, but the last clause about cleansing was a revelation to me. I did
not remember ever to have seen or to have heard it before. The word was with power, and I bowed
my head in my hands and said, "Father, I believe that." Then a great rest came into my soul, and I
knew I was clean. In that instant, "The Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God," purged my "conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. ix. 14).
God did not require Abraham to slay Isaac. All He wanted was a willing heart. So He did not require
me to confess to the people. When my heart was willing, He swept the whole subject out of my
mind and freed me utterly from slavish fear. My idol -- self was gone. God knew I withheld nothing
from Him, so He filled my soul with peace and showed me that "Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth," and that the whole will of God was summed up in five
words: "Faith which worketh by love."
Shortly after this, I ran into my friend's room with a borrowed book. The moment his eyes fell upon
me, he said, "What is the matter; something has happened to you?" My face was witnessing to a
pure heart before my lips did. But my lips soon followed, and have continued to this day.
The Psalmist said: "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained
my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared Thy
faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great
congregation" (Ps. xl. 9, 10). Satan hates holy testimony, and he nearly entrapped me at this point. I
felt I ought to preach it, but I shrank from the odium and conflict I saw it would surely bring, and I
hesitated to declare publicly that I was sanctified, lest I might do more harm than good. I saw only
reproach. The glory that was to follow was hidden from my eyes. Beautiful, flowery sermons which
appealed to the imagination and aroused the emotions, with just enough thought to properly
balance them, were my ideal. I shrank from coming down to plain, heart-searching talks that laid
hold of the consciences of men and made saints of them, or turned them into foes as implacable as
the Pharisees were to Jesus, or the Jews to Paul. But before I got the blessing, God held me to it, and
I had promised Him I would preach it if He would give me the experience. It was Friday that He
cleansed me, and I determined to preach about it on the following Sunday. But I felt weak and faint.
On Saturday morning, however, I met a noisy, shouting coachman on the street, who had the
blessing, and I told him what God had done for me. He shouted and praised God, and said:
"Now, Brother Brengle, you preach it. The Church is dying for this."
Then we walked across Boston Common and Garden, and talked about the matter, and my heart
burned within me as did the hearts of the two disciples with whom Jesus talked on the road to
Emmaus; and in my inmost soul I recounted the cost, threw in my lot with Jesus crucified, and
determined I would teach holiness, if it banished me for ever from the pulpit, and made me a hiss
and a byword to all my acquaintances. Then I felt strong. The way to get strength is to throw yourself
away for Jesus.
The next day I went to my church and preached as best I could out of a two-days-old experience,
from "Let us go on unto perfection" (Heb. vi. 1). I closed with my experience, and the people broke
down and wept, and some of them came to me afterward and said they wanted that same
experience, and, bless God! some of them got it! I did not know what I was doing that morning, but I
knew afterward. I was burning up my ships and casting down my bridges behind me. I was now in
the enemy's land, fully committed to a warfare of utter extermination to all sin. I was on record now
before Heaven, earth and Hell. Angels, men and devils had heard my testimony, and I must go
forward, or openly and ignominiously retreat in the face of a jeering foe. I see now that there is a
Divine philosophy in requiring us not only to believe with our hearts unto righteousness, but to
confess with the mouth unto salvation (Rom. x. 10). God led me along these lines. No man taught
me.
Well, after I had put myself on record, I walked softly with God, desiring nothing but His will, and
looking to Him to keep me every instant. I did not know there was anything more for me, but I
meant, by God's grace, to hold what I had by doing His will as He had made it known to me and by
trusting Him with all my heart.
But God meant greater things for me. On the following Tuesday morning, just after rising, with a
heart full of eager desire for God, I read these words of Jesus at the grave of Lazarus: "I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" The Holy Ghost, the other
"Comforter," was in those words, and in an instant my soul melted before the Lord like wax before
fire, and I knew Jesus. He was revealed in me as He had promised, and I loved Him with an
unutterable love. I wept, and adored, and loved, and loved, and loved. I walked out over Boston
Common before breakfast, and still wept, and adored, and loved. Talk about the occupation of
Heaven! I do not know what it will be -- though, of course, it will be suited to, and commensurate
with, our redeemed capacities and powers; but this I then knew, that if I could lie prostrate at the
feet of Jesus to all eternity and love and adore Him, I should be satisfied. My soul was satisfied -satisfied -- satisfied!
That experience fixed my theology. From then till now, men and devils might as well try to get me to
question the presence of the sun in the heavens as to question the existence of God, the divinity of
Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying power of an ever-present, Almighty Holy Spirit. I am as sure the
Bible is the word of God as I am of my own existence, while Heaven and Hell are as much realities to
me as day and night, or winter and summer, or good and evil. I feel the powers of the world to come
and the pull of Heaven in my own soul. Glory to God!
It is some years now since the Comforter came, and He abides in me still. He has not stopped
speaking to me yet. He has set my soul on fire, but, like the burning bush Moses saw in the Mount, it
is not consumed.
To all who want such an experience I would say, "Ask, and it shall be given you." If it does not come
for the asking, "Seek, and ye shall find." If it is still delayed, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you"
(Luke xi. 9). In other words, seek until you have sought with your whole heart, and there and then
you will find Him. "Be not faithless, but believing." "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established."
I do not consider myself beyond the possibility of falling. I know I stand by faith, and must watch and
pray lest I enter into temptation, and take heed lest I fall. Yet, in view of all God's marvelous
lovingkindnesses and tender mercies to me, I constantly sing, with the Apostle Jude:
"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power. both now and ever. Amen."
Some Of My Experiences In Teaching Holiness
I once received a letter from one of the most devoted young officers I know, in which he said, "I love
holiness more and more, but I am just about discouraged. It seems to me that I shall never be able to
teach holiness, for it seems that I get things too straight, or not straight enough." God bless him! I
think I know just how he feels. One day, a few months after I got the blessing of holiness, I felt most
gloomy about my inability to get people sanctified. I knew, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that I
had a clean heart; but, somehow, I felt I couldn't properly teach others how to get it.
That morning I met a certain brother who gets more people sanctified than any man I know, and I
asked him, "How shall I teach holiness so that my people will get it?" His reply was, "Load and fire,
load and fire."
Light broke in on me at once. I saw that it was my business to pray and study my Bible and talk with
those who had the blessing, until I got myself so loaded that it would almost talk itself, and then fire
away as best I could, and that it was God's business to make the people receive the truth and
become holy.
That was on the Saturday. The next day, I went to my people loaded with truth, backed by love and
faith, and I fired as hard and straight as I knew how, when lo! twenty people came to the Penitentform for holiness. I had never seen anything like that before in my life, but I have seen it many times
since.
From then till now I have attended strictly to my part of the business, and trusted God to do His part,
and I have had some success everywhere I have gone. But everywhere, also, Satan has sorely
tempted me at times, especially when the people hardened their hearts and would not believe and
obey. Then I have often felt that the trouble must be in my way of preaching the truth. At one time
the devil would say, "You are too straight; you will drive all the people away." Then again he would
remark, "You are not straight enough, and that is the reason the people don't get holy." In this way I
have suffered very much at times. But I have always gone to the Lord with my trouble and told Him
that He knew my earnest desire was to preach the truth just right, so that the people would love and
trust Him with perfect hearts.
Then the Lord has comforted me, and shown me that the devil was tempting me, in order to get me
to stop preaching holiness. A few times, professors of religion have come to me and told me I was
doing more harm than good. But they were the kind Paul describes, "who have a form of godliness,
but deny the power thereof," and I have followed his command, "From such turn away," and have
not dared to listen to them any more than to the devil himself. And so I have kept at it, through evil
report and through good report, and the dear Lord has never left me alone, but has stood by me and
given me the victory, and I have constantly seen some one led into the glorious light of liberty and
perfect love. Satan has tried in many ways to get me to stop preaching holiness, for he knew that if
he could get me to stop he would soon get me to sin, and so overthrow me altogether. But the Lord
put a godly fear in me from the beginning, by calling my attention to Jeremiah i. 6, 8 and 17. The last
verse made me very careful to speak just what the Lord said. Then Ezekiel ii. 4-8 and iii. 8-11
impressed me very much. In these Scriptures the Lord commanded me to speak His truth as He gave
it to me, whether the people would hear or not. In Ephesians iv. 15, He told me how I was to preach
it -- that is, "in love."
I then saw that I must preach the truth Just as straight as I possibly could, but that I must be careful
always to keep my heart full of love for the people to whom I was talking.
I read in 2 Corinthians xii. 14, 15, how Paul loved the people. He said, "I seek not yours, but you ...
and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I
be loved." Then in Acts xx. 20 and 27, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you ... for I have
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." This made me feel that to withhold the
truth of holiness from the people -- which is necessary to their eternal salvation -- was worse than
keeping back bread from starving children, or as the murder of souls is worse than the murder of
bodies. So I earnestly prayed to the Lord to help me love the people, and preach the whole truth to
them, though they hate me for it -- and, bless Him! He answered my prayer.
There are three points in teaching holiness that the Lord has led me to emphasize continually.
First, that men cannot make themselves holy, any more than the Ethiopian can change his skin, or
the leopard his spots. That no amount of good works, of self-sacrifice and denial, of labors for the
salvation of others, can cleanse the heart, can take out the roots of pride, vanity, temper,
impatience, fear and shame of the Cross, lust, hatred, emulation, strife, self-indulgence and the like,
and in their stead put unmixed, perfect love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance."
Truly, millions who have labored to purify the secret springs of their hearts, only to fail, can testify,
"It is not of works lest any man should boast."
Second, I keep prominent the fact that the blessing is received by faith. A poor woman wanted some
grapes from the king's garden for her sick boy. She offered the gardener money, but he would not
sell the grapes. She came again, and met the king's daughter, and offered her money for the grapes.
The daughter said, "father is a king; he does not sell his grapes." Then she led the poor woman into
the king's presence, and told him her story, and he gave her as many as she wanted.
Our God, your Father, is King of kings. He will not sell His holiness and the graces of His Spirit, but He
will give them to all who will ask in simple, childlike faith. Truly He will. "Ask, and ye shall receive.
Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith ... Do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." By faith the law of
God is written on our hearts, so that when we read the command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart," we find a law of love in us because we have within us a law that corresponds to
the command. The Apostle says, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. x. 10),
and that statement is true to our experience, for where real heart-faith is, it makes the impatient
man patient, the proud man humble, the lustful man chaste, the covetous man benevolent, the
quarrelsome man meek, the liar truthful, the man who hates loving; it turns misery into joy, and
gives peace and constant comfort.
Third, I emphasize the truth that the blessing is to be received by faith NOW. The man who expects
to get it by works will always have something more to do before he can claim the blessing, and so
never comes to the point where he can say, "The blessing is now mine. But the humble soul, who
expects to get it by faith, sees that it is a gift; and, believing that God is as willing to give it now as at
some future time, trusts and receives it at once.
By thus urging the people to expect the blessing "just now," I have sometimes had them get it just
while I was talking. People who had often been to the Penitent-form, and had wrestled and prayed
for the blessing, have received it while sitting in their seats listening to the simple "word of faith
which we preach."
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name "(Ps. ciii. 1).
Soul Winning
Samuel Logan Brengle (1860-1936) was an American Methodist born in Indiana who joined the
Salvation Army in the 1890’s. He was mightily used of the Lord even more so by his many books.
They were chiefly written during a convalescence following being badly injured while street
preaching. This is the first chapter from his book The Soul Winner’s Secret, and deals with the soulwinner’s personal experience with God.
Every soul-winner is in the secret of the Lord, and has had a definite personal experience of salvation
and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which brings him into close fellowship and tender friendship and
sympathy with the Saviour.
The Psalmist prayed, “Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and
take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy
free Spirit. Then,” said he, “will I teach transgressors Thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto
Thee.” (Psalm 51) He saw that before he could be a soul-winner, before he could teach transgressors
the way of the Lord and before he could convert sinners, he must have his own sins blotted out; he
must have a clean heart and a right spirit; he must be a partaker of the Holy Ghost and of God’s joy.
In short, he must himself have a definite, constant, joyful experience of God’s salvation in order to
save others.
It was no “hope-I-am-saved” experience that he wanted; nor was it a conclusion carefully reasoned
out and arrived at by logical processes; nor an experience based upon a strict performance of a set
round of duties and attendance upon sacraments, but a mighty transformation and cleansing of his
whole spiritual nature and a glorious new creation wrought within him by the Holy Ghost.
I. This must be a definite experience, that tallies with the Word of God. Such only can give that
power and assurance which will enable you to lead and win others. You must possess knowledge
before you can impart knowledge. You must have fire in order to kindle fire. You must have life to
reproduce life. You must know Jesus and be on friendly terms with Him to be able to introduce Him
to others. You must be one with Jesus, and be “bound up in the bundle of life” with Him if you would
bring others into that life.
Peter had repented under the preaching of John the Baptist, had forsaken all to follow Jesus, had
waited with prayer and unquenchable desire until he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of
fire, and had been anointed with power from on high, before he became the fearless, mighty
preacher who won three thousand converts in a day.
Paul was mightily converted on the road to Damascus, and heard the voice of Jesus telling him what
he was to do, and was baptized with the Holy Ghost under the teaching of Ananias before he
became the apostle of quenchless zeal who turned the world upside down.
Luther was definitely converted and justified by faith on the stairway of St. Peter’s at Rome before
he became the invincible reformer who could stand before popes and emperors and set captive
nations free.
George Fox, Wesley, Finney, Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, James Caughey, and William Booth who
became the Founder of our great Salvation Army, each and all had a definite personal experience
that made them apostles of fire, prophets of God and saviours of men. They did not guess that they
were saved, nor hope that they were saved, but they knew whom they had believed, and knew that
they had ‘passed from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.’
This experience was not evolution, but a revolution. No evolutionist ever has been or ever will be a
great soul-winner. It is not by growth that men become such, but by revelation. Men do not become
soul-winners until God bursts through the veil of their hearts, reveals Himself by the exercise of faith
in His dear Son, gives a consciousness of personal acceptance with Him, and sheds abroad His love
within, destroying unbelief, burning away sin, consuming selfishness, and filling the soul with the
passion of Jesus.
The experience that makes a man a soul-winner is two-fold:
1. He must know that his sins are forgiven; he must have recognized himself to be a sinner out of
friendly relation with God, careless of God’s claim, heedless of God’s feelings, selfishly seeking his
own way in spite of divine love and compassion, and heedless of the awful consequences of
separating himself from God; and this must have led to repentance toward God—by which I mean
an entire turning away from sin, and a confiding trust in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He must have so
believed as to bring a restful consciousness that he has been adopted into God’s family and made
one of His dear children. This consciousness results from what Paul calls ‘the witness of the Spirit,’
and enables the soul to cry out in deep filial confidence and affection, ‘Abba Father.’
2. He must be sanctified; he must know that his heart is cleansed, that pride and self-will and carnal
ambition and strife and sensitiveness and suspicion and unbelief and all unholy tempers are
destroyed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He must experience personal Pentecost and the
incoming of a great love for, and loyalty to, Jesus Christ.
II. It must be a constant experience. People who frequently meet defeat and fail of victory in their
own souls will not be largely successful in winning others to Jesus. The very consciousness of defeat
makes them uncertain in their exhortation, doubtful and wavering in their testimony, and weak in
their faith, and this will be unlikely to produce conviction and beget faith in their hearers.
Finney, Wesley, Fletcher, Bramwell, Mrs. Catherine Booth and scores of others walked with God, as
Enoch did, and so walked ‘in the power of the Spirit’ and constantly, as to be soul-winners all their
lives.
III. It must be a joyful experience. ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength,’ said Nehemiah (Nehemiah
8:10). ‘Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,’ prayed David (Psalm 51:12). ‘I feel it my duty to be
as happy as the Lord wants me to be,’ wrote McCheyne, the gifted and deeply spiritual young Scotch
preacher, who was wonderfully successful in winning souls.
‘Oh, my soul is very happy! Bless God, I feel He is with me,’ cried Caughey, while preaching his
sermon on ‘The Striving of the Spirit.’ No wonder he won souls.
Whitefield and Bramwell, two of the greatest soul winners the world ever saw, were at times in
almost an ecstasy of joy, especially when preaching, and this was as it should be.
John Bunyan tells us how he wrote ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ in his filthy prison cell. He says, ‘So I was
led home to prison, and I sat me down and wrote and wrote because joy did make me write.’
God wants His people to be full of joy. ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you and that your joy might be full,’ said Jesus (John 15:11). And again He said, ‘Ask and ye
shall receive, that your joy may be full’ (John 16:24). ‘And these things write we unto you that your
joy may be full,’ wrote John (1 John 1:4). ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,’ wrote Paul to the
Galatians (Galatians 5:22), and again he writes, ‘The Kingdom of God is... righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Romans 15:17). ‘Joy in the Holy Ghost’ is an oceanic current that flows
unbroken through the holy, believing soul, though surrounded by seas of trouble and compassed
about by infirmities and afflictions and sorrows.
We have so often thought of Jesus as ‘the Man of Sorrows’ as to overlook His fullness of exultant joy.
Joy can, and should be, cultivated, just as faith or any other fruit of the Spirit is cultivated:
1. By appropriating by faith the words that were spoken and written for the express purpose that we
might have fullness of joy. ‘Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,’ wrote
Paul to the Romans (Romans 15:13). It is by believing.
2. By meditating on these words and holding them in our minds and hearts as we would hold honey
in our mouths until we have got all the sweetness out of them.
3. By exercise, even as faith or love or patience is exercised. This we do by rejoicing in the Lord and
praising God for His goodness and mercy, and by shouting when the joy wells up in our souls under
the pressure of the Holy Spirit. Many people quench the Spirit of joy and praise, and so gradually
lose it. But let them repent, confess, pray and believe and then begin to praise God again. He will see
to it that they have something to praise Him for, and their joy will convict sinners and prove a mighty
means of winning them to Jesus.
Who can estimate the power there must have been in the joy that filled the heart of Peter and
surged through the souls, beamed on the faces, and flashed from the eyes of the one hundred and
twenty fire-baptized disciples, while he preached that Pentecostal sermon which won three
thousand bigoted enemies to the cross of a crucified Christ.
Soul-Winners And Their Prayers
"The inwrought fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James v. 16, R.V.).
All great soul-winners have been men of much and mighty prayer, and all great revivals have been
preceded and carried out by persevering, prevailing knee-work in the closet. Before Jesus began His
ministry, when great multitudes followed Him, He spent forty days and nights in secret prayer and
fasting (Matt. iv. 1-11).
Paul prayed without ceasing. Day and night his prayers and pleadings and intercessions went up to
God (Acts xvi. 25; Phil. i. 3-11; Col. i. 3, 9-11).
The Pentecostal baptism of the Spirit and the three thousand conversions in one day were preceded
by ten days of prayer and praise and heart-searching and Bible-searching. And they continued in
prayer until, on another day, five thousand were converted, and "a great company of the priests
became obedient to the faith" (Acts ii. 4-6; iv. 4; vi. 4-7).
Luther used to pray three hours a day, and he broke the spell of ages and set captive nations free.
John Knox used to spend nights in prayer, and cry to God, saying, "Give me Scotland, or I die!" and
God gave him Scotland.
Baxter stained the walls of his study with praying breath, and sent a tide of salvation through all the
land.
Over and over again, Mr. Wesley in his Journals -- which, for lively interest, are next to the Acts of
the Apostles -- tells us of half, and whole, nights of prayer, in which God drew near and blessed
people beyond expectation, and then he and his helpers were empowered to rescue England from
paganism and send a revival of pure, aggressive religion throughout the whole earth.
David Brainerd used to lie on the frozen ground at night, wrapped in a bear's skin, and spit blood,
and cry to God to save the Indians; and God heard him, and converted and sanctified the poor,
ignorant, heathenish, quarrelsome, drunken beings by the scores and hundreds.
The night before Jonathan Edwards preached the wonderful sermon that started the revival which
convulsed New England, he and some others spent the night in prayer.
A young man named Livingstone, in Scotland, was appointed to preach at one of the great
assemblies. Feeling his own utter weakness, he spent the night in prayer, and next day preached a
sermon, and five hundred people were converted. Glory to God! Oh, my Lord, raise up some praying
people!
Mr. Finney used to pray till whole communities were put under the spell of the Spirit of God and
men could not resist the mighty influence. At one time, he was so prostrated by his labors that his
friends sent him on a voyage of rest to the Mediterranean Sea. But he was so intent upon the
salvation of men that he could not rest, and, on his return, he got into an agony of soul for the
evangelization of the world. At last, the earnestness and agony of his soul became so great that he
prayed all day, till in the evening he got a restful assurance that God would carry on the work. On
reaching New York, he delivered his "Revival Lectures," which were published at home and abroad,
and resulted in revivals all over the world. Then his writings fell into the hands of Catherine Booth
and mightily influenced her; so that The Salvation Army is in part God's answer to that man's
agonizing, pleading, prevailing prayer that God would glorify His own name and save the world.
There is a young evangelist in America who was saved from Roman Catholicism. Everywhere he goes
a "revival tornado" strikes the place and hundreds of people are converted. I wondered wherein lay
the secret of his power, till a lady at whose house he stopped said he prayed all the time. She could
hardly get him to his meals from his mighty wrestlings with God.
Before joining The Salvation Army, I was one day talking with Dr. Cullis, of Boston, that man of
simple, wonder-working faith. He was showing me some photographs, and among them was one of
Bramwell Booth, our Chief of the Staff.
"There," said the doctor, "that man leads the mightiest holiness meetings in all England."
He then told me about those famous Whitechapel meetings. When I went to England, I determined,
if possible, to find out the secret of them.
"For one thing," said an officer, "Mr. Bramwell used to conduct young men's meetings at
headquarters at that time, and he used to ask each saved young fellow to spend five minutes alone
with God every day, wherever they could get it, praying for those Friday night meetings. One, who is
a Brigadier now and was then employed in a large warehouse, had to squeeze himself into a great
wicker packing-case to get a chance to pray for five minutes."
God has not changed. He waits to do the will of praying men.
Mr. Finney tells of a church in which there was a continuous revival for thirteen years. At last the
revival stopped, and everybody feared and questioned why, till on day a tearful man arose and told
how for thirteen years he had prayed every Saturday night till after midnight for God to glorify
Himself and save the people. But two weeks before, he had stopped this praying, and then the
revival had stopped. If God will answer prayer like that, what a tremendous responsibility rests on us
all to pray!
Oh, for a holy soldier in every corps and a believing member in every church, who would spend half
of every Saturday night in prayer! Here is work for resting officers, and for people who cannot go
into Salvation Army work because of insurmountable difficulties. You can do some needed kneework.
But let no one imagine that this is easy work. It is difficult and amounts sometimes to an agony, but
it will turn to an agony of joy in union and fellowship with Jesus. How Jesus prayed!
The other day a Captain, who prays an hour or more each morning and half an hour before his
evening meeting, and who is very successful in getting souls saved, was lamenting to me that he
often has to force himself to secret prayer. But in this he is tempted and tried like his brethren. All
men of much prayer have suffered the same. The Rev. Wm. Bramwell, who used to see hundreds of
people converted and sanctified everywhere he went, prayed six hours a day, and yet he said he
always went to secret prayer reluctantly. He had to pull himself up to it. And after he began to pray,
he would often have dry seasons, but he persevered in faith, and the heavens would open, and he
would wrestle with God until the victory came. Then, when he preached, the clouds would break
and rain down blessings on the people.
One man asked another the reason why Mr. Bramwell was able to say such new and wonderful
things, that brought blessings to so many people. "Because he lives so near the Throne that God tells
him His secrets, and then he tells them to us," said the other.
The Rev. John Smith, whose life, William Booth once told me, had been a marvelous inspiration to
him, like Bramwell, always spent much time in prayer. He always found it hard to begin, and then got
so blessed that it was hard to stop. Everywhere he went, mighty revival waves went also with him.
This reluctance to secret prayer may arise from one or more of several causes:
1. From wicked spirits. I imagine the devil does not care much to see the majority of cold-hearted
people on their knees in public, for he knows they do it simply because it is proper and the fashion.
But he hates to see one on his knees in secret, for that man means business, and, if he perseveres in
faith, is bound to move God and all Heaven in the interests he represents. So the devils oppose that
man.
2. From the sluggishness of the body and mind, caused by sickness, loss of sleep, too much sleep, or
overeating, which unduly taxes the digestive organs, clogs the blood, and dulls all the higher and
nobler powers of the soul.
3. From a failure to respond quickly when we feel led by the Spirit to go to secret prayer. If; when we
feel we should pray, we hesitate longer than is necessary and continue reading or talking when we
could just as well be praying, the spirit of prayer will be quenched.
We should cultivate gladness at the thought of getting alone with Jesus in secret communion and
prayer, as much as lovers expect pleasure and joy in each other's society.
We should promptly respond to the inward call to prayer. "Resist the devil and he will flee from
you," and, "Keep our bodies under, lest after having preached to others we ourselves should be
castaways."
Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke xviii. 1); and Paul said, "Pray without
ceasing" (I Thess. v. 17).
One dare-devil, praying, believing man can get the victory for a whole city or nation sometimes.
Elijah did on Mount Carmel. Moses did for backsliding Israel; Daniel did in Babylon. But if a number
of people can be led to pray in this way, the victory will be all the more sweeping. Let no one
imagine, in a wicked heart of unbelief; that God is grudging and unwilling to answer prayer. He is
more willing to answer those whose hearts are right with Him than parents are to give bread to their
children. When Abraham prayed for Sodom, God answered till Abraham stopped asking (Gen. xviii.
22-33). And is He not often angry with us because we ask so timidly, and for such small blessings,
just as the prophet Elisha was angry with the king who smote but thrice when he should have
smitten five or six times? (2 Kings xiii. 18, 19).
Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace and ask largely, that our joy may be full! (Heb. iv. 16).
Spiritual Leadership
The soul-winner must have the power of spiritual leadership, and spiritual leadership is a thing of the
Spirit, and not of birth, or rank, or title, or education, or circumstances. Here is the secret of the
power of humble Salvation Army officers from the lowly walks of life.
Joseph was a youthful prisoner in an Egyptian dungeon, but he walked with God, and was "a
prosperous man," for God was with him, and one day he reached his rightful place next to Pharaoh's
throne (Gen. 39 and 40.)
Paul was a prisoner under Roman guards on board ship, hastening to Caesar's judgment bar; but one
day God's winds made the sea to boil, and winds and waves smote the ship, and when men's hearts
failed them for fear, Paul, by right of spiritual kingship, became the master of all on board. (Acts 27.)
I knew a Lieutenant, a quiet, modest, thoughtful, prayerful, faithful, humble, holy lad, of moderate
ability, stationed with an Ensign, at whose feet the Ensign and his wife sat for spiritual counsel,
though the Lieutenant knew it not. They hung on his God-wise words, and remembered his example,
and treasured his spirit, and talked to me about his saintliness and Christlikeness long after he, as
Captain, had left them for a corps by himself.
They commanded the corps, but he held spiritual supremacy because he walked with God. and God
was with him and in him.
Spiritual leadership is not won nor established by promotion, but by many prayers, tears and
confessions of sin and heart-searchings and humblings before God, and self-surrender and a
courageous sacrifice of every idol and a bold and deathless, and uncompromising and uncomplaining
embrace of the Cross and an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified. It is not gained by
seeking great things for our selves (Jer. 45:5), but rather, like Paul, by counting those things that
were gain, loss for Christ. Hear him: "What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win
Christ. (Phil. 3:7, 8.)
That is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be not merely a nominal,
but a real spiritual leader of men -- a leader whose power is recognized by three worlds and felt in
heaven, earth and hell. Moses gained this spiritual leadership among Pharaoh's palace halls and
Sinai's solitudes and fastnesses, when he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt."
Spiritual leaders are not made by man, nor any combination of men. Neither conferences, nor
synods, nor councils can make them, but only God.
Spiritual power is the outcome of spiritual life, and all life, from that of the moss and lichen on the
wall to that of the archangel before the Throne, is from God. Therefore let those who aspire to this
leadership pay the price, and seek it from God.
Who made Elijah and John the Baptist -- hairy, uncouth men of the wilderness and desert -- prophets
who awed kings and swayed nations? God.
Who took Moses from the universities of Egypt and the palaces of Pharaoh and after drilling him
among flocks of sheep on the back side of the desert for forty years, made him the meek, but
unconquerable leader of two millions of slaves, and the lawgiver and fountainhead of jurisprudence
for all time? God.
Who took the baby Samuel and put into his mouth prophetic words to the aged priest Eli, and made
him spiritual leader of Israel? God
Who took the boy David, trained to feed harmless, patient sheep, and put courage into his heart,
and nerved his arm to fight the lion and the bear and the giant, and gave him skill to lead Israel's
armies, so that the women sang: "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands," while
the elders, after the death of Saul, came to him, saying, "In time past, when Saul was king over us,
thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel, and the Lord said to thee, thou shalt be a
captain over Israel?" God.
And why did God single them out and distinguish them, and give them this power above other men?
Because God was to them the supreme Fact.
They believed God, sought God, feared and trusted and obeyed God. Read the Psalms and see how
God fills the whole heaven of David's thought, desire and affection, and you will cease to wonder at
his leadership. It was based on spiritual life, power and fellowship with God.
This spiritual leadership, once attained, can be maintained. Witness Moses, Elijah, Paul, Fox, Wesley,
Finney and General Booth, and ten thousand leaders in humbler spheres who still bear "fruit in old
age," and continue "fat and flourishing;" like a white-haired old saint of eighty years, on whom I
called, who, after I had prayed, burst into prayer, and said: "O Father, I testify to Thee, and the
angels, and these young brothers, that old age is not a time of dotage and second childhood but the
springtime of eternal youth."
I hear comparatively young men complaining and expressing. fear that when they get old they will
be set aside and superseded by younger and more virile men without a tithe of their experience,
forgetting that it is not long service and experience that makes spiritual leaders, but vigorous
spiritual life, and that if set aside, it will be because they have not kept step with God, but have
neglected the divine life, the Holy Ghost in them, Neither conferences. nor synods, nor councils, nor
commanders, can make a man acceptable to the people, however long his service and varied his
experience, if he has lost the spirit of prayer and faith and fiery-hearted love, and the sweet
simplicity and trustfulness and self-sacrifice of his youth, and is now living on past victories and
revelations and blessings. But fresh anointings of the Spirit and present-day experiences will make
him acceptable, though his eye be dim and. his back bent, and his voice husky with age. It was with
Finney, and Whitefield and Wesley, and so it may be with you, O my brother!
There have been ministers who in their prime fought holiness and refused the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, or who, having received the baptism, neglected and lost it, who filled big pulpits and drew fat
salaries, but whose influence gradually waned and whose old age was full of complainings and
disappointments and bitterness and jealousies, and whose sun went down behind clouds, if not into
a starless night, because they neglected God
And I know men -- old men -- full of God, who were persecuted in their prime for Jesus' sake, but
who had salt in themselves and kept sweet and delighted themselves in the Lord, whose bow abides
in strength, whose sun is shining in fullness of splendor, and who are filling the world with divine
messages that men are eager to hear. Know this: that not long service and experience will save you
from becoming a back number, but God in you will. God is always up to date. It is God men want.
What service had they performed, and what experience had Moses, and David, and Daniel, and Paul,
when God set them up as leaders? None. But they were in touch with God; they were pliable to His
will, teachable, trustful, obedient, courageous and uncomplaining.
They were full of God. And know this, you who fear the time is coming when your services will no
longer be appreciated or wanted, and you will be thrust into a corner, that a man full of God cannot
be thrust aside. If he is put into a desert place, then all the countryside and Jerusalem will flock to
the desert place, as they did to Jesus and John the Baptist; and if he is thrust into a corner, then the
world will stop and bend its ear to his corner to hear his latest message from God. They thrust Paul
into prison, but he spoke and wrote words of life and power that burn with unquenchable fire of the
Holy Ghost, and are doing more to direct the thought, inspire the faith and inflame the affections of
men today than ever before. The Jews and Romans thought they had done with him when they cut
off his head as that of a dog, but, after two millenniums his influence still increases, and forever will.
And so they thought to silence Madam Guyon in the Bastile, and John Bunyan in the filthy Bedford
jail. But who can silence the thunder of God's power, or hush His "still small voice," when He chooses
a man to speak through him? Their silent prisons but become public telephone stations, connected
with the skies.
The other day, in one of our great cities, died an old man, long since past three score years and ten,
a minister, who at the age of forty-seven, broke down so utterly in health from overwork, that for
five years he never read a chapter from a book, not even from the Bible, but he held fast his faith in
both God and man, kept his love all aglow, and at last died full of years and was mourned by
hundreds in all parts of the globe who had been saved, sanctified, inspired and qualified for service
by his words and life, and the agencies he set in motion for the sanctification of the church and the
salvation of the world. And, by odds, his greatest work was accomplished after he had passed three
score years. God was with him.
But while this spiritual power and leadership may be maintained, yet it is a subtle thing that may be
lost forevermore.
When Saul was little in his own sight, he was made king, but, when lifted up he became disobedient,
his kingdom was rent from him and given to another. And is it not this we are warned against in the
words: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown?" The bishopric of Judas was
given to another. The one talent was taken from the "wicked and slothful servant," and given to him
that had ten.
I know a Christian worker surrounded by a number of other bright, earnest, teachable, spiritually
ambitious young workers, who looked to him for direction and guidance. He invited them to his
home for an evening, and when they waited for soul food, coffee and cake were brought out; and
when they expected prayer and counsel the chessboard was produced, and the opportunity of the
evening slipped away, and the strong bonds that united them in God were relaxed and weakened, if
not in one or two cases broken, and while his official and titular leadership was recognized his
commanding spiritual leadership was gone, alas! I fear forever.
As electric wires, in order to carry the subtle current, must be insulated, so must men who hold
spiritual leadership and who would transmit to their fellows spiritual power and life.
"But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life..... Now
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of
His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and
power both now and ever. Amen" (Jude 20:25.)
Spiritual Power
God is the source of all spiritual power, and should be sought for constantly in two ways -- by
meditation in His word, and by secret prayer -- if we would have and retain power.
Several years ago I was 'specialing' at a New England corps, commanded by a rather gifted Ensign.
He appeared to be much impressed by my familiarity with and use of the Bible, and one day
remarked that he would be willing to give a fortune, if he had it, for an equal knowledge of the
Scriptures. He was much taken back when I assured him that he was quite mistaken as to the
strength of his desire, for if he really wanted to get acquainted with his Bible, he could easily do so
by spending the hour and more that he gave to the newspapers each day, in prayerful study of God's
word.
Men are everywhere crying and sighing for power and the fullness of the Spirit, but neglecting the
means by which this power and fullness are secured.
The saintly Fletcher said, 'An eager attention to the doctrines of the Holy Spirit made me in some
degree overlook the medium by which that Spirit works; I mean the word of truth, by which that
heavenly fire warms us. I rather expected lightning than a steady fire by means of fuel.'
Glad, believing, secret prayer, and patient, constant meditation in the word of God will keep the
sanctified man full of power, full of love and faith, full of God.
But neglect of these results in spiritual weakness and dryness, joyless labour and fruitless toil, and,
unless a remedy is found, spiritual death will surely, if not swiftly, follow. If any reader of this has lost
the power and sweetness of his experience through neglect of these simple means, he will not
receive the blessing back again by working himself up into a frenzy of agony in prayer, but rather by
quieting himself and talking plainly to God about it, and then hearkening diligently to what God says
in His word and by His Spirit. Then peace and power will soon return, and need never be lost any
more. Hallelujah!
Most people give about ten hours a day to their bodies for eating, and drinking, and dressing, and
sleeping, and maybe a few minutes to their souls. We ought to give at least one solid hour every day
to restful, loving devotion with Jesus over our open Bible, for the refreshing, developing and
strengthening of our spiritual life. If we would do this, God would have an opportunity to teach,
correct, inspire and comfort us, reveal His secrets to us, and make spiritual giants of us. If we will not
do this, we shall surely be spiritual weaklings all our days, however we may wish to be strong.
The devil will rob us of this hour if we do not steadfastly fight for it. He will say, 'Go and work,'
before we have gained the spiritual food that strengthens us for work. The devil's piety and eager
interest in God's work is amazing when he sees a man upon his knees! It is then that he transforms
himself into an angel of light, and woe be to the soul that is deceived by him at this point!
I do thank God that, for many years, as a Field Officer, a Divisional Officer, and a Spiritual Special, He
has helped me to resist the devil at this point, and to take time with Him until my soul has been filled
with His glory and strength, and made triumphant over all the power of the enemy. Glory to God!
'And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you
up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified '(Acts xx. 32).
Testify To The Blessing
'And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ' (Rev. xii. 11).
A lieutenant got the blessing of a clean heart in one of my meetings the other day, and then told us
that he had had the blessing once before but had lost it because he failed to testify to it. The devil
suggested that it was a great thing to testify to cleansing from all sin; that people would not
understand it; that they would criticize him; that he would do better to live it and say nothing about
it; and so on. He heeded these suggestions, kept quiet, and so lost the blessing.
That is an old trick of the devil's, by which he has cheated many a soul out of this pearl of greatest
price.
Paul says: 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation' (Rom. x. 10). The confession is as necessary as the believing. We insist upon
this in the matter of justification and it is equally important in the matter of sanctification. If we do
not testify definitely, humbly and constantly to the blessed experience, we put our light under a
bushel and it goes out.
The late Miss Frances E. Willard received the blessing definitely, was filled with joy and the sweet
peace of Heaven and gave a burning testimony of the fulness of the Spirit. Soon afterwards she
became a teacher in a ladies' school in a section of the country where there was much controversy
over the doctrine of holiness. She was advised by her mistaken friends to keep still about
sanctification, which she did. Years afterwards she sorrowfully wrote: 'I kept still until I soon found I
had nothing in particular to keep still about. The experience left me. That sweet persuasiveness, that
heaven in the soul of which I came to know in Mrs. Palmer's meeting, I do not now feel.'
Fletcher of Madeley, whom John Wesley believed to be the holiest man that had lived since the days
of the Apostle John, made this confession to his people: 'My dear brethren and sisters, God is here, I
feel Him in this place; but I would hide my face in the dust, because I have been ashamed to declare
what He has done for me. For many years I have grieved His Spirit, but I am deeply humbled and He
has again restored my soul. Last Wednesday evening He spoke to me by these words: "Reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom.
vi. 11). I obeyed the voice of God; I now obey it, and tell you all to the praise of His love, I am freed
from sin, dead unto sin and alive unto God. I received this blessing four or five times before, but I
lost it by not obeying the order of God, who has told us, "with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." But the enemy offered his
bait under various colors to keep me from a public declaration of what God had wrought. When I
first received the grace, Satan made me wait awhile till I saw more of the fruits. I resolved to do so,
but I soon began to doubt the witness which before I had felt in my heart, and I was in a little while
sensible that I had lost both.
'A second time after receiving this salvation (with shame I confess it) I was kept from being a witness
for my Lord by the suggestion, "Thou art a public character; the eyes of all are upon thee; and if; as
before, by any means thou lose the blessing, it will be a dishonor to the doctrine of heart holiness." I
held my peace, and again forfeited the gift of God.
'At another time I was prevailed upon to hide it by reasoning thus: "How few even of the children of
God will receive this testimony! Many of them suppose that every transgression of the Adamic law is
sin, and therefore, if I profess myself to be free from sin, all these will give my profession the lie.
Because I am not free in their sense, I am not free from ignorance, mistakes and infirmities. I will
therefore enjoy what God hath wrought in me, but I will not say I am perfect in love." Alas! I soon
found again: "He that hideth his Lord's talent, and improveth it not, from that unprofitable servant
shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have."
'Now, my brethren, you see my folly. I have confessed it in your presence, and now I am resolved
before you all to confess my Master. I will confess Him to all the world. And I declare unto you in the
presence of God the Holy Trinity, I am now dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God, through Jesus
Christ, who is my indwelling holiness.'
This confession put Mr. Fletcher on record, and was the beginning of a life of holiness that has but
few parallels for beauty and power. It is only at this point of glad, definite testimony that Christian
life and experience become irresistibly catching, like fire when it bursts into flame.
Those who profess this blessing are often accused of boasting. But this is not true. They are simply
declaring that Jesus has done for them what He died to do -- that is, to save them from sin, and they
do it in the spirit of a man who, healed of a deadly disease, declares what the doctor has done for
him. It is done to bring honour to the doctor, and to encourage other poor sufferers to apply to him;
and to withhold such testimony in the presence of multitudes of needy ones would be a crime.
David said: 'My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof; and be glad' (Ps.
xxxiv. 2). Hallelujah!
As for me, I feel I am under a solemn obligation to let everybody know that Jesus is alive and that He
can save to the uttermost.
Thanksgiving
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise be thankful unto Him, and
bless His name' (Ps. C. 4).
In every thing give thanks' (i Thess. v. 18).
As lilies of the valley pour forth perfume, so good hearts pour forth thanksgiving. No mercy is too
small to provoke it, no trial too severe to restrain it. As Samson got honey from the carcass of the
lion he slew, and as Moses got water from the flinty rock, so the pure in heart are possessed of a
sort of heavenly alchemy, a divine secret by which they get blessings out of all things, and for which
there is giving of thanks.
A jubilant old saint in Boston came down to hoary hairs in deepest poverty and had to live on the
charity of such friends as God raised up, and He raised them up. Bless His name! He who fed Elijah in
the wilderness by the brook and in the poverty-stricken home of the desolate widow, found a way to
feed His child in Boston. God is not blind, nor deaf; nor indifferent, nor indigent. He is not 'the silent
God' that some people in their self-conceit and wayward unbelief suppose. He knows how to be
silent, and how to hide Himself from the proud in heart. But He cannot hide Himself anywhere in His
big universe from childlike faith and pure, obedient, longsuffering, patient love. Hallelujah!
This old saint believed, obeyed and rejoiced in God, and He raised up friends to supply her needs.
Now, one day one of them went upstairs with a dinner for the old lady, and as she came to the door,
she heard a voice within, and thinking there was a visitor present, and delicately wishing that her
charity should not be a cause of embarrassment, she stopped and listened. It was the voice of the
old Christian at her table, and she was saying, 'O Father, I do thank Thee with all my heart for Jesus
and this crust.'
To her thankful heart that crust was more than a feast and a well-filled cupboard and a fat bank
account to him who has not a trustful, thankful spirit.
I heard of a rich man the other day who killed himself because he feared he might become poor. He
was poor. Jesus said, 'A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he
possesseth' (Luke xii. 15), and no more does a man's real riches; but rather in the spirit with which
he possesses them.
Heaven is not parceled off into lots and estates. The angels own nothing and yet they possess all
things and are eternally rich. And so with the true saint that trusts God and loves and obeys and is
thankful.
The stars in their courses fight for him. He is now in harmony with the elemental and heavenly forces
and eternal laws of the universe of God, and all things work together for his good. Not a hair of his
head falls without God's notice. Not a desire rises in his heart but God's great heart throbs
responsive to fulfill it, for does not the Psalmist say, 'He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him'?
(Ps. cxlv. 19). Not simply the fervent prayer, but the timid, secret desire that has not been voiced in
prayer, shall be fulfilled. And how dare God do that? Because holy fear will not allow a desire that is
not in harmony with God's character and the interests of His Kingdom.
Napoleon gave blank checks on his bank to one of his marshals. One complained to the Emperor that
the drafts made were enormous and should not be allowed. 'Let him alone; he trusts and honors
me, and I will trust him,' said Napoleon. God puts all things at the command of His saints, and trusts
them while He asks them to trust Him. Why, then, should we not be thankful?
Nothing will keep the heart so young and banish carking care so quickly and smooth the wrinkles
from the brow so certainly, and fill the life with such beauty, and make one's influence so fragrant
and gracious and shed abroad such peace and gladness as this sweet spirit of thankfulness.
This spirit can and should be cultivated. There is much in the lot of each of us to be thankful for. We
should thank Him for personal liberty, and for the measure of health we have. There is a good old
soul up the Hudson who for thirty years or thereabouts has been lying in bed, while her bones have
softened, and she is utterly helpless and always in pain, but she praises and praises and praises God.
We should thank Him that we are not insane, that our poor minds are not unbalanced and rent and
torn by horrid nightmares and dread and nameless terrors and deep despair and wild and restless
ravings. We should thank Him for the light and blessings of civilization, past mercies, present
comforts and future prospects; for food, with the appetite to eat it, and the power to digest it,
raiment to wear, books to read; for the Church, The Salvation Army, the open Bible, the revelation of
Jesus Christ, the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, the glorious possibility of escape from the
penalty and the power, the consequences and the character of sin; for home and friends, and
Heaven bending over all, with God's sweet invitation, 'Come!' Truly, we have much to thank God for,
but if we would be thankful, we must set our hearts to do it with a will. We grumble and complain
without thought, but we must think to give thanks. To murmur and repine is natural, to give thanks - to really give thanks -- is supernatural, is gracious, is a spirit not earth-born, but comes down from
God out of Heaven, and yet, like all things from God, it can be cultivated.
David said, 'I will praise Thee' (Ps. ix. 1). He put his will into it. Daniel 'prayed, and gave thanks' (Dan.
vi. 10) three times a day. David outdid Daniel, for he says, 'Seven times a day do I praise Thee' (Ps.
cxix. 164).
Know this, that if you are not thankful your heart is yet bad, your soul unclean, for good hearts and
pure souls are thankful. So go to the root of the matter and get rid of sin and get filled with the Holy
Spirit. Flee to Jesus for riddance from the unholy spirit, and the subtle selfishness that possesses
you.
People who live in the midst of foul odors and harsh sounds cease to smell and hear them, but if for
a while they could slip away to the sweet air and holy quiet of the woods and fields, and then return
to their noxious and noisy homes, their quickened senses would be shocked by their noisome
surroundings. And so selfish people often live in themselves so long that they do not realize their
selfishness and sin, except as light from Heaven falls upon them. But when God's sweet breath blows
over them and His light shines into them, then they are amazed at themselves. When some humble
saint, full of faith and joy and the Holy Ghost, crosses their path, if they will but look, they may see
themselves as in a glass.
But especially is this so when we look at Jesus; and if we continue, the look will transform us. It is of
this that the Apostle speaks when he says, 'But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord' (2 Cor. iii. 18). And when this change has taken place, the joy of Jesus will be poured into the
heart and praise will well up and bubble forth in thanksgiving as an unfailing fountain of sweet
waters, filling it with joy, and earth, your little corner of earth, with peace, and gladdening all who
see and hear. But if that change has not fully taken place in you, do not withhold the praise that is
God's due, but think of His loving-kindness and tender and multiplied mercies, and begin to thank
Him now, and your very giving of thanks will help to hasten the change. Begin now! Praise the Lord!
The Ancient Prophets
For about sixty years I have been reading the Bible, and for nearly fifty I have been reading it through
regularly, steadily, consecutively, year after year. When I have finished Revelation, I turn back to
Genesis and begin over again, and day by day read my chapter or chapters with close and prayerful
attention and never without blessing. In this way the Book has become very familiar, but not stale. It
is ever new, fresh, illuminating, just as bread and water and sunshine, and the flowers and birds and
mountains and seas, and starry heavens are ever new and fresh and inspiring.
The sweet stories (and there are no stories so sweet as Bible stories), the sordid stories (and there
are none more sordid), the nobilities and the brutalities, the saintliness and the sin, the chastity of
Joseph and the shameful, cruel rape by Amnon; the drunkenness of Noah and the sobriety of the
Rechabites; the slaughter of innocent birds and beasts for the sins of men, and the slaughter of
Canaanites for their own sins; the drunkenness and incest of Lot, the chaste restraint of Boaz; the
overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; the deliverance of Samaria; the cleansing of Naaman of his
leprosy, and the smiting of Gehazi with the dread disease; the dastardly wickedness of David
followed by his deep penitence as expressed in the fifty-first Psalm, and the dog-like fidelity and
devotion of Uriah rewarded only by the seduction of his wife and his pitiful murder; the duplicity and
treachery of Absalom, the devoted love of Jonathan; the flaming zeal and despondency and
trembling and the triumphant finish of Elijah; the horrid doom and death of Ahab, and painted,
powdered Jezebel; the afflictions and dialogues and deliverance of Job; the fall of plotting, rapacious
Haman, and the exaltation of Mordecai; the single-eyed devotion of Nehemiah outwitting the wiles
of relentless foes and treacherous brethren; the faith and courage of Daniel and his three friends;
the swift, sure blow that humbled proud, despotic Nebuchadnezzar, and the overthrow and death of
drunken Belshazzar; the storm, the fish, the gourd, the worm, the blistering sun and hot wind With
which God gave kindergarten lessons to bigoted, angry Jonah, and His tender mercy to the little
children and cattle of Nineveh; the jealousies and envies and contentions of the disciples who each
desired to be greatest in the Kingdom of Jesus as they, in their carnal childishness, pictured what
that Kingdom would be; the love of Thomas who proposed to go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus,
and his stubborn refusal to believe in the resurrection of Jesus unless he could put his fingers into
the print of the nails and thrust his hand into his riven side, and the kindly, sure way in which Jesus
met the distracted, honest, loving doubter; the swearing and lying of Peter, and his bitter tears of
sorrow; the penitent plea of the dying thief on the cross, his death and the glad wonderment of his
awakening in Paradise to find Jesus awaiting him there with tender welcome; the awful fate of false
Ananias and Sapphira dropping into Hell from the greatest holiness campaign the world has ever
known; the stoning of Stephen; the conversion of Paul; the strange apocalyptic mysteries and
imageries of Revelation -- all these speak to me in a divine voice with comfort, reproof, correction,
admonition, instruction.
Line upon line, precept upon precept, in picture, in parable, in story, in history, biography, drama,
tragedy, poetry, song, and prophecy, I hear God in tender entreaty, in patient instruction, in wise
rebuke, in faithful Warning, in sweetest promise, in sharp, insistent command, in stern judgment and
final sentence, making known to us men His mind, His heart, His holiness, His wisdom, love, and
grace. I see God uplifting the oppressed, the fallen, the lowly, the penitent, and setting them on high
and casting down from their thrones and seats of pomp and power the proud, the rich, the arrogant,
the mighty.
My daily reading has again brought me into company with the great prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah, Malachi, and others, and I live again with them in the midst of the throbbing,
tumultuous, teeming life of old Jerusalem, Samaria, Egypt, and Babylon. These prophets are old
friends of mine. I have lived with them before, and they have blessed me a thousand times, kindled
in me some of their flaming zeal for righteousness, their scorn of meanness, duplicity, pride, and
worldliness, their jealousy for the living God; their fear for those who forget God and live as though
He were not; their pity for the ignorant, the erring, the penitent; their anxiety for the future of their
people; their courage in denouncing sin and calling men back to the old paths of righteousness.
I stand in awe as I note their intrepidity, their forgetfulness of self in denouncing sin and facing the
contempt, the scorn, and then the wrath of princes, priests, and kings. Tradition tells us Isaiah was
finally thrust into a hollow log and 'sawn asunder.' They counted not their lives dear unto
themselves. They were 'moved by the Holy Ghost.' They yielded themselves up for service, suffering,
or sacrifice as His instruments. They were surrendered men, selfless men, devoted as soldiers unto
death, if needs be, that they might save the nation, and if not the nation, then a remnant who clung
to the old paths, who would not bow the knee to Baal, who would not yield to the seductions of
fashion and the spirit of the times. They were men of the age, but they lived and wrought mightily
for the Ages. They were men of the times, and their message was meant for their times; but it had
timeless value because they lived in God and wrought for God and spoke only 'as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost.' They were not party men. They could not be used by ambitious or designing men
for partisan purposes.
They were diffident men by nature. They shrank from the prophetic office. They did not seek it. It
was thrust upon them. God called them, and they went forward under divine constraint.
Listen to Jeremiah's story of his call: 'Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.' But he shrank from the great task and its
fearful responsibility and pleaded: 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.' 'Say not I
am a child,' said the Lord in reply, 'for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I
shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee.'
But God did not send him forth at his own charges and in his own strength. He never does so send
forth His prophets. He equips them. He humbles them until there is no conceit or strength left in
them, like Daniel in Babylon and John on Patmos, and they cry out, as did Isaiah: 'Woe is me! for I am
undone because I am a man of unclean lips. . . . Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,' and
then He empowers them. And as the Lord touched the lips of Isaiah with living fire, so He touched
Jeremiah: 'The Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put My words in thy mouth.' That was his equipment for his great and solemn and dangerous
office.
Then the vastness of this man's mission was unfolded to him: 'See, I have this day set thee over the
nations and over the kingdoms' -- this lad, who never left the little land of his birth, except when
dragged down to Egypt against his prophetic protest by murderous, fugitive Jews!' Set over the
nations and over the kingdoms, to root out' the rank growth of evil, 'to pull down, and to destroy,
and to throw down,' every high and vicious thing ' that exalted itself against the knowledge of God:
to build and to plant.' 'Thou therefore gird up thy loins, . . and speak unto them all that I command
thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.' It is a fearful thing to shrink
in fear from the face of man and fall before the frown of God, but that was the alternative set before
this young prophet. Speak boldly and feel the strength of the everlasting arms girding you about.
Slink away from the face of man and be confounded by the Almighty!
It was not a joyous, rose-strewn path the prophets trod. It was perilous, lonely, blood-stained,
ambushed by malignant foes, by entrenched monopolies of vested interests, confronted by
established custom and the unquestioned practice of kings and princes, priests and people. He was
to set himself in opposition to the nation and the nations. Oh, the loneliness of it! The danger! The
thankless task! 'For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen
walls against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against
the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee.'
What a spectacle -- a lone man, a child, against the world! 'And they shall fight against thee; but they
shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.'
Ah, I see! He is not alone. They that be with him are more than all that are against him. 'If God be for
us, who can be against us?' 'The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and
delivereth them.' Hallelujah The prophets were lone, diffident men, but they had access to God; the
key to secret resources of exhaustless power and wisdom and grace was given them. They were
equipped with God -- God the Holy Ghost. He moved them and they spoke, and their message
reverberates through all time, judges all men and nations, and illuminates all history.
Many students of prophecy think the prophets have put into our hands a God-given telescope,
through which we can peer into the future and foresee the course of all coming history to the
utmost bounds of time, and they prepare elaborate charts and write no end of books and make
learned mathematical calculations, and often fix dates for the end of all things, but I have never
been helped, but rather confused, in trying so to interpret the great prophets. Their value to me ever
since God sanctified me has appeared to consist not in the light they throw upon generations yet
unborn, but the light they throw upon my own generation. I want help to interpret my own times. It
is just because their messages came from God and are timeless that they are so timely. Their
prophecies are meant to enable me to understand the present, to recognize my own duty, to
interpret the will and ways of God to the men of my own generation, and to guide the steps of the
youth of the next generation to fitness for their solemn, unknown tasks. Beyond that, if I see at all, it
is but dimly.
There is an element of foretelling in the messages of the prophets, but the infinitely greater element
was that of forthtelling, revealing God Himself, His character, His holiness; speaking for God and His
everlasting righteousness that is in eternal and deadly antagonism to all unrighteousness and sin; His
benevolence, His everlasting love that yearns and woos and waits and seeks the erring and the
sinful, and forgives the penitent soul: the restoring, the redeeming God, who is also a God of
judgment, 'a consuming Fire.' And it is in the light of this revelation of God's character, His nature,
His mind and heart, His will and ways, that I see my duty, that I interpret the meaning of my own
day, and the problems of my own generation, and am in some measure enabled to forecast the
future. And this view of the supreme meaning and value of the prophets for our day seems to me to
harmonize with Paul's statement of the great purpose of Scripture: 'All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God,' he writes, 'and is profitable,' not for the gratification of curiosity concerning the
distant future, but 'for doctrine (teaching), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works' in this
his day and generation.
I fell into a nest of Spiritualists once, and the most timely answer I could make to their pretensions I
found in the ancient prophecy of Isaiah and in the words of Jesus. Listen to Isaiah replying to the
Spiritualists of Jerusalem twenty-five hundred years ago: 'And when they shall say unto you, Seek
unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards (mediums) that peep and mutter: should not a
people seek unto their God? Should the living seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony
(to the Bible): If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them ' (Isaiah
viii. 19, 20). And this is matched by the words of Jesus in relating the conversation between Abraham
in Heaven and Dives in Hell. Dives wanted Lazarus sent to his brethren upon earth to warn them to
so live that they would not come to him in Hell; Abraham replied, 'If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead ' (Luke xvi. 31).
My soul is shocked and shamed often by the immodesty of fashionable women, but I find that Isaiah
was confronted by the same lack of modesty in his day. In Isaiah iii. i6 to 23 he gives a description of
the fashionably dressed girls and women of old Jerusalem that reads as though h had just come from
Paris, London, or New York.
There was an entrenched liquor traffic in their day, and those faithful prophets, messengers of God,
watchful shepherds of the souls of men, flamed in indignation against the drunkard and the
bootlegger. 'Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink:
that continue until night, till wine inflame them And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe
(orchestra) and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord. . . . Therefore my
people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. . . . Therefore Hell hath enlarged
her self, and opened her mouth without measure and their glory, and their multitude, and their
pomp, and he that rejoiceth (in such self-indulgence and wickedness) shall descend into it.' So wrote
Isaiah.
'Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him
drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness.' So wrote the old prophet, Habakkuk, of the
ancient bootlegger.
Have we problems in The Salvation Army? Are we confronted by vice and sin in our city? Is evil
triumphant and injustice and wickedness entrenched in high places in the State? We shall find light
on every problem in the messages of the prophets, and we shall find help and strength in company
with them, for they walked with God and lived and spoke and suffered and died for Him. Listen to
Habakkuk's prayer: 'O Lord, I have heard Thy speech, and was afraid; O Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years, in the midst of the years . . . remember mercy.' His heart was nearly broken by
the sin and injustice and wickedness he saw all around him, and he longed for a revival. And then
faith in the almightiness, the goodness of God, and the final triumph of holiness kindles in him, and
he shouts out:
'The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'
His faith enables him to triumph in God.
And when the cup of the wickedness of the people is full, and the judgment of God falls upon them,
and the desolating scourge of the Assyrian invasion sweeps over the land and leaves it wasted and
bare, he sings: 'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation.
The Lord God is my strength.'
They lived in a day when light was dim. They had no completed Bible. Jesus had not yet come. The
cross had not yet been uplifted with its bleeding, redeeming Victim. The bars of the tomb had not
yet been broken, and the iron doors of death had not swung open that the light of the resurrection
might stream through. Pentecost had not yet come. But they believed in the 'Mighty God, the
everlasting Father,' and they believed Him to be 'the Prince of Peace,' and that upon His shoulders
rested all government, and that 'of His government and peace there shall be no end'; that however
high sin might vault it should be cast down, it should not finally triumph; that however deeply
entrenched and strongly garrisoned about injustice and arrogance and pride might be, yet they
should be rooted out, pulled down, and trampled in the dust.
But though they flamed like fire heated sevenfold against sin, they had hearts as tender as a little
child, and they wept for sinners, and breathed out promises as gentle as light falling on the eyes of
sleeping babes. It was God, the Holy One, in these devoted, yielded men that flamed against iniquity,
that sobbed and wept over the desolations sin wrought, and gave promises that still fall into our
hearts with Heaven's own benediction.
O Jeremiah, brother of mine, friend and comrade in this ministry of judgment and mercy, this
proclamation of the 'goodness and the severity of God,' how I thank thee, and thank God for thee, as
across centuries and millenniums thou dost still whisper into my listening ears and my longing heart
those sweet words: 'The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.'
I am a lonely man, and yet I am not lonely. With my open Bible I live with prophets, priests, and
kings; I walk and hold communion with apostles, saints and martyrs, and with Jesus, and mine eyes
see the King in His beauty and the land that is afar off.
The Angels Song Of Peace
Heavenly beings always put the things of Heaven first. Our Lord Jesus placed ever the thought of
unseen and eternal glory before the trifles of earth.
I have been much impressed with the order of the prayer which Jesus gave His disciples. Before
teaching them to ask for daily bread, or the forgiveness of sins, or deliverance from evil, or
protection in time of temptation, He taught them to pray that the Father's name should be
hallowed; that the Kingdom of God might come, and that His will might be done on earth as it is in
Heaven. He put heavenly things first. God was the center of His thought and desire, and God's glory
His chief concern; and it was this that He would teach His disciples.
What Jesus taught His disciples, that He himself practiced, as we learn from His prayer in John xvii.
Alone, deserted, on the eve of the denial of Peter and the great betrayal, His thought was for the
glory of the Father. He asked that while men put Him to utter shame, the Father would glorify Him,
but only that He might in turn glorify the Father.
When the Captain of God's Host appeared to Joshua, his first and only word was not the outlining of
an attack upon the enemy, but this: 'Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou
standest is holy.' He would impress Joshua with the importance of holy and heavenly things.
And so with the heavenly host which appeared over the plain of Bethlehem. The first note of their
song was, 'Glory to God in the highest.' They put heavenly things first. God was foremost in their
thought, then His glory; afterwards they sang, 'Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.'
The law and the Gospel are but the law and the spirit of Heaven projecting themselves into this
world They are introduced among men for their Salvation, for their guidance, and for the direction of
their lives, their desires, their aspirations. All who seek to keep God's law and who embrace the
Gospel are introduced into the life and spirit of Heaven and become citizens of Heaven. As heavenly
beings therefore they must put heavenly things first; they must live the life of Heaven upon earth. In
the light of these truths, the Christmas song of the angels, sung over the sleepy little town of
Bethlehem, becomes a guide to us in these days. Our chief business is to give glory to God, to put
Him first in our lives, to have a divine jealousy for His honor.
This spirit of seeking God's glory first will make us fight sin. We shall hate sin, because it robs God of
His own -- of His right and His glory in man. One who has this spirit would rather die than commit sin
because He loves to honor God. God is supreme in his thought. God is first in his love. All his
affections embrace God, and his heart mourns, and sobs, and breaks, or waxes hot with holy
indignation when he sees God dishonored, rejected, and unloved.
This spirit will lead us out to warfare for God. He who possesses it cannot sit still while the Devil has
his own way and while God is robbed and wronged. It leads him to go out and plead with men,
exhort men, command men, compel men to turn from their evil ways, to give up sin, to yield their
hearts to God, and to love and serve Him.
This Spirit also leads us to meditate, to plan, to take counsel with our own hearts, and in every way
possible to find out the best means by which we can win men over to God's side, save them from
their sins for God's glory, and turn them into warriors for His Army.
This spirit makes sacrifice a joy and service a delight. Everything that man with this spirit has is at
God's disposal; he gives his whole life for the glory of his Lord. He only wishes that he had a
thousand lives and could live a thousand years to fight God's battles. Oh, blessed is the man that is
so filled with this spirit of Heaven that he puts heavenly things first, and sings on earth while the
angels sing in Heaven: 'Glory to God in the highest!
It is only in proportion as this spirit possesses men and takes possession of the earth that the second
note of the Christmas song of the angels becomes possible -- 'Peace on earth and goodwill toward
men.'
We live in an age when the brotherhood of man is much spoken about, both in exhortation and in
literature; but there can be no brotherhood where there is no fatherhood. Brothers must have a
common father; and brothers who disown or neglect their father, have not the spirit which will make
it possible long to live at peace with, or show goodwill towards each other. We shall have peace on
earth and good will among men, and we shall have it universally, when everywhere men recognize
God's Fatherhood and give God the glory which is His due.
Oh, how peacefully men live together, and how they love one another when they get right with God!
How a revival in which souls get truly converted settles old grudges, and local quarrels, and family
disputes, and other wranglings and strivings of men! Love to God will beget tender love to men; true
love; love that is patient, longsuffering, forbearing, and unsuspicious; love that leads to just and
righteous dealings, to truth and reliability in word and action -- and these are essential to true peace
and goodwill amongst men.
The Bible declares that there is a good time coming when men will learn war no more, when they
will be ashamed to attack one another in war, when war colleges will be done away with. May that
day hasten! But it will hasten only as heavenly things are put first. We may talk about the brutalities
of war, about the widows and orphans that mourn their beloved slain, -- about the young men that
are shattered and torn by shot and shell, and about the utter waste of property; but it is only as holy
men prevail over unholy men, by winning the world to love God, that the glad time foretold by the
prophet will be brought about.
Solomon said: 'Only by pride cometh contention.' At the heart of every quarrel, in the confusion of
every brawl, and in the hate and fury of every war, pride will be found -- pride of opinion, of wit or
wisdom, of physical strength, of position, of reputation, or of power. Truly humble men never begin
strife. They speak softly; they are willing to make concessions; they are 'swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath '; they 'seek peace, and pursue it.' As far as in them lies, they live peaceably with all
men.
If such people do get mixed up in a contention, they may fight manfully, but it is for the sake of
righteous and ordered peace, and not from pride of self. They are peacemakers, not strife-makers.
They follow peace with all men, and they do this because their lives, their desires, their affections,
their ambitions and activities are all guided and ruled by one glad, glorious purpose -- the glory of
God. That purpose consumes pride. Human pride and pomp, and the glory which man can give look
utterly contemptible to the one whose eye is single to the glory of God.
And this desire for God's glory makes peacemakers of men. They love their fellows because they are
dear to the heart of God. A tender feeling of sympathy, and love, and brotherhood steals into their
hearts, takes captive all their affections, fills them with love of God's will, banishes hatred, disarms
suspicion, and establishes within them God's Kingdom of 'righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost.'
It is this spirit that has made our Slum Officers mightier than police officials in the dark alleys and
fetid cellars and garrets of London and New York. It was this that gave William Penn and David
Brainerd such heavenly power over the wild Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and that
enabled John Gibson Paton to work such miracles of Salvation in the southern islands of the Pacific
Ocean.
Unless influenced by this spirit, the nations will go on building dreadnoughts while their proud
hearts are quaking with nameless dread: they will cast great guns and invent submarines and
airships for the destruction of men. But let every humble lover of Jesus Christ catch the spirit and
sing the Christmas song of the angels, assured that God is on the side of the men of peace who love
Him and seek His glory, and have hearts which brim over with good will.
Our God is 'the God of peace.' Let us wait on Him in fervent prayer and faith for the fulfillment of the
angels' song, and put away hate and suspicion and strife for ever from our hearts, that, as far as in us
lies, His will may be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. He has made the nations of one blood.
May they become of one spirit! It is our mission to make them so.
How shall we do this? How can I, a poor, weak, short-sighted, single-handed man, help to fill the
world with peace and goodwill?
In the first place by keeping my own heart with all diligence, and letting the peace of God rule in it.
To this end, if any one wrongs me, I must beware of harboring ill will toward him and of thinking
how I can get even with him. I must remember how much worse Jesus was treated, and how He
prayed for His enemies -- for the men who were doing Him to death and mocking Him in His agony. I
must be filled with His blessed, loving, meek, forgiving spirit. It is no sin to be tempted to be angry
and revengeful; but it is a sin if I yield in my heart to this temptation.
I must also be a man of peace in my own family and community, in my Corps or Church. I must seek
to soothe instead of irritate the people about me, remembering that, 'A soft answer turneth away
wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.'
Also, and greatest, most important work of all, though I cannot enter into the councils of kings, and
presidents, and war lords, and in such high places work for peace among the nations, I can enter into
my closet and pray for these great men with their heavy burdens of care and perplexity and
responsibility, asking God to guide and help them to rule the world in peace.
Indeed, we are exhorted to do this. Here is blessed and important knee-work for every humble
Salvation Soldier, in which he may mightily help to prevent war and maintain the peace of the world.
Listen to Paul: 'I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks, be made for all men: for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.'
God does not set us to pray in vain, and if Salvationists in the States, and Britain, and Germany, and
France, and other countries, will pray in love and faith, they can help to establish the peace of
Europe and of the world. Blessed be God! Let us exalt our calling to be men of peace, peacemakers,
and let us pray with faith and great gladness, and God will hear and give us peace. And, 'When He
giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?'
The Bible And Religious Experience
I
Man does not discover God. God reveals Himself to man. God seeks men before men seek God. God
reveals His wisdom and power through nature. He reveals His Holiness through conscience. He
reveals His hatred of sin through His judgments. He reveals His redeeming love through faith. We see
the power of God in the starry heavens, the storm-swept sea, the flooding, rushing river, the lofty
mountains, the flaming volcano, the devastating tornado, the silent forces resistlessly lifting mighty
forests from tiny seeds, and holding them aloft in columnar strength and beauty against wind and
storm from century to century.
We see the wisdom of God in the marvelous adaptations of nature; the adaptation of the eye to light
and color, of the ear to sound, of the nose to odors, of the tongue to flavors, of the skin to heat and
cold, of the thumb and fingers set ever so aptly against each other, of the organs of digestion, of
peristaltic and cardiac action, of plant and animal, of man and woman, of mother and child.
We see the redeeming love of God in Christ, in His works of pity and mercy, but most clearly in His
atoning death on the cross.
But all this manifold unveiling and revelation of Himself God sums up in His Word. He declares
Himself in the Scriptures, and therein we see Him as though reflected in a perfect mirror.
'The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the Lord,' we read (1 Samuel iii. 21).
He declares His power, His wisdom and knowledge, His Holiness and righteousness, His mercy and
everlasting love, His redeeming purpose and plan, in His Word. And this Word is vitally related to all
satisfying and assured Christian experience. It floods the Christian with light. It reveals to him God's
benevolent and passionately active interest in him; the way and spirit in which to seek God, and the
condition of pardon, of purity, and of power. And when he has met these conditions, the Holy Spirit
applies the words of Scripture to his heart with life-giving energy, so that that text in Proverbs is
fulfilled in his experience: 'When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep
thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee' (Proverbs vi. 22).
Nature only partially reveals God, and the wisest of men stumble and falter in trying to interpret God
through nature; but in the Word of God we find Him fully and plainly revealed to the obedient and
trusting soul.
But even the Scriptures fail to reveal God in all His beauty unless with penitence and faith men have
drawn nigh to Him and been born from above and sanctified by the incoming of the Holy Spirit. The
Book is in large measure sealed to unspiritual men. When Jesus prayed: 'Father, glorify Thy name,'
we read that a Voice came from Heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again,' and
men interpreted the Voice according to their spiritual condition and relationship. 'The people that
stood by and heard it said that it thundered' -- a material interpretation, to them it had no spiritual
significance.
Others said, 'An angel spake unto Him' -- a spiritualistic interpretation. Only Jesus heard the voice of
the everlasting Father. 'This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes,' said He.
I only knew He spake my name.
Where one heard thunder and one saw flame,
One man will read the Old Testament and see nothing but myths, scraps of legendary history, folk
lore, a record of dreams, bits of biography, exaggerated stories of fights, battles, and wars of semisavage tribes, and songs of a people slowly emerging from barbarism into civilization.
Another will read it and discover God down among His wayward creatures in their racial childhood
revealing Himself to them in dreams, visions, judgments, deliverances, special providence, and by
His Word through His prophets, as they were able to bear The Great Unveiling, until at last the final
and full revelation came in Christ.
'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son ' (Hebrews i. 1, 2).
Well may we pray David's prayer (I have prayed it a thousand times), 'Open Thou mine eyes that I
may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.' And well may we covet the experience of the disciples:
'Then opened He the eyes of their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures' (Luke
xxiv. 45).
It was this that happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. His spiritual eyes were opened. He saw
God in Christ; and the old Scriptures with which he was so familiar took on new meaning, so that he
said, 'Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope' (Romans xv. 4). When he read the story of
the wanderings of his people in the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the land of promise, and
how they were overthrown and perished in the wilderness, he recognized God's displeasure and saw
a warning example: 'Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil
things, as they also lusted. . . . They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
world are come' (1 Corinthians x. 6, 11). And to Timothy he wrote: 'All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works (2 Timothy iii. 16, 17).
It was this that happened to Martin Luther as on his knees he painfully climbed the stairway in St.
Peter's, Rome, when the still small voice sounded in his soul: 'Now the just shall live by faith.' Scales
dropped from the eyes of his soul, God's kindly purpose and way of Salvation by faith was seen, and
the Scriptures flamed with new and spiritual meaning, and became the passionate study of his
remaining years.
It was this that happened to Augustine, the brilliant young rhetorician and libertine of Carthage, as
deeply convicted of sin and spiritual impotence, he walked in his garden. He heard a voice in his
inner ear, saying, 'Take and read,' and taking up Paul's Epistle to the Romans he read: 'The night is
far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the
armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.' Instantly his inner being flamed with spiritual
light. The chains of his fleshly lusts and evil habits fell off, the dungeon doors of his soul flew open,
and he walked out into the broad day of God's deliverance and Salvation, and the Scriptures
henceforth were 'the man of his counsel.'
The Word of the Lord to man came in searching experiences and travailings of spirit as God drew
nigh to men and revealed His will, His name, and nature to them. It 'came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,' writes Peter; and he
assures us that it is 'a more sure word of prophecy: whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts ' (2 Peter
i. 19-21).
Ezekiel says: 'The word of the Lord came unto me.'
'The word of the Lord came unto me,' wrote Jeremiah.
'Now the Lord had said unto Abraham' (Genesis xii. 1).
'The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:
therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee' (Jeremiah xxxi. 3).
There has been much questioning and debate about the nature and extent of Biblical inspiration.
Some Bible lovers maintain that every word was given by inspiration, while others have argued that
the writers chose their own words in which to express the thoughts and revelations welling up
within them.
But a thoughtful study seems to plainly show that some of the words were given while others were
chosen by the writers.
Paul was troubled with a thorn in the flesh, and three times prayed for deliverance from it. Then
Jesus spoke to him, and Paul gives us His very words, which translated read: 'My grace is sufficient
for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' These words so assured and satisfied and
inspired Paul that he cried out: 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.'
There is no reason to suppose that these exact words were put into Paul's mouth. It is sufficient to
know that the words of Jesus thrilled and cheered and inspired him into glad submission to the will
and purpose of God in his affliction, and in his joy and satisfaction his heart overflowed with
devotion to his Lord and found verbal expression in these words.
One day the Psalmist was so filled with the sense of God's forgiving love and provident care that his
whole soul bubbled over in song, and he cried out:
'Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
'Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from
destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth
with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.'
These words are the words of the writer, but they are written in the glad sense of all God's tender
care and goodness and redeeming love, out of a heart that is inspired by the ever-present Holy Spirit
to adoring worship and praise.
The words are the words of the writer, but the rich experience and deep feelings and adoring
wonder from which they flowed are the work and inspiration of the Holy One of Israel. Hallelujah!
'I know the Bible is inspired,' wrote a great soul-winner, 'because it inspires me.' And so it does to
every one who, wholly devoted to Christ and simply trusting, is filled with the Spirit. It speaks as the
very voice of God. God is in the word and 'the words . . . are spirit and life.'
The manner and extent of inspiration may always be a matter of debate, but the fact of inspiration is
the joy and strength of every 'twice-born' soul.
II
'The poor ye have always with you,' said the Master, and we must wisely and adequately minister to
their pitiful and crying words. But it is equally probable that the feeble-minded and the weak will be
ever with us. And Paul has exhorted and instructed us to comfort and support them and to be
patient.
But there is another class, the chronic seekers who, times without number, come to the penitentform, who seem to be tramping, tramping for ever on an endless treadmill, who are with us and
need wise and patient help as much or more than any other class of people. They have been to the
penitent-form so often that many Soldiers and Officers have lost interest in them, and have but
little, if any, hope for them. But they are a challenge to our faith, our love and pity, our patience, our
spiritual intelligence and resourcefulness. We must not let them perish in full view, and we must not
let them slip away from view and perish in the night. They belong to us. They are our charge, and, if
possible, we must win them and lead them into a joyful experience of Salvation and perfect love. We
need to take ourselves in hand in dealing with them, for possibly their failure is an evidence of our
weakness of faith, our lack of burning, compassionate zeal, or of our spiritual and mental ignorance,
poverty, laziness.
We need to do some sober, hard thinking, some real praying, and 'stir up the gift of God' within us, if
we are to fathom their deep needs and help them. Personally, I fear that in many instances it is the
faulty, hasty way they are dealt with at the penitent-form that in part, if not wholly, accounts for
their miserable failures.
A thousand times I have trembled for seekers as I have seen people dealing with them, who I have
feared needed help themselves.
In the old days, when my hearing was more acute, I seldom let any one leave my penitent-form
without dealing with him myself. It was a great tax upon my time and strength, but my heart would
not rest in peace until I had done my utmost to lead each one into light, and into the sweet and
assured rest of faith.
I felt I must make full proof of my ministry, and I judged of its acceptance with God and its harmony
with His truth, His principles and Spirit, by its fruits in joyously saved and sanctified souls.
III
'Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully (negligently), and cursed be he that
keepeth back his sword from blood,' wrote Jeremiah. And 'He that winneth souls is wise,' said
Solomon.
Several years ago I was campaigning in a splendid city in which is located the Territorial
Headquarters of The Army for that country. It is a Salvation Army City. In it are many flourishing
Corps and Army Institutions which command the respect and high regard of the citizens of both high
and low degree.
In two Corps in residential sections of the city I conducted Meetings which were largely attended,
and in which people responded promptly to my invitations. Then I went to the down-town, Central
Corps at the Territorial Headquarters. Here, too, the crowds were large and attentive, but it was next
to impossible to get any one to the penitent-form except as a result of the most dogged personal
dealing and persuasion. To me this was a sore disappointment, for I always feel that if I preach the
truth in love, luminously, pointedly, persuasively, with constant reliance upon the Holy Ghost, the
people will promptly yield to my invitations, and if they do not do so I feel the trouble must be with
my spirit or manner of preaching. Almost invariably many do respond. But not so at this Corps. I had
been there on two different occasions before when the people seemed much more responsive, and I
wondered at the present hardness.
After I had preached and poured out my heart upon the people, Officers and Soldiers promptly
began to 'fish,' but it was only after long effort that they would lead any one to the penitent-form.
This continued for several Meetings, and I was greatly perplexed. I noticed that those who came did
not seem to be broken in spirit. There were no tears, but neither was there any levity. Usually there
was a hard, set look on the faces of those who came, which seemed to say, 'Well, if I must, I will, but
I feel it is useless to come. Nothing will happen.'
I noted further that as soon as one knelt at the penitent-form some Soldier or Officer would rush to
his side and enter into conversation with him, and in a few minutes would look up and say, 'He is all
right,' and the man would rise up with the same hard, set look on his face and take his seat. There
was no tear in the eye, no light on the face, nothing that indicated that he had met with Jesus and
found a great deliverance and peace.
On inquiry I found that most of those who were coming to the penitent-form were well known to
the Officers and Soldiers, and had been forward again and again.
Loud trumpeting and singing in the Prayer Meeting may keep up a lively interest, but they sadly
interfere with my hearing, so that it is most difficult for me to deal with seekers. (I wish we might
have stringed instruments instead of brass in our Prayer Meetings.) I tried to find out how these
people at the penitent-form were being dealt with, and I discovered that they were usually asked
one or two questions, then they were told to obey God and trust, asked if they would do so, and
when they said they would they were declared to be 'all right,' got on their feet and sent to a seat, as
dead and hopeless, apparently, as when they came.
In some instances where their weaknesses and failures were well known they were dealt with in a
severe, unsympathetic way which seemed to me anything but helpful, and quite unbecoming from
one who felt that he himself had been hewn from the rock and lifted out of miry clay. A sinner saved
by grace must be careful how he deals with a fellow-sinner, lest, like Moses, he finds he has
displeased the Lord.
Finally, a Soldier came to the penitent-form, and not only threw himself down at the form, but upon
and over it in a way that seemed to me to indicate hopelessness. I took my Bible and knelt beside
him, and I soon found out that he had come there again and again, that his trouble was fleshly sin,
that he loathed himself, but felt powerless when temptation was upon him; that he was eager to
break away from his sin, but that he was its servant (John viii. 34; Romans vi. 16), its bond slave, and
it mocked his struggles and good resolutions to quit it and be free. I felt, I saw, that hitherto he had
been led to make resolutions and promises and told to trust in Christ, but that he had never been
made to really see Christ as his Lord, his Redeemer, his Saviour, who was down with him on his
battlefield, and this I felt I must make him see, and to this I set myself with prayer and full purpose of
heart.
I told him he had been trusting to the strength of his own resolutions, in which there is no strength,
and that he would surely fall again unless he found the Lord. We 'are kept by the power of God
through faith.' Faith is the coupler that links us on to God and His power. If the link fails the power
cannot operate in us. We must believe, and keep on believing, if we are to be kept. He saw it. He felt
he must have God's power, God's presence, else he would fall again and fall for evermore. When I
was assured that he realized this, I then opened my Bible and said to him, 'You have made promises
to God, now let us see what promises God makes to you.' And we read together: 'God commendeth
His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans v.8). ' Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound' (v.20). 'Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are
not under the law, but under grace' (vi. 14). ' If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' ('John i. 9).
In these promises he saw God's love for him in spite of his sin, and his face began to brighten; and
from lolling over the penitent-form hopeless and seemingly as spineless as a jelly fish, he began to
straighten up; it was as though a new backbone were entering into him.
Then I sought to show him how God promises to enter the battle with him against his sins and
mocking, gripping habits, and we read: 'Fear thou not ' (Isaiah xli. 10).
'You have been afraid, haven't you -- afraid you would fall? You are afraid now, are you not? ' I asked
him. 'Oh, yes! I have been afraid and I am now afraid,' he replied. 'But listen, "Fear thou not; for I am
with thee."
'This is God's promise to you, my brother. He says, " I am with thee." Do you not see that you are not
alone? He is on the battlefield, He is in the thick of the fight with you. In the darkness of the night, in
the glare of the day, when alone or in the throng, He is with you. Do you not see it? Will you, do you,
believe it?' And he began to see.
"Be not dismayed." When temptation assails you, when the enemy comes mocking and threatening,
you are not alone, my brother. "Be not dismayed; for I am thy God."
'He is your God, call upon Him, trust Him, and laugh at your foe in the name of the Lord, as the
stripling David laughed at and defied Goliath. I will strengthen thee." Hitherto you have fallen
because you were weak, but see, read it, believe it, God says, "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help
thee."
'You wouldn't fall into your shameful sin if some strong, true, trusted friend were by your side,
would you? And note, God is with you! and He says He will help you. Away with your fears!
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
'Will you trust Him? Will you cast to the winds your fears and henceforth go into every battle
believing that God is with you, that Almighty strength is pledged to you, that help is at hand, and
that you shall be upheld? Will you lift your eyes to the Lord and trust instead of trembling and
quailing when the enemies of your soul assail you?'
It was a joy to see my man. He looked, he read. Light burst upon him and beamed in his face. He
seemed to be looking into the face of God. He straightened up like a man.
'I see, Oh, I see! I will, I do trust Him,' and with thanksgiving he arose in the power of the Spirit, and
through the remainder of that campaign he was radiant, and I trust he so remains to this day, and so
he does if he obediently, believingly fights with the 'sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.'
He saw the face of his Divine Kinsman, Redeemer, and heard the voice of the everlasting Father in
the Word, and life and power and joy and peace flowed into him as he believed.
How do we get acquainted with God? By the work of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts as we
penitently, obediently believe. But what are we to believe? We are to believe what He has said -'These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full,'
said Jesus.
His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption of the world through lust' (2 Peter i. 3, 4).
If we want to be strong, we must live 'by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,' said
Jesus, as the Devil thrust sore at Him.
'And when He had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for Thou hast
strengthened me,' said Daniel (Daniel x. 19). And how was he strengthened? By the revelation of
God through His Word.
How is a little child quieted, assured, and filled with peace in the night? By the presence and word of
father, of mother. And so we are assured, and made strong, 'made perfect and throughly furnished
unto all good works,' through 'all Scripture given by inspiration of God,' and brought to our
remembrance and applied to our need by the Holy Ghost, as we believe. Let us feed our people with
the sincere milk of the Word 'and they will grow thereby,' and they shall not tremble before the face
of any mocking foe, but 'one shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight.'
While others debate about the inspiration of the Word, let us eat it, drink it, preach it, and live
thereby, and we shall live in the power of 'an endless life.' Hallelujah! It is still, as in the days of Job
and the Psalmist, 'sweeter than honey and the honeycomb' to those who believe and obey it, and
'more to be desired than necessary food.'
The Bible
Within that awful volume lies The mystery of mysteries.
Happiest they of human race To whom God has granted grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch and force the way.
And better had they ne'er been born Who read to doubt, or read to scorn.
So wrote Sir Walter Scott. And when dying he said to his son-in-law, 'Bring me the Book.'
'Which one, sir? ' asked the son-in-law.
'There is but one,' replied the dying man. 'Bring me the Bible.'
The Chained Ambassador
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I
may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an
ambassador in bonds" (Eph. vi. 18-2D).
My soul was stirred within me the other morning by Paul's appeal for the prayers of the Church, in
which he declares himself to be "an ambassador in bonds," or, as the margin reads, "in a chain."
You know what an ambassador is -- a man who represents one government to another. The person
of such a man is considered sacred. His word is with power. The dignity and authority of his country
and government are behind him. Any injury or indignity to him is an injury and indignity to the
country he represents.
Now Paul was an ambassador of Heaven, representing the Lord Jesus Christ to the people of this
world. But instead of being respected and honored, he was thrust into prison and chained between
two ignorant, and probably brutal, Roman soldiers.
What stirred me were the quenchless zeal of the man and the work he did in the circumstances.
Most Christians would have considered their work done, or, at least, broken off till they were free
again. But not so with Paul. From his prison and chains, he sent forth a few letters that have blessed
the world, and will bless it to the end of time; and he also taught us that there is a ministry of prayer,
as well as of more active work. We live in an age of restless work and rush and excitement, and we
need to learn this lesson.
Paul was the most active of all the Apostles -- "in labours more abundant" -- and it seemed as if he
could ill be spared from the oversight of the converts and the new corps which he had so recently
opened, and which were in such desperate circumstances and surrounded by implacable enemies.
But as he was set to be the chief exponent of the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ, so he was set to
be the chief exponent of its saving and sanctifying power under the most trying conditions.
It is difficult -- if not quite impossible -- to conceive of a trial to which Paul was not subjected, from
being worshipped as a god to being whipped and stoned as the vilest slave. But he declared that
none of these things moved him. He had learned in whatsoever state he was to be content (Phil. iv.
11), and he triumphantly wrote at the end of his life: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. iv. 7). He did not backslide. He did not even murmur, but kept
on his way, trusting in the love of Jesus, and, through faith in Him, coming off more than conqueror.
Many Salvationists have fairly well learned the lessons of activity taught us by Paul; but it will be well
for us to be prepared to learn the lessons taught us by his imprisonment. Doubly important is it for
sick and resting officers to learn these lessons. They get impatient of waiting, are tempted to
murmur and repine, and imagine that they can do nothing. But the fact is, God may possibly use
them more widely in prayer and praise, if they will believe and rejoice and watch and pray in the
Holy Ghost, than He used them at the head of a battalion of soldiers. They should watch unto prayer
for those who are at work and for those in need of the salvation of God. I write from experience.
For eighteen months I was laid aside with a broken head. God put His chain on me, and I had to learn
the lessons of a passive ministry of prayer and praise and patience, or backslide altogether. It
seemed as if I should never be able to work any more. But I did not backslide. He helped me to
nestle down into His will, and, like David, to behave and quiet myself, as a child weaned of his
mother, until my soul was even as a weaned child (Ps. cxxxi. 2). Yet my heart longed for the glory of
God and the salvation of nations, and I prayed, and watched reports of the salvation war, and
studied the needs of some parts of the world, and prayed on until I knew God heard and answered
me, and my heart was made as glad as though I had been in the thick of the fight.
During that time I read of a great country, and my heart ached and burned and longed for God to
send salvation there. In secret and in family prayer I poured out my heart to God, and I knew He
heard and would yet do great things for that dark, sad country. Shortly after this, I learned of
dreadful persecutions and the banishment of many simple, earnest Christians to this country; and
while I was greatly grieved at their sufferings, yet I thanked God that He was taking this way to get
the light of His glorious salvation into that loveless, needy land.
The fact is, sick and resting officers and saints of God can move Him to bless the Army and the world,
if they have faith and will storm Heaven with continuous prayers.
There are more ways to chain God's ambassadors than between Roman soldiers in Roman
dungeons. If you are hopelessly sick, you are chained. If you are shut in by family cares and claims,
you are chained. But remember Paul's chain, and take courage.
I sometimes hear ex-officers, who have deserted their posts and become so entangled that it is
impossible for them to get back into Salvation Army work, lamenting their sad fate, and declaring
they can do nothing. Let them bow beneath the judgment of God, kiss the hand that smites them, no
longer chafe under the chain that binds them, but cheerfully, patiently begin to exercise themselves
in the ministry of prayer. If they are faithful, God may yet unloose their chain, and let them out into
the happier ministry of work. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and missed the mighty
blessing he should have had; still he got a blessing (Gen. xxvii. 38-40).
If a man really longs to see God's glory and souls saved rather than to have a good time himself, why
should he not content himself to lie on a sick-bed, or stand by a loom and pray, as well as to stand
on a platform and preach, if God will bless one as much as the other?
The platform man can see much of his work and its fruit. The praying man can only feel his. But the
certainty that he is in touch with God and being used by Him may be as great or greater than that of
the man who sees with his eyes. Many a revival has had its secret source in the closet of some poor
washerwoman or blacksmith who prayed in the Holy Ghost, but who was chained to a life of
desperate daily toil. The platform man gets his glory on earth, but the neglected, unknown or
despised chained ambassador who prayed will share largely in the general triumph, and, it may be,
will march by the King's side, while the platform man comes on behind.
God sees not as man sees. He looks at the heart, and regards His children's cry, and marks for future
glory and renown and boundless reward all those who cry and sigh for His honor and the salvation of
men.
God could have loosed Paul, but He did not choose to do so. But Paul did not grumble, or get sulky,
or fall into despair, or lose his joy and peace and faith and power. He prayed and rejoiced and
believed and thought about the poor little struggling corps and the weak converts he had left behind
him, and he wrote to them, and bore them on his heart, and wept over them, and prayed for them
night and day, and in so doing he saved his own soul, and moved God to bless ten thousand times
ten thousand folks whom he never saw and of whom he never even dreamed.
But let no one called of God to the work imagine that this lesson of the chained ambassador is for
those who are free to go. It is not. It is only for those who are in chains.
The Cost Of Saving Souls
Some years ago a young woman-Officer wrote the Colonel in command of a Continental Territory
telling him she meant to resign if she could not get souls saved. But she did not resign.
A pastor, famous for the revivals which swept his churches and moved the communities where he
labored, was sent to a big church in New York city. As he walked into a gathering of ministers, he
heard them whispering among themselves 'He will find New York different. It is the graveyard of
revival reputations.' And right there he resolved and publicly declared that there should be a revival
in his church or there would be a funeral in his parsonage.
Little faith sees the difficulties and often accepts defeat without a fight. Great faith sees God and
fights manfully against all odds, and though the enemy apparently triumphs, wins moral and spiritual
victory, as did Christ on Calvary, and as did the martyrs who perished in flame. What could be more
complete to doubting hearts and the eyes of unbelief than the defeat of Christ on the cross, or of
Cranmer and Ridley in the fire! And yet it as then that their victory over the enemy was supreme.
The spirit of Jesus is the spirit of conquest.
When Paul, filled with passionate love for Christ, whom he had persecuted, and burning with eager
desire to save men with the great Salvation that had reached him, went forth to evangelize the
Roman Empire, the Jews everywhere confronted and hunted him with the same deadly hate and
murderous opposition that he had once shown to the Jerusalem Christians; while every city he
entered reeked with unmentionable vices and reveled in licentious idolatries. He had no completed
Bible, no religious Press, no missionary organization behind him to ensure his support, and the very
name of Christ was unknown, while Caesar was honored as a god.
The wealth, the learning, the philosophy, the political power, the religions, the vested interests of
the world and the age-long habits, passions, and inflamed appetites of men were all opposed to him.
Don Quixote's valorous attack on windmills did not appear more absurd than Paul's assault on the
sin, the corruption, the entrenched evils of the world of his day with no other weapon than his
personal testimony and the story of a crucified, resurrected Jewish peasant Carpenter, whom he
heralded as the Son of God and the Saviour and Judge of the world, before whom all men, from the
Emperor to the lowest slave, must some day appear to be judged for his deeds and be rewarded
with eternal bliss or doomed to endless shame and woe. Paul died, but he won souls.
Immeasurable difficulties faced the Wesleys when they and Whitefield began their career that
quickened Christendom. The clergy were, as a class, utterly unspiritual, given over to drinking, horseracing, and fox-hunting with the gentry; the educated classes were, in large measure, skeptical and
licentious, while the lower classes, in the cities, were only too often debased and drunken, and
found their pleasures in cock-fighting and racing dogs on Sundays. But in the midst of these desolate
and desperate conditions the Wesleys started the greatest revival that had been known since the
Apostolic Age, and snatched souls by the myriads from the very jaws of Hell.
And amid conditions almost, if not equally, as dark and forbidding, the Founder of The Salvation
Army began and carried on his work that has directly touched and won millions of souls and an even
larger number indirectly, quickening the faith and lifting the spiritual level of the whole Christian
world, and touching with soul-saving power and life-giving hope great heathen populations in many
lands.
But none of these world-embracing, epoch-making revivals began in a large way. Paul usually made
an address and gave his testimony in a synagogue -- a small meeting-place of the Jews -- until he was
excluded, and then he went up some home or room that was opened to him. This was followed by
house-to-house visitation, often after a day's work at tentmaking. The Wesleys began in the same
humble way, and so did the Founder.
Great revivals among God's people and awakenings among the ungodly never begin in a great way.
They begin as oak trees begin. There is nothing startling and spectacular about the beginning of an
oak tree. In darkness, in loneliness, an acorn gives up its life, and the oak, at first only a tiny root and
a tiny stem of green, is born out of the dissolution and death of the acorn. So revivals are born, so
souls are won, so the Kingdom of God comes. Some one, no longer trying to save himself or to
advance his own interests, dies -- dies to self, to the world, to the praise of men, to the ambition for
promotion, for place, for power, and lives unto Christ, lives to save men, and the awakening of
sinners comes; souls are born into the kingdom of God, they rally round their leader and in turn
become soul-winners. 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit,' said Jesus. And so He 'endured the cross, despising the shame,' and
died that He might win souls, save men, and 'bring many sons unto glory.'
'If any man serve Me, let him follow Me,' said Jesus. Let him lose his old life, his old ambitions, his
old estimate of values for My sake, My cause, and the souls he would win and for whom I died. He
that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.'
That is the way to become a soul-winner; that is the price that must be paid. The Master could find
no easier way, and He can show no easier way to us. It is costly. But shall we wish to win eternal and
infinite values cheaply? 'For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.' What joy? The
joy of having the Father's approval and of saving souls from eternal death and of 'bringing many sons
unto glory.' And shall we hope to share that joy by some cheap service that calls for no uttermost
devotion, no whole burnt-offering, no final and complete sacrifice? Not otherwise has any man ever
become a soul-winner. We may move upon the surface of men's lives, we may touch their emotions,
we may lead them to easy, nonsacrificial religious exercises and activities, and think we are saving
souls, but we do not really win them until we constrain them to follow us, as we follow Christ,
through death -- death to sin, death to the flesh and the world, into newness of life unto Holiness.
This was Paul's way. 'I go bound in the Spirit not knowing what shall befall me save that the Holy
Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the
ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus' (Acts xx. 22-24). It was not easy for Paul. He
counted the cost. He paid the price. He turned neither to the right hand nor the left. He marched
straight forward.
He was commissioned 'to open men's eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them
which are sanctified by faith ' in Christ. And he adds: 'I was not disobedient unto the heavenly
vision.' 'What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.'
It is as we thus count all things but loss and so win Christ that we are empowered to win souls. This
is the standard we must set for ourselves, and to which we must woo and draw by the compulsion of
love and faithful teaching and example our younger comrades.
The Psalmist, in his penitential prayer, cried to God for a clean heart and a right spirit, for the joy of
Salvation, and the enabling of the Holy Spirit. 'Then,' said he, 'will I teach transgressors Thy ways:
and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.' David felt that if he would effectively teach and convert
sinners his heart must be pure, his spirit must be right. So then the cost of winning souls includes the
price that must be paid for a pure heart. I must be clean, my spirit must be right, I must hold back no
part of the price, I must bring all the tithes into God's storehouse, if I would be a soul winner.
'He that winneth souls is wise,' wrote Solomon. Then, if I would be a soul-winner, I must pay the
price of wisdom. Wisdom cannot be bought with silver and gold. It cannot be passed on like an
inheritance from father to son. It cannot be learned, as we learn mathematics or the sciences, in
schools and colleges. It comes only through experience in following Christ.
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers, and he bears a laden breast, Full of sad experience, moving
toward the stillness of his rest.
He who wants wisdom must not shrink from suffering. 'Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we
suffer it; being defamed, we intreat,' wrote Paul. Suffering did not daunt him. Abuse and neglect did
not embitter him. When his converts were turned against him, he wrote: 'I will not be burdensome
to you: for I seek not yours, but you. . . And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the
more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. . . . We do all things, dearly beloved, for your
edifying.' A man with that spirit is full of wisdom, the wisdom of God, the wisdom that is from above,
which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy,' and he wins souls. His life, his example, his spirit, his
speech are compelling, and he wins and knits men to Christ.
The soul-winner must not despise the day of small things. It is better to speak to a small company
and win a half-dozen of them to the Saviour, than to speak to a thousand and have no one saved or
sanctified, though they all go away lauding the leader and exclaiming, Wasn't the Meeting grand!'
Some years ago I went to a large city, where we owned a Hall seating nearly a thousand people, and
where I thought we had a flourishing Corps. The Officer and his wife had unusual ability, but had
become stale and spiritually lifeless. Where hundreds should have greeted me, fifty tired, listless
people were present, twenty of whom were unkempt children. When I rose to give out the first
song, there were three Song-Books among us, one of which was mine. The Officer ran off downstairs
to pick up a few more books, and while we waited I was fiercely tempted to walk off the platform
and leave the place, telling him I would not spend my strength helping a man with no more spirit and
interest than he manifested. Then I looked at the people before me -- tired miners, poor and
wearied wives, and little, unshepherded children -- peering at me with dull, quizzical eyes as though
wondering whether I would club them or feed them, give them stones or bread for their hunger. And
my heart was swept with a great wave of pity for them -- 'sheep without a shepherd.' And I set
myself with full purpose of heart to bless and feed them, to save them, and in the next six days the
big Hall was crowded and we rejoiced over ninety souls seeking the Saviour. The true soul-winner
counts not his life dear unto himself. He gives himself desperately to his task, and there are times
when, as Knox prayed, 'Give me Scotland, or I die,' so he sobs and cries, 'Give me souls, or I die.'
That New York pastor had a revival in the church. There was no funeral in the parsonage. Day and
night he cried to God for souls. Every afternoon he was out visiting the people in their homes, their
offices, their shops. He climbed so many stairways that he said if they had been piled one on the
other they would have taken him well up toward the moon. For a month or more he devoted his
mornings to study of the Bible, to reading the biographies of soul-winners, books on revivals, revival
lectures and sermons, revival songs, and revival stories and anecdotes. He saturated his mind and
heart with the very spirit of revivals. He looked into the grave, into Hell, into Heaven. He studied
Calvary. He meditated on eternity. He stirred up his pity and compassion for the people. He cried to
God for the Holy Ghost, for power, for faith, for wisdom, for fervor and joy and love. He waked up in
the night and prayed and planned his campaign. He enlisted such members of his church as were
spiritual to help him. When he won a man for Christ he enlisted him as a helper in the fight, and God
swept the church with revival fire, and hundreds were won to Christ. Hallelujah! Oh, how unfailing is
God. How ever present and ready to help is the Holy Ghost! How surely is Jesus present where men
gather in His name!
That woman-Officer to whom I have referred did not resign. One night, as she closed the Meeting,
she asked the Soldiers to remain with her for a short while. Then she opened her heart to them. She
told them of her letter to the Colonel. She said she could not continue in the work unless she could
see souls saved. Many drunkards were in the city. The streets were infested by them. Their homes
were being ruined, their wives neglected, and they were hastening to Hell because of the drink.
Would not the comrades remain and spend an hour in prayer with her and for her, and for the
Salvation of souls, and especially of the drunkards of the city? They stayed, and for an hour they
prayed, and God heard and drew nigh, and Jesus was in the midst.
After the next public Meeting she again requested the Soldiers to remain, and again they prayed for
an hour or more, and Jesus was there. And after every public Meeting for a week or ten days, or
more, the Soldiers stayed with the Officer and prayed, and Jesus was in the midst. And then one
night, somewhat to their surprise -- strange that we should be surprised at answered prayer -- the
worst drunkard in the city, with several of his pals, came to the Meeting and was converted; then his
whole family was won, and they all became Soldiers. In a brief time twelve drunkards were
converted, and lo! that woman had a blessed revival on her hands, and not only were sinners
converted, but an Officer was saved to The Army.
We may be sweet singers, eloquent and moving preachers, skillful organizers, masters of men and
assemblies, wizards of finance, popular and commanding leaders, but if we are not soul-winners, if
we do not make men and women see the meaning and winsomeness of Jesus, and hunger for His
righteousness and purity, and bow to Him in full loyalty, then one thing, the chief thing for an Army
Officer, we lack. And yet that one thing is within the reach of us all if we live for it, if we put it first, if
we shrink not from the cost. We may be, we should be, Oh, we shall be at all cost, winners of souls!
The Dangers Of Middle Age
We read and hear much about the dangers of youth, and they are very many and often very deadly;
but how little do we hear about the dangers of the middle-aged! And yet they, too, are very many
and very deadly.
I was vividly reminded of this only recently, when a man, considerably past fifty years of age,
stopped me on the street and sought an interview. After a rather close examination, in which I
sought to locate and diagnose his spiritual disease, he told me of his sins and temptations. He had
been a Christian, but had fallen; he was becoming more and more entangled in a network of evil,
and was sinking, deeper and deeper in the quicksands of his iniquity -- and his sins were sins of the
flesh!
What most amazed me some years ago, when I began to consider this subject, was the fact that the
middle-aged are not altogether safe from the awful corruption and blasting sin which lies lurking in
the lusts of the flesh.
John, when but a young man in Egypt, fully and grandly overcame this danger. He kept himself pure
and set an example for the ages. But in middle life David, and Solomon, his son, with all their light
and wisdom, fell grievously and wallowed in sin and shame, thus bringing reproach to this day upon
God's people and God's cause, stirring up the enemies of the Lord to mock and blaspheme: and,
doubtless, encouraging others by their example to fall into like sins.
But we do not have to go back to ancient history nor to the ranks of those who make no profession
of religion to find how sins of the flesh overthrow middle-aged men if they do not watch and pray
and walk softly with the Lord. I shall never forget the shock and chill that went through the hearts of
American Christians some years ago, when an evangelist -- with silvering hair, the author of a
number of books of great spiritual insight and power, and one of the mightiest preachers it has ever
been my lot to hear -- fell into sin and shame. Oh! it was pitiful! It was heartbreaking for his
influence to be ruined, his good name blackened, his reputation gone, his family put to shame, God's
cause mocked, and for a soul whom he should have shepherded to be dragged to the mouth of Hell
to gratify his passing pleasure.
And there are a number of others whom I have known who had great opportunities of usefulness,
whose influence was widespread, and who walked in a broad day of spiritual light, but who sank into
a black night of corruption, sin, and shame.
So let not only young men, but matured men as well, take heed lest they fall. Let them watch for and
guard themselves against the beginnings of sin -- the unclean thought, the lascivious look, the
impure imagination, the unholy desire. Let them hate 'even the garment spotted by the flesh.'
Let them beware of selling for a mess of pottage their good name, their sphere of usefulness, their
place among God's people, the friendships of years, the honor of their children, the happiness of
their home, the smile and favor of God, and their hope of Heaven. Let them look 'diligently lest any
man fail of the grace of God ..... and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or
profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.' (Hebrews xii. 15, 16.)
But the more constant spiritual danger of the middle-aged is the loss of the freshness of their early
experience, the dew of their spiritual morning, their 'first love,' when they were 'holiness unto the
Lord ' and when they ran after Jesus 'in the wilderness.' (Jeremiah ii. 2, 3.)
There is nothing in the world so wonderful, so beautiful and so delightful as the constant renewal of
spiritual youth in the midst of the increasing cares and burdens, the infirmities and losses and
disappointments of middle life and old age. And there is nothing so sad as the gradual loss of fervor,
of simplicity, of heart devotion, of unfeigned faith, of triumphing hope, of glowing love, of spiritual
youth.
The Psalmist called upon his soul to bless the Lord, who satisfied his mouth with good things, so that
his youth -- his soul's youth -- was renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm ciii. 1-5.)
But multitudes, instead of thus being renewed, fall into decay; they lose the bloom and blessedness
of their early experience and become like Ephraim, of whom the prophet said: 'Strangers have
devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he
knoweth it not.' (Hosea vii. 9) This loss may steal upon us like a creeping paralysis if we do not watch
and pray.
1. It may come through a widening experience of the weakness and fickleness of man. We are
continually tempted to lean upon men rather than upon God and His Word; and when men fail and
fall we feel as though the foundations were swept away. At such times the Tempter will whisper:
'What is the use of your trying to live a holy life? There is none good, no, not one.' Then if we do not
at once flee to and hide ourselves in Jesus, and lift our eyes to God and stir up our faith towards Him,
a chill of discouragement and doubt and fear will sweep over us, lukewarmness will take the place of
the warm, throbbing experience of youth, and a half-skeptical, half-cynical spirit will fill the heart
that once overflowed with glad, simple faith and abounding hope. It is this loss that often makes old
Officers and Soldiers look so coldly upon the return of backsliders, and that so unfits them to help
and encourage young Converts.
There was nothing that filled me with greater admiration for the Founder than his morning-like
freshness, his perennial youth, his springing hope, his unfailing faith in God and man -- in spite of all
the shameful failures and desertions and backslidings which wounded him to the heart and pierced
him through with many sorrows. And where he led shall we not follow?
Instead of looking at those who have fallen, shall we not look at those who have stood? Instead of
losing heart and faith because of those who have thrown down the sword and fled from the field,
shall we not shout for joy and emulate those who were faithful unto death, who came up out of
great tribulation with robes washed in the Blood of the Lamb? Why not shout for joy, and triumph
with Joseph in his victory rather than sneer and lose faith in God and man, and thus suffer defeat
with David in his fall? Why not look at the beloved John and rejoice, rather than at the traitor Judas
and despair?
Why not 'consider Jesus, who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself '? If we do, we
shall not 'be wearied and faint' in our minds. (Hebrews xii. 3.)
2. Again, this loss may come through thronging cares and responsibilities. Youth and old age are
largely free from responsibility, which comes pressing hard and insistently upon the middle-aged.
There are business cares, family cares, responsibility for The Army, the Church, the City, and State.
The wide-open, hungry mouths of the children must be fed, their restless, destructive feet must be
shod, their health must be guarded, their tempers and dispositions must be corrected and
disciplined, their eager, wayward, unformed minds must be trained and educated, and their souls
must be found and saved.
And all these cares, which swarm about like bees, must be met again and again, and that often when
we are worn and weary and full of pain. No wonder that when Jesus spoke of the thorny-ground
hearers, He mentioned 'the cares of life' as among the weeds which choke the Word and make it
unfruitful. But no true man or woman will run away from these cares. Here again, there is victory for
those who are determined to have victory.
Moses was thronged with care -- the care of a vast untrained, stiff -- necked, hungry multitude in a
barren wilderness; but he walked with God, wore a shining face, and -- with but one brief loss of
patience, for which he duly suffered -- he got victory, and God and angels conducted his funeral.
Daniel superintended a huge empire, with a hundred and twenty provinces, but he found time to
pray and give thanks three times a day, and was more than conqueror.
Added to his whippings, stonings, and imprisonments, his shipwrecks and perils, his hunger, cold,
and nakedness, Paul had pressing upon him 'the care of all the churches.' But he rejoiced and prayed
and gave thanks, and did not murmur or faint, neither did he turn back, and God made him to
triumph. Hallelujah!
A distinguished writer has beautifully said, 'Comradeship with God is the secret not only of joy and
peace but of efficiency. In that comradeship we find rest, not from our work, but in our work. When
Christ says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of Me," He does not invite us to lay aside our work; He offers us rest in our
work. The invitation is to those who are laboring and bearing burdens. The promise is that He will
teach such how to labor and how to bear their burdens so as not to be wearied by them. It is not a
couch which He offers us, but a yoke, and a yoke is an instrument for the accomplishment of work.
But a yoke is not only an implement of industry, it is a symbol of comradeship. The yoke binds two
together. To take Christ's yoke upon us is to be yoked to Christ. "Work with Me,'' says Christ, ''and
your work will be easy and your burden will be light." '
And this comradeship with the Lord Jesus is the secret of victory all along the way and over every
obstacle and every foe. Here, O my brother, my sister, tempted and tried, and almost overcome at
the noon of life, here, in fellowship with Jesus, the flesh loses its subtle power, the charms of the
world are discovered to be but painted mockery, the Devil is outwitted, and while life is a warfare it
is also a victory. Glory to God!
The Frankness Of Jesus
Jesus was not a whisperer. No one ever saw Him close to His neighbor's ear, looking stealthily
around lest some one should overhear what He was going to say. He stood upright, looked men
squarely and kindly in the eye, and spoke what He had to say right out, boldly, frankly, that the
whole world might hear; and when He did speak privately to His disciples, He told them to shout it
from the housetops. 'Truth fears nothing but concealment,' said an old Church Father, and Jesus
spake only the truth. 'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might
bear witness unto the truth.' 'What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in
the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops,' said He. It was against the Jewish law to spread
dangerous doctrines secretly and the punishment was death (Deuteronomy xiii. 6). This the High
Priest and leaders of the Jews had a right to inquire into, indeed it was their duty to do so, according
to their law, though they had no right to make Jesus convict Himself. However, that was not
possible, for He had boldly preached His doctrine before priest and scribes as well as His disciples
and the common people, and He answered the High Priest: 'I spake openly to the world: I ever
taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said
nothing.' This refers to His doctrine, but can it not be given a far wider meaning? Was not His whole
life an open book? Was not all His conversation such as could be proclaimed openly to the whole
world?
There was nothing dark and hidden about Jesus. He was and is the Light of the world, and He
welcomed the light. He entered into no secret cabals and councils. He belonged to no clique or party
faction. I really do not believe He would have joined a secret society, for two reasons. First, because
if there was anything wrong and dark about it His pure spirit, His guileless soul would have revolted
and denounced and withdrawn from it, and second, because if there was anything good in it, His
generous spirit, His loving soul, overflowing with pity and goodwill, would never have been content
till the whole world knew about it and had the privilege of sharing in its benefits. A good thing that
He could not offer to share with all men would have ceased to be a good thing to Jesus.
An astute Frenchman once said to our Founder: 'General Booth, you are not an Englishman, you're a
citizen of the world. You belong to Humanity.' And in this the General was like his Master. Jesus
belonged to the world. He was the 'Son of Man,' the Son of Mankind, of humanity. No party could
claim Him. Thomas Jefferson wrote: 'If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go
there at all.'
It was this generous, open, world-wide, selfless spirit of Jesus that made Him so frank in all His
speech, so that at the end of His life and His brief, but complicated, ministry, in which His enemies
had sought in every way to provoke and entrap Him, He could say, 'In secret have I said nothing.'
And now He wants us to 'follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth who,
when He was reviled, reviled not again: when He suffered, he threatened not.'
If we do this we shall not be talebearers, we shall not listen to, nor pass on gossip, nor be
whisperers. 'A whisperer separateth chief friends,' said Solomon; and again he said: 'Where there is
no talebearer (Whisperer, margin) the strife ceaseth.' And Paul linked up 'Whisperers ' -- people who
go about saying things in secret that they are afraid to say out boldly to everybody -- I say Paul linked
them up with fornicators, murderers, backbiters, and haters of God. (See Romans i. 29, 30.) And
when he feared lest he should have trouble with his corps in Corinth, 'whispering' was one of the
accursed things he particularly feared.
People who speak in secret what they are afraid to speak openly, wrong their own souls, weaken
their own character, and corrupt themselves, while those who listen are filled with suspicions and
dislikes, destroying the beautiful spirit of brotherly love, which is open-faced, frank and generous
and saving in its power. It quenches the spirit of prayer, and faith in God and man languishes and
possibly dies; for faith can live and flourish only in an atmosphere of frankness, of kindness and good
will.
The Heart Of Jesus
Give me a heart like Thine;
By Thy wonderful power,
By Thy grace every hour,
Give me a heart like Thine.
We sang that verse with all our might, one morning, in one of those hours of heart-humbling and
heart-searching, when I was a cadet in the training home, and at least one of the cadets looked
through the words and caught the spirit of the song.
At the close of the meeting he came to me with a serious look and a tone of earnest inquiry, and
asked: "Do we really mean it, that we can have a heart like His? I told him that I was certain that we
could, and that the dear Lord wanted to give us hearts just like His own:-A humble, lowly, contrite heart, Believing, true and clean.
A heart in every thought renewed, And full of love Divine;
Perfect and right and pure and good, A copy, Lord, of Thine.
Indeed, Jesus was "the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. viii. 29). He is our "elder brother,"
and we are to be like Him. "As He is, so are we in this world" (I John iv. 17), and "He that saith he
abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (I John ii. 6). Now, it is impossible
for us to walk like Him, to live like Him, unless we have a heart like His.
We cannot bear the same kind of fruit unless we are the same kind of tree. So He wants to make us
like Himself. We judge trees by their fruit, and so we judge Jesus, and then we can find out what kind
of a heart He had.
We find in Him love; therefore Jesus had a loving heart. He bore the luscious fruit of perfect love.
There was no hatred with His love, no venom, no spite, no selfishness; He loved His enemies and
prayed for His murderers. It was not a fickle love, turning about every new moon, but a changeless,
eternal love. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love" (Jer. xxxi. 3), God says. Oh, glory to God!
How marvelous that is!
It is just this kind of love He wants us to have. Listen! He says: "A new commandment I give unto
you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you" (John xiii. 34). That is tremendous, to command
me to love my brother even as Jesus loves me; but that is what He says, and to do that I must have a
heart like the heart of Jesus.
I know if we examine love we find that it includes all the other graces; but we will look into the heart
of Jesus for some of them.
Jesus had a humble heart.
He said of Himself "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. xi. 29); and Paul tells us that He "made
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and ... humbled Himself."
Bless His dear name! He did humble Himself, for, though He was the Lord of life and glory, yet He
stooped to be born of a lowly virgin in a manger, and wrought as an unknown carpenter for thirty
years, and then choose to live with the poor, the ignorant and the vile, instead of the rich, the noble
and the learned. While Jesus never seemed ill at ease or constrained in the presence of those who
were mighty with this world's greatness, or wise with its learning, yet His simple, humble heart
found its mates among the lowly, hardworking, common people. He cleaved to them. He would not
be lifted up. They wanted to do it for Him, but He slipped away for prayer among the mountains, and
then returned and preached such a straight sermon that nearly all His disciples left Him.
Just a short time before His death, He took the menial place of a slave, and washed His disciples'
feet, and then said, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John xiii.
15).
How that helped me in the training home! The second day I was there they sent me down into a
dark little cellar to black half a cart-load of dirty boots for the cadets. The devil came at me, and
reminded me that, a few years before, I had graduated from a university, that I had spent a couple of
years in a leading theological school, had been pastor of a metropolitan church, had just left
evangelistic work in which I saw hundreds seeking the Saviour, and that now I was only blacking
boots for a lot of ignorant lads. My old enemy is the devil! But I reminded him of the example of my
Lord, and he left me. Jesus said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John xiii. 7). I
was doing them -- the devil knew it and let me alone, and I was happy. That little cellar was changed
into one of Heaven's ante-rooms, and my Lord visited me there.
"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (Jas. iv. 6). If you would have a heart
like that of Jesus it will be one filled with humility, that "is not puffed up," that "seeketh not her
own" (I Cor. xiii. 4, 5). "Be clothed with humility" (I Pet. v. 5).
Jesus had a meek and gentle heart.
Paul speaks of "the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. x. 1); and Peter tells us that "when He
was reviled, (He) reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to
Him who judgeth righteously" (I Pet. ii. 23). He did not strike back when He was injured; He did not
try to justify Himself but committed His cause to His heavenly Father, and waited. "He was
oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isa. liii. 7).
That was the very perfection of meekness, that not only would He not strike back when He was lied
about, but suffered the most cruel and shameful wrongs. "Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh" (Matt. xii. 34), and because His blessed heart was full of meekness He did not
thunder back at His enemies.
It is just this kind of heart He wants us to have when He commands us to "Resist not evil; but
whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also ... and whosoever shall
compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain" (Matt. v. 39, 41).
I know a colored brother, over six feet tall, with a full chest and brawny arms, who was recently put
off a street car, in the most indecent and brutal manner, but where he had as much right to be as
the conductor himself. Some one who knew his past fighting record said, "Why don't you fight him,
George?"
I couldn't fight him, for God has taken all the fight out of me," replied George. "When you put your
knife in the fire and draw the temper out of it, it won't cut," he added and fairly shouted for Joy.
"Blessed are the meek" (Matt. v. 5), for "He will beautify the meek with salvation" (Ps. cxlix. 4).
The Leakage Of Spiritual Power
That man of God and lover of souls, James Caughey, tells in one of his books how he was invited out
to tea one evening; and though there was nothing harmful in the talk of the hour, yet when he went
into the meeting at night his soul was like a loosely strung bow. He couldn't shoot the King's arrows
into the hearts of the King's enemies, for he had no power. It had been lost at the tea-table.
I knew an officer once who let all his spiritual power leak out, until he was as dry as an old bone
when he got into the meeting. It was in this way. We had to ride three miles in a street car to get to
the hall, and all the way there he was talking about things that had no bearing upon the coming
meeting. There was nothing wrong or trifling said, but it was not to the point; it turned his mind
from God and the souls he was so soon to face and plead with to be reconciled to Him; and the
result was that, instead of going before the people clothed with power, he went stripped of power. I
remember the meeting well. His prayer was good, but there was no power in it. It was words, words,
words! The Bible reading and talk were good. He said many true and excellent things, but there was
no power in them. The soldiers looked indifferent, the sinners looked careless and sleepy, and
altogether the meeting was a dull affair.
Now, the officer was not a backslider; he had a good experience. Nor was he a dull stupid officer; on
the contrary, he was one of the brightest, keenest officers I know. The trouble was that, instead of
keeping quiet and communing with God in his own heart on that car, until his soul was ablaze with
faith and hope and love and holy expectation, he had wasted his power in useless talk.
God says: "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth" (Jer. xv. 19).
Think of it! That officer might have gone into that meeting filled with power, and his mouth should
have been to those people as the mouth of God, and his words should have been "quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow," and proving to be "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart" (Heb. iv. 12). But instead of that, he was like Samson after his locks were shorn by Delilah
-- he was powerless as other men.
There are many ways of letting power leak away. I knew a soldier who came to the hall very early
every evening, and instead of getting his soul keyed up to a high pitch of faith and love, spent the
time playing soft, dreamy music on his violin, and though faithfully, lovingly warned, continued that
practice till he openly backslid.
I have known men whose power leaked out through a joke. They believed in having things go with a
swing, and so they told funny stories and played the clown to make things lively. And things were
lively, but it was not with Divine life. It was the liveliness of mere animal spirits, and not of the Holy
Spirit. I do not mean by this that a man who is filled with the power of the Spirit will never make
men laugh. He will. He may say tremendously funny things. But he will not be doing it just to have a
good time. It will come naturally. It will not be dragged in "on all fours," and it will be done in the
fear of God, and not in a spirit of lightness and jesting.
He who wants a meeting of life and power should remember that there is no substitute for the Holy
Ghost. He is life. He is power. And if He is sought in earnest, faithful prayer, He will come, and when
He comes the little meeting will be mighty in its results.
The Holy Spirit should be earnestly sought, in earnest, secret prayer. Jesus said, "When thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and
thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt. vi. 6). He will do it; bless His holy
name!
I know of a man who, if possible, gets alone with God for an hour before every meeting, and when
he speaks it is with the power and demonstration of the Spirit.
The man who wants power, just when it is most needed, must walk with God. He must be a friend of
God. He must keep the way always open between his heart and God. God will be the friend of such a
man, and will bless him and honor him. God will tell him His secrets; He will show him how to get at
the hearts of men. God will make dark things light and crooked places straight and rough places
smooth for that man. God will be on his side and help him.
Such a man must keep a constant watch over his mouth and his heart. David prayed: "Set a watch, O
Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Ps. cxli. 3); and Solomon said: "Keep thy heart
with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. iv. 23). He must walk in unbroken
communion with God. He must cultivate a spirit of joyful recollection by which he will be always
conscious that he is in the presence of God.
"Delight thyself also in the Lord" (Ps. xxxvii. 4), said the Psalmist. Oh, how happy is that man who
finds God to be his delight; who is never lonely, because He knows God, talks with God, delights in
God; who feels how lovable God is, and gives himself up to loving, serving, trusting God with all his
heart!
Comrade, "Quench not the Spirit" (I Thess. v. 19), and He will lead you thus to know and love God,
and God will make you the instrument of His own power.
The Legacy Of Holiness
"after the death of Abraham, . . . God blessed his son Isaac' (Gen. xxv. 11).
We must die! We feel that we must live, must live for the sake of our sons, for the people of God
whom we love as our own souls, and for the perishing sinners about us. We are prone to magnify
our own importance, to think no one's faith is so mighty, no one's industry is quite so fruitful, no
one's love quite so unfailing, no one's presence quite so necessary as ours. But after we die the
blessed God will still live, His years fail not, and He will bless our sons and carry on His Work. Glory to
God!
Have faith in God, brother! Trust the Lord, sister! He will bless your children after you are dead.
Be sure you have given your children to God -- given them not in order that they may be saved from
hell, but that they may be saved from sin, from enmity to God, from pride and worldliness and
selfishness and unbelief; saved that they may be saviors of others, and God will bless them when
you are dead.
Do not choose ease and wealth and worldly power and fame for your children, but rather choose the
lowly way of the Cross. Jesus was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and
rejected of men. Ask the Lord with all your heart to make your children like their Master, and to lead
them in the paths He trod, and when you are dead God will remember your prayers and bless them.
Some years ago I was talking with a young lady whom God marvelously blessed and used in His
work. Each of us had lost both of our parents when we were quite young. They were godly parents,
who had given us to the Lord, and then, when it seemed we most needed their counsel and
discipline, they died. But God took us up and blessed us. As we talked about the past we could see
the hand of God, through corrections and faithful Fatherly chastenings, shaping our whole lives, and
bringing blessings out of what seemed the greatest calamities, until we were lost in wonder at His
wisdom and goodness, and our mouths were filled with praise.
If our parents could have foreseen how God would tenderly care for us and bless us, how it would
have softened their dying pillows!
Ah! there is the secret cause of our trouble that we cannot foresee! The more reason then why we
should trust. 'We walk by faith, not by sight,' therefore we should trust. 'God is love,' therefore we
should trust. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he
trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength' (Isa.
xxvi. 3-4).
God may have blessed Isaac before the death of Abraham, but I am glad we are told that He blessed
him after the death of Abraham. God has a memory; He does not forget. God is faithful; He breaks
no promises. God is good; He delights to show mercy and bestow blessings.
Be faithful yourself. God said of Abraham, 'For I know him, that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the
Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him' (Gen. xviii. 1 9).
Do your part well as you know how. Search the Bible to know what God will have you do, and do it.
Pray for wisdom. 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, . . . and it shall be given him.' (Jas. i.
5). God will not upbraid you for your ignorance, if you want to be wise; therefore pray for wisdom.
Pray for patience. If you plant corn, it does not spring up the next morning. It lies in the ground for
many days, and dies; but God's eye is upon it, and He will bless it, and cause it to bring forth fruit.
And so will it be with your seed-sowing in the hearts of your children; but you must have patience.
Pray for patience. If you are patient and have faith in God, and are not walking by sight, you will
continue to pray in hope, and to sow 'the seed which is the word of God,' though it seems to be
utterly useless. It is not useless. Glory to God! Though you may die, yet after you are dead, God will
bless your Isaacs. He surely will!
The Lord's Own Prayer
One day at a certain place, we are told, the disciples were with Jesus when He was praying, and after
He had ceased -- I wonder how long He prayed and what was the burden of His prayer? -- one of His
disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 'He did not say,
teach us how to pray, but 'teach us to pray.' It was not the manner of praying he desired to be
taught, but simply to pray. And this Jesus did, both by what He said, and even more by what He did -by His example. They often found Him praying, and that taught them to pray as no words or
exhortations could teach them. However, Jesus responded to this request, and taught them a prayer
which wherever it is known at all is known as 'The Lord's Prayer.'
But it is rather the disciples' prayer. It is a prayer He gave them to use, voicing their needs and their
desires.
The Lord's Prayer, the prayer of Jesus addressed to the Father as our Great High Priest, the prayer in
which He poured out the desires of His heart for the Father's glory and His fellowship in that glory
and in which He voiced His longings for the disciples then with Him, and for us and for all who should
believe on Him, the prayer which no doubt constitutes the substance of His ceaseless and eternal
intercession for His disciples of all time and everywhere, is recorded in John xvii. That is peculiarly
the Lord's Prayer.
Jesus had said to Mary at the wedding in Cana, when she told Him of the empty wine vessels,
'Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.' To His brethren who were
skeptical of His claims, and who would hasten Him to Jerusalem, there either to prove or discredit
Himself, He said, 'My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. . . . Go ye up unto this feast.
My time is not yet full come.' When the Jews were angered at Him, John explains that as yet 'No
man laid hands on Him because His hour was not yet come.'
But finally, when His pauseless but unhasting ministry was drawing to a close, and He had come up
to Jerusalem for the last time, Greek worshippers said to Philip, 'Sir, we would see Jesus.' When this
was told to Him, He answered, 'The hour is come.'
Then with His disciples He went into the upper room and ate the Passover Feast, ate of the Paschal
Lamb which ever since that dread night when the Destroying Angel passed over Egypt had pointed in
type to Him, the great Antitype, God's Lamb, whose Blood should cleanse from all sin and shelter
from the Destroyer all who believed.
After supper He arose, girded Himself and washed the disciples' feet, showing them by a
kindergarten lesson what, through their dullness and hardness of heart, His words had failed to
teach them, that he who would be greatest among them must be, and would gladly be, 'servant of
all.'
After this object-lesson in lowly, loving service, He spoke tender words to them, words of warning, of
comfort, of command, of instruction and encouragement. He unfolded to them the Person and
Mission of the 'Other Comforter,' who should come to them when He was gone, assured them that
while He was going away, yet He would come again, He would not leave them comfortless or
orphans. While absent in body, He would yet be present in Spirit. If they but loved Him and kept His
commandment to love one another, they should have with them evermore His manifested presence,
His spiritual presence, in their hearts and minds, made possible and real through simple, obedient
faith; they should be loved by the Father, and He and the Father would come to make their abode,
their mansion, with them and in them. His joy should be in them, and their joy should be full. He
warned them that the world would hate them because it hated Him, and because they were His
friends and not of the world. He told them they should be persecuted and have sorrow, but added,
'Your sorrow shall be turned into joy; your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.'
'In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.'
They were to be so identified with Him, 'so mixed up with Jesus,' as a quaint old friend of mine once
said, that His union with the Father, and the love wherewith the Father loved Him, His joy, His
tribulation, and His triumph and victory should be theirs. They should share in all that was His. If
they loved Him, trusted Him, bore His cross, and shared His sufferings, they should share His glory. If
they labored and toiled with Him in tears, they should shout with Him at the ingathering of the
sheaves and be jubilant in the Harvest Home. If they sorrowed with Him, they should also joy with
Him. He was going to prepare a place for them, and He would come again and receive them that
they might be where He was. He would not be in Heaven and leave them behind.
It was His farewell address, recorded by John in chapters xiii. to xvi. It was the final lecture and
tender, searching charge to these Cadets of His own choice and training, who were soon to be
commissioned and sent forth to conquer a hostile world by their testimony and sacrificial devotion
and love, and turn it upside down.
He had spoken at length to His humble disciples, and now He lifted His eyes to Heaven and spoke to
the Father. He prayed, and this He did as naturally and as familiarly as He had spoken to His lowly
followers.
He said, 'Father, the hour is come'; the fateful hour for which He had girded himself and waited, the
hour to which without pause and without haste he had pressed forward, the hour to which He had
looked from the beginning of His ministry, yea, to which He had looked from of old, from the dawn
of time when the morning stars sang together, yea, to which He had looked from the deeps of
timeless Eternity.
It was the zero hour of the moral world, of the spiritual universe. The zero hour in the great battle
for the souls of men, the hour when our Kinsman-Redeemer was to 'go over the top,' go over alone,
'for of the people there was none with Him'; go over and die, die for us, die that we might live and
never die. It was the hour of His utter humiliation, when all His glory was stripped from Him and laid
aside, and He who knew no sin was made sin for us, and 'numbered with the transgressors,'
'wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities,' chastened for our peace, and stricken
that we might be healed.
Step by step He had descended from infinite heights of glory and honour and power to infinite
depths of weakness and reproach and shame. He, the infinitely pure and innocent One, came and
united Himself with us as a man and stood in our place, and took upon Himself our guilt, our sin, our
shame, our curse.
'He was made a curse for us.' 'He was made sin for us.'
He emptied Himself of His divine, eternal majesty and 'took upon Himself the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' This was the hour to which He had
looked, to which He had at last come, and for the agony, the loneliness, the shame of which He was
now, and had been from the beginning, girding Himself.
But before the dread and awful stroke of this hour fell upon Him, His thoughts turned to His poor,
ignorant, weak, imperfect disciples, and with a love that knew no bounds -- that forgot self, forgot
the shame and agony soon to be poured out upon Him without stint like an ocean flood, even
forgot, or for a time ignored, the glory so soon to follow on His return to the bosom of the Father
and the bliss of Heaven -- He remembered them and prayed for them.
If we wish to know His thought for us, the fullness of blessing He wishes to bestow upon us, the
completeness and intimacy of the union into which He wishes to enter with us, and the intimacy of
the union and fellowship we are to have with the Father; if we wish to know how His purposes of
world-conquest are to be accomplished; if we wish to know the high estate, the glory, to which He
purposes to lift us, we should ponder this prayer, make it a daily study, and co-operate with Him for
its fulfillment. He is not now talking to His lowly disciples. He is not commanding and charging them,
He is talking to the Father for them, voicing their needs, considering their dangers, pleading their
weakness, and with supplications and intercessions seeking for them boundless blessings that should
make them kings and priests unto God, lifting them infinitely above the paltry pomp and fading glory
of all the kings and governors and mighty men of earth.
And through them in answer to this prayer are to flow all the streams and rivers of His grace, and be
accomplished all the redemptive purposes of His sacrificial life and death here upon earth, and His
risen life and resurrection power revealed from Heaven. He is the Vine, they are the branches.
Through them His beauty is to be made manifest, the beauty of Holiness; and in them His fruit is to
be found, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the life that is eternal, the fruit which is 'love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control,' and 'against which there is no
law.'
The petitions of this prayer are few. He first prays for Himself, prays that the Father will glorify Him
that He in turn may glorify the Father, prays that He may again be glorified with the glory that was
His with the Father 'before the world was,' and this petition was heard and considered, and we see
the beginning of the abundant answer when the Angel strengthened Him during the agony and
bloody sweat of the Garden, after which, with lamb-like submission and serene, unfailing meekness
and patience, He calmly faced the mockery and shame of Herod's men of war and Pilate's judgment
hall, and the deeper and final agony and desertion of the Cross.
We see it further answered in His resurrection from the dead, whereby, says the Apostle, He was
indubitably 'declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead ' (Romans i. 4). And we see a yet further and fuller answer when on the
Day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost was outpoured in His name, and His lowly disciples became living
flames of love and Holiness and power divine. And we see the continuing answer to this petition in
every triumph of the Gospel, in every penitent sinner born into the kingdom, and every child of God
sanctified, in every hymn of praise sung, and every true prayer offered in His name. We see it in the
light of His Cross shining across centuries and millenniums and gradually irradiating the dark places
of all life, and the spread of His gospel from that narrow little circle in Jerusalem to all the continents
and isles of earth. And as He is glorified, so is the Father.
Then He prays for His disciples whom the Father has given Him, prays that they may be kept from
the evil that is in the world. While He was with them in the world He had kept them. 'The Lord God is
a sun and a shield.' He had been their sun. He had lightened their way, and they had walked in His
light and had not stumbled out of the way. He was their shield. He had defended them against wily
men and yet more wily devils. No enemy had been able to pluck out of His hand any save Judas, who
sold himself to the evil one for a handful of silver.
But now He was leaving them, and they would be exposed to the wiles of the evil one, who would
subtly approach them as an 'angel of light,' or rush upon and assail them 'as a roaring lion,' and
make battle against them like ancient archers with fiery darts of accusation, of doubts and fears and
perplexities. And they would be beset by the relentless hostility of the world. The bigotry and hate of
the Jews, the proud scorn and fierce persecutions of cruel and idolatrous nations would be poured
out upon them. They were as sheep in the midst of wolves. Great and constant would be their
danger, measureless would be their need, therefore he prays, Holy Father, keep through Thine own
name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are.'
He does not pray that they may be caught up out of the world and away from the evil, but that in the
midst of it they may be kept through HIS name. 'The name of the God of Jacob defend thee,' prayed
the Psalmist. 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe,' said
Solomon. 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!' moaned and cried a sorely tempted ex-drunkard, and at the Name the
spell of the temptation was broken and he was kept through that Name.
They were His little, defenseless ones, very dear to Him, and He wanted them kept for their own
sakes. But they were also His representatives; as the Father had sent Him into the world, so He was
now sending them into the world. They went forth in His name, with His word, on His business, and
only as they were kept would the purpose of His life and death be fulfilled.
To this end He further prayed, 'Sanctify them.' Set them apart, consecrate them to Thyself and to
Thy service, seal them and make them holy, not only 'keep them from the evil that is in the world,'
but save them from the evil and corruption that is in their own hearts. Make them clean. Refine
them as with fire. Purify them until no spot of sin remains upon them, until they are 'all glorious
within.' 'Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth.' Let Thy truth search them till they are
wholly conformed to Thy nature and Thy will, until their lives match Thy truth and in them the truth
lives incarnate, walks among men.
Not for these alone, however, did He pray, but for all who should through their word believe on Him.
His thought was girdling the globe and embracing the ages. Wherever and whenever a penitent,
trembling soul believed on Him through their word, that soul came within the desire and purpose of
this prayer. He wanted them all to be one, bound up in one bundle of life, one as He and the Father
are one, that they might be the habitation of God upon earth, and that the world seeing this might
believe on Him. Faith in Him depended on the brotherly love and unity of His disciples. So it did, and
so it does to this day. When there is unity there is faith. Where there is division there is doubt.
Thousands believed and a multitude of priests were obedient to the faith after Pentecost when the
disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost and were of one mind and heart. But when this unity of
faith and love was lost, the Dark Ages followed, and darkness and unbelief always follow loss of love
and unity.
'The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one,' said
He. The religion of Jesus is social. It is inclusive, not exclusive. We can have the glory only as we are
united. We must be one in spirit with our brethren. Let division come, and the glory departs. Let the
unity of brotherly love continue, and the glory abides. O my comrades, let us beware of the leakage
of love, of the loss of the spirit of unity, of the subtlety and snare and death of the spirit of distrust
and division
'I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; that the world may know that
Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou has loved Me.' In this world the disciples of Jesus
are the home of God, and that home is to be filled with sweet accord, not discord. He wants us to be
'Perfect in one,' and then the world, the poor, proud, foolish, wicked world, shall not only believe,
but know that Jesus was the sent of the Father, and that the love of the Father is outpoured upon
His disciples as it was upon Himself. What responsibility this places upon us to foster the unity of the
Spirit, and to beware of the pride and jealousy and envy and suspicion and unholy spirit of lordship
that leads to division -- let us be content to wash each other's feet and be ambitious only to be
'servants of all.'
In conclusion He prays, 'Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I
am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the
foundation of the world.' Hallelujah! O my soul, thou who hast wandered in darkness and grubbed in
sin and hast been plucked from the mire, shall yet be lifted from the dunghill and seated with Him
upon His throne, and shall stand amid the blinding splendor and behold the glory before which
angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, veil their faces and fall as dead.
Toil on, O my soul! If thou labor for Him, thou shalt also reap with Him. He is not unrighteous to
forget thy work and labor of love, and He will not fail to reward abundantly thy patience of hope.
Thy labor is not in vain in the Lord.
If thou art called to suffer with Him, O my soul, count it all joy. Do not repine. Fear not. Faint not.
Thou shalt reign with Him. He has so promised. And He will remember. He will not forget His own
word upon which He has caused thee to hope. (Psalm cxix. 49.)
If thou dost love Him who died for thee, who entrusts His honour and His cause to thee, prove thy
love, O my soul, by feeding and watching over His lambs and sheep. Love thy comrades as He has
loved thee, and as He laid down His life for thee, so, if needs be lay down thy life for the brethren,
and so shall all men know that thou art His disciple. And He shall see of the travail of His soul for
thee and be satisfied.
O what wonder! How amazing!
Jesus, glorious King of kings,
Deigns to call me His beloved,
Lets me rest beneath His wings!
All for Jesus, resting now beneath His wings.
All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
All my being's ransomed powers;
All my thoughts and words and doings,
All my days and all my hours.
All for Jesus, all my days and all my hours.
And when the days and hours of time are no more, then Eternity, Eternity with Him, my Redeemer,
Lover, Friend, in the glory that excelleth and that hath no end.
'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and
priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen!
The Man God Uses
A while ago I was talking with a Christian merchant who expressed a great and important truth. He
said:
"People are crying to God to use them, but He cannot. They are not given up to Him; they are not
humble and teachable and holy. There are plenty of people who come to me and want work in my
store, but I cannot use them; they are not fit for my work. When I must have someone, I have to go
and advertise, and sometimes spend days in trying to find a man who will fit into the place I want
him for, and then I have to try him and prove him to know whether he will suit me or not."
The fact is, God is using everybody that He can, and using them to the full extent of their fitness for
His service. So, instead of praying so much to be used, people should search themselves to know
whether they are usable.
God cannot use anybody and everybody who comes along any more than the merchant could. It is
only those who are "sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work"
(2 Tim. ii. 21) that He can bless with great usefulness.
God wants men and women, and He is hunting for them everywhere; but, like the merchant, He has
to pass by hundreds before He finds the right individuals. The Bible says: "The eyes of the Lord run to
and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is
perfect toward Him" (2 Chron. xvi. 9).
Oh, how God wants to use you! But before you ask Him again to do so, see to it that your heart is
"perfect toward Him." Then you may depend upon it that God will show Himself strong in your
behalf. Glory to His dear, dear name!
When God searches for a man to work in His vineyard He does not ask, "Has he great natural
abilities? Is he thoroughly educated? Is he a fine singer? Is he eloquent in prayer? Can he talk
much?"
But, rather, He asks, "Is his heart perfect toward Me? Is he holy? Does he love much? Is he willing to
walk by faith, and not by sight? Does he love Me so much and has he such childlike confidence in My
love for him that he can trust Me to use him when he doesn't see any sign that I am using him? Will
he be weary and faint when I correct him and try to fit him for greater usefulness? Or will he, like
Job, cry out, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him'? (Job xiii. 15). Does he search My word, and
'meditate therein day and night,' in order to 'do according to all that is written therein'? (Joshua i. 8).
Does he wait on Me for My counsel and seek in everything to be led by My Spirit? Or is he stubborn
and self-willed, like the horse and the mule, which have to be held in with bit and bridle (Ps. xxxii. 9),
so that I cannot 'guide him with Mine eye'? (Ps. xxxii. 8). Is he a man-pleaser and a time-server, or is
he willing to wait for his reward, and does he seek solely for 'the honour that cometh from God
only'? Does he 'preach the word' and is he 'instant in season, out of season'? (2 Tim. iv. 2). Is he
meek and lowly in heart and humble?"
When God finds such a man, He will use him. God and that man will have such a friendly
understanding with each other, and such mutual sympathy and love and confidence that they will at
once become "workers together "(2 Cor. vi. 1).
Paul was such a man, and the more they whipped him and stoned him and tried to rid the earth of
him, the more God used him. At last they shut him up in prison, but Paul declared with unshaken
faith, "I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound" (2 Tim. ii.
9); and so he spoke God's word, and neither devils nor men could put shackles on it, but it pierced
right through the prison walls, and flew across oceans and continents and down through the long
centuries, bearing the glorious tidings of the blessed Gospel; overthrowing thrones and kingdoms
and powers of evil, and everywhere bringing light and comfort and salvation to dark, troubled, sinful
hearts. Though more than eighteen hundred years have passed since they cut off Paul's head and
thought they had done with him for ever, yet his usefulness increases and his mighty words and
works are today bearing such fruit to the good of men and the glory of God as passes the
comprehension of an archangel.
Oh, how surprised Paul will be when he receives his final reward at the general judgment day, and
enters into possession of all the treasures he has laid up in Heaven and the everlasting inheritance
prepared for him!
Poor, troubled soul, cheer up! Be of good courage! You think you are useless, but you do not know.
Trust God!
Paul saw dark days. He wrote to Timothy one day and said, "This thou knowest, that all they which
are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Tim. i. 15). Study his life in the Acts and the Epistles, and see
what conflicts and discouragements he had, and take courage!
Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive ..." (John
vii. 38, 39).
See to it that you are a believer. See to it that you are "filled with the Spirit," and Jesus will see to it
that out of your life shall flow rivers of holy influence and power to bless the world; and you, too,
will be surprised, at the reckoning day, to behold the vastness of your reward as compared with the
littleness of your sacrifices and your work.
The Mystic Universe In My Back Yard
I but open my eyes -- and perfection, no more and no less, In the kind I imagined full fronts me, and
God is seen God In the star, in the stone, in the flesh, in the soul, and in the clod. -- Browning
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortes when, with eagle eyes, He stared at the Pacific.
-- Keats -I am discovering a universe in my back-yard. I am not sure that I lived so intimately with my darling
little wife as I have for forty years lived with St. Paul. Far more constantly and intimately than he
lived and traveled with his friend Barnabas and his young lieutenants, Silas, Titus, Epaphroditus, and
Timothy, has he lived, traveled, slept, and talked with me, only I did the sleeping. I never found him
napping. At any hour of the day or night he was waiting wide-awake and ready for me.
A text in John's first Epistle and another in his Gospel proved to be the open door to my soul, leading
into the holy of holies, into the experience of cleansing, and the spiritual vision and inward
revelation of Christ. But I think Paul has been my greatest teacher, my mentor, my most intimate
spiritual guide. But one thing I have not found in him -- a love of Nature. Some of his biographers
think he had no such love. He traveled by sea and land, among great mountain passes in Cilicia,
through the mountains of Macedonia, and over the Balkan hills, over the blue Mediterranean, and
among the lovely isles of Greece. But never once does he in any of his Epistles mention the wonders
of Nature, the splendor of sky or sea, or the glory and majesty of mountains, the beauty of flowers,
or the flight of birds, except in his discussion of the resurrection of the body that springs from the
sown seed, and the difference in the glory of one star from another. 'There is one glory of the sun,
and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another
star in glory.' The fact that there is such glory he admits, but there is nothing to indicate that he was
ravished by that glory. Still, we have no right to say that he was not. He was writing Epistles to his
Converts and the churches upon infinitely important ethical and spiritual subjects, and there was no
occasion for him to enter into rapturous description and comments upon the wonders and beauty of
nature. But in my forty years of intimate communion with him I have never once been inspired by
him to look for the blinding glories of the passing days and seasons, or the pop and splendor of starlit nights.
But not so when I turn to Job, to the Psalms of David, the Proverbs and Songs of Solomon, and the
sweet talks and parables of Jesus. There we see the sparrows feeding from the Heavenly Father's
hand, the ravens and the young lions and every creeping thing looking to Him for daily food, the fox
fleeing from enemies to his hole, the conies among the rocks, the wild goat among mountain crags,
the nesting bird, the busy ant, the swarming bees, the neighing war-horse, the spouting whale, the
bridal lilies, the rose of Sharon, green and smiling meadows, still waters, ice, snow, and hoar frost,
the glowing fire, tempestuous wind and billowing seas, the lowering sky of the morning threatening
rain and storm, the red sky of the evening presaging fair and smiling weather. 'The heavens declare
the glory of God: and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and
night unto night showeth knowledge.' The vast deeps of the heavens are the tabernacle of the sun,
'which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race,'
and the race-course compasses the whole circle of Heaven, and the whole creation in one vast
antiphonal choral harmony praises God. So David sings.
But the suggestions, and beauty, and wonder, and mysticism in nature to which Paul has never
turned me, but to which Jesus, and Job, and David, and Solomon pointed me, I am now finding in
large measure in my tiny back-yard.
In the deep, dark, underground crowded railway of New York, roaring along beneath the great city
and plunging beneath the broad and lordly Hudson River, late at night after attending Meetings and
lecturing Cadets, early one January, I became chilled and waked up in the middle of the night to find
my head and throat inflamed with a heavy cold. I spent two days and a half in bed under the doctor's
care, and then crawled out and went to Chicago, where a four days' whirlwind campaign awaited
me. The Territorial Commander, all his staff at T.H.Q., and all Officers of all departments in the great
city and Division, and a host of Cadets and Soldiers, welcomed me, and for four days I gave myself
without stint to the Meetings. Once, for the first time I could remember, I feared my chest would fail
me, as I gasped for breath while speaking to the Cadets. Oh, those Meetings! They were times of
Heaven upon earth. At the last session with the Cadets, which continued from 3 to 7 p.m., the whole
place seemed lit up by the reflected glory on their young faces.
At last, weary and happy, I boarded a train late at night for Texas. The temperature outside was zero,
the snow was knee deep, and there was no heat in our car. I sat and shivered in my sweater, winter
overcoat, and a big cape, and finally went to bed with my clothes on, still to shiver. When we got to
Texas I was aching in all my bones. For three weeks I fought on, and then the 'flu' claimed me, and
for the next three weeks I was in bed, and for the next few weeks among pine woods trying to get
back my strength.
Presently I came home, but could not walk the length of a city block without panting and gasping for
a long breath. My doctor examined me, and then sat down silent and stern, looked at me, and then
lectured me: 'You have gone to the edge of the abyss. Stop now or you will stop with a crash from
which you will find it hard, if not impossible, to recover. If you take my advice, you will stop for six
months.' He had warned me at other times, but I had not always listened to him, had laughed at
him, and gone my own way, but somehow I felt he was right this time, and I would fail to heed him
at a dread risk.
The Commander was informed, and she graciously granted me all the time needed to rest and
recuperate. The General heard about it and wrote me: 'After so many years of toil, you no doubt
need a pause.' He further advised me to go to the wilderness, away from the roaring city and the
crushing crowds, and yield myself to the things peculiar to the wilderness for a complete change,
and suggested the Rocky Mountains.
What a joy that would be, if Mrs. Brengle were only here to go with me. But go alone, among
strangers, not well, weak and listless, unfit to walk, unable to climb -- that was different.
A further exhaustive physical examination revealed an impoverished state of my blood, not
pernicious, but sufficiently grave for the doctors to say that I must keep in the sunshine and open air,
live largely on green vegetables, and rest.
For nearly thirty years, by day and night, summer and winter, through long hours I had labored for
souls, sung and prayed and preached in crowded, steaming, ill-ventilated Halls, pleading with souls
and dealing with penitents in an atmosphere so depleted of oxygen and poisoned that every pore of
my body, every lung cell and red blood corpuscle cried out for fresh air, and now I have turned to my
back-yard to get what I need. It has been waiting for me for ten years. I saw no beauty in it that I
desired it. But it holds no grudge, and welcomes me now and never hints at my lack of appreciation
and my past neglect.
A clump of yellow and blue iris is in one corner, a flowering shrub that has never bloomed for eight
years and may be cast out as an unprofitable cumberer of the ground, is at one side, a rambler rose
bush, now preparing to burst into a blaze of pink flame, and a crab-apple tree, which I believe
botanists say is a relative of the rose, occupy the center of the yard, and a few square yards of green
grass sprawl around iris and shrub and tree.
Just outside the border of my back-yard on one side is a big oak tree, and on another side a maple
tree, and they cast cool shadows over the grass when the sun is hottest. Some distance away are a
few other oak trees. One belongs to a robin and some English sparrows. Another belongs to two
young grey squirrels, who have bound themselves together by matrimonial ties and only yesterday
built a nest for their prospective family in the fork of their tree out of leaves and twigs which they
cut with their sharp teeth from tips of the far-reaching branches.
Yesterday one of them slyly visited the tree which belongs to the robin and sparrows. He watched
cautiously and climbed quickly. There were some nests up there he hoped to find defenseless. But a
sparrow's keen eyes spied him, and she sent out a far-reaching S.O.S., and from every quarter
sparrows came, and then a robin. The entente was perfect. And then I heard fierce, shrill war cries
and witnessed an aerial battle as thrilling after its kind as any fought over the forts and forests and
fields of France. I laughed at the mischievous cunning and daring of the little robber, but I confess
my sympathies were all with the allied forces. They chattered and screamed, and dashed upon him
with sharp beaks and rending little claws; they came from above and all sides, swift and sure, until
he turned ignominiously and fled to escape with whole ears and unimpaired eyes. The little grey
rascal! It was wilderness epic.
The trees are glorious. They are not so large as their forefathers, but I think of them as the heirs of
all the ages, and as I look at their broad-reaching limbs and into their deep-green foliage, they
suggest the dark, solemn, whispering, primeval forest that once clothed this continent with its sheen
like a great green ocean. Right here the red Indian, the bear, the deer, the skulking panther roamed
only twice as long ago as the lifetime of men now living.
Swift and speeding automobiles, and loud, rumbling trucks rush past my back-yard, and I hear
thundering trains and factory whistles not far away, but here in this wee enclosure, partly in fact and
partly in imagination, I am living a wilderness life. An ocean of fresh air, fifty miles deep, laves me in
its waves that beat upon all the shores and isles of seas, and the mountains and plains of all
continents; and sunshine beams ninety million miles long unerringly find me with their life-giving
rays.
I would like to tell you about the ants, and the big, fierce horse flies, and the little flowers among the
grass, so tiny and so shy as scarcely to be seen, which I have discovered in my back-yard. The grass,
to the little creatures who live among its spires and tangled masses, is a forest as vast and
mysterious as the great forests that have disappeared before the ruthless onslaughts and march of
man. They live and hunt their prey, and make love, and bring forth their young, and flee their
enemies, and live their short little lives among the green aisles and shadows of the grass, and know
nothing of the greater world that arches above them, with its strifes and loves and labor, and
aspiration, and sin and shame and redemption.
The astronomers tells us that, so far as they can judge, there are many sidereal universes. The
heaven of heavens is full of them. But if that is so, if there are many universes of the infinitely great
in the vast abysses of space, then I am sure there are many universes of the infinitely little in my
backyard, as dear to God as those composed of flaming stars; and if health and strength can be
found in the wilderness of plain or forest, or on mountain or sea, I believe it can be found among the
teeming wonders, the mystic universes, and in the ocean of air and sunshine I find in my back-yard.
O Lord, I worship amid the wonders of Thy creation, and give Thee thanks for a contented mind and
the wealthy heritage of my little back yard. Amen.
The Outcome Of A Clean Heart
David prayed, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. . . . Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee' (Ps. li. 10, 12, 13). He recognized that the
blessing of a clean heart would give him wisdom and power and the spirit to teach sinners, and to so
teach them that they would be converted. It is the same truth that Jesus expressed when He said,
'First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote
out of thy brother's eye' (Matt. vii. 5). The beam is inbred sin; the mote is the transgressions that
result from inbred sin. The following are some of the results of a clean heart:
I. A clean heart filled with the Spirit makes a soul-winner out of the man who receives the blessing. It
was so on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples, having their hearts purified by fire and filled with
the Holy Spirit, won three thousand souls to the Lord in one meeting. With the blessing of a clean
heart comes a passion of love for Jesus, and with it a passionate desire for the salvation and
sanctification of men. It makes apostles, prophets, martyrs, missionaries, and fiery-hearted soulwinners. It opens wide and clear the channel of communion between God and the soul, so that His
power, the power of the Holy Ghost, works through him who has a clean heart, surely convicting and
graciously converting and sanctifying souls.
II. The blessing results in a constancy of spirit. The soul finds its perfect balance in God. Fickleness of
feeling, uncertainty of temper, and waywardness of desire are gone, and the soul is buoyed up by
steadiness and certainty. It no longer has to be braced up by vows and pledges and resolutions, but
moves forward naturally, with quietness and assurance.
III. There is perfect peace. The warring element within is cast out, the fear of backsliding is gone, self
no longer struggles for supremacy, for Jesus has become all and in all, and that word in Isaiah is
fulfilled, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in
Thee' (Isa. xxvi. 3), and the soul is made possessor of 'the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding' (Phil. iv. 7)
The soul had 'peace with God' -- that is, a cessation of rebellion and strife -- when converted, but
now it has the 'peace of God,' as the bay has the fullness of the sea. Anxiety about the future, and
worry about the present and past go. It took perfect faith to get a clean heart, and perfect faith
destroys fret and worry. They cannot abide in the same heart. Said a saint, 'I cannot trust and worry
at the same time.' John Wesley said, 'I would as soon swear as fret.'
IV. Joy is perfected. There may be sorrow and heaviness on account of manifold temptations, there
may be great trials and perplexities, but the joy of the Lord, which is his strength, flows and throbs
through the heart of him who is sanctified like a great Gulf Stream in an unbroken current. God
becomes his joy. David knew this when he said, 'Then will I go . . . unto God my exceeding joy' (Ps.
xliii. 4).
Probably not all who have the blessing of a clean heart realize this full joy, but they may, if they will
take time to commune with God and appropriate the promises to themselves. Jesus said, 'Ask, and
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full' (John xvi. 24.) And John said, 'These things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full' (I John i. 4). And again Jesus said, 'I will see you again, and your heart
shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you' (John xvi. 22).
This joy could not be beaten out of Paul and Silas with many stripes, but bubbled up and overflowed
at the midnight hour in the dark dungeon, when their feet were in the stocks and their backs were
bruised and torn. It turned Madame Guyon's cell into a palace, and Bedford Jail into an ante-room of
Beulah Land and Heaven, from which the saintly tinker saw the Delectable Mountains and the
Citizens of the Celestial City. Glory to God! It makes a death-bed 'soft as downy pillows are.'
V. Love is made perfect. To be born of God is to have Divine love planted in the heart. 'Like begets
like,' and when we are born of God we are made partakers of His nature. And 'God is love.' But this
love is comparatively feeble in the new convert, and there is much remaining corruption in the heart
to check and hinder, if not to destroy it; but when the heart is cleansed, all conflicting elements are
destroyed and cast out, and the heart is filled with patient, humble, holy, flaming love. Love is made
perfect. It flames upwards towards God, and spreads abroad toward all men. It abides in the heart,
not necessarily as a constantly overflowing emotion, but always as an unfailing principle of action,
which may burst into emotion at any time. It may suffer, being abused and ill-treated, but it 'is kind.'
Others may be promoted and advanced beyond it, but it 'envieth not.' It may be subjected to
pressure of all kinds, but it vaunteth not itself.' It is not rash. It may prosper, but it 'is not puffed up.'
Love 'doth not behave itself unseemly,' or, as John Wesley said, 'is not ill-bred.'
Love 'seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,' is not suspicious. Love 'rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.' An evangelist was abused: his enemies were professing
Christians, but 'they backslid. His friends rejoiced, but he grieved. His heart was full of love, and he
could not rejoice in the triumph of iniquity even over his enemies. Love 'beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.' Love 'never faileth' (I Cor. xiii. 4-8).
VI. The Bible becomes a new book. It becomes self-interpreting. God is in it speaking to the soul. I do
not mean by this that all the types and prophecies are made plain to the unlearned man, but all that
is necessary to salvation he finds and feeds upon in the Bible. He now understands the word of
Jesus, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God' (Matt. iv. 4). Like Job he can say: 'I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my
necessary food ' (Job xxiii. 12) and like David, rejoices in it 'as one that findeth great spoil' (Ps. cxix.
162). Like the blessed man, he meditates therein day and night, that he may observe to do according
to all that is written therein, that his profiting may appear to all.
VII. It begets the shepherd spirit, and destroys the spirit of lordship over God's heritage. Peter was
not like many that have followed him, for instead of lording it over the flock, he wrote, 'The elders
which are among you I exhort, who am . . . a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being
lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock' (1 Pet. v. 1-3). If the cleansed man is a
superior, it makes him patient and considerate; if a subordinate, willing and obedient. It is the
fruitful root of courtesy, of pity, of compassion and of utterly unselfish devotion. 'The Good
Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep ' (John x. 11).
VIII. Temptation is quickly recognized as such, and is easily overcome through steadfast faith in
Jesus. The holy man takes the shield of faith, and with it quenches all the fiery darts of the enemy.
IX. Divine courage possesses the heart. The sanctified man sings with David, 'I will not fear: what can
man do unto me?', (Ps. cxviii. 6). 'Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear'
(Ps. xxvii. 3). And with Paul, 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me' (Phil. iv. 3)'
for 'we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us' (Rom. viii. 37).
X. There is a keener sense than ever before of the weakness of the flesh, the absolute inability of
man to help us, and of our own utter dependence on God for all things. The pure heart sings
evermore, 'The Blood, the Blood -- is all my plea.'
XI. The cleansed man makes a covenant with his eyes, and is careful which way and how he looks. He
also remembers the words of Jesus, 'Take heed therefore how ye hear' (Luke viii. 18), and again,
'Take heed what ye hear' (Mark iv. 24). Likewise he bridles his tongue and seasons his words with
salt, not with sugar; salt is better than sugar for seasoning, but it is only for seasoning. He
remembers: 'That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment' (Matt. xii. 36). He does not despise the day of small things, and he can content himself
with mean things. Finally, he realizes that the common deeds of the common day Are ringing bells in
the far-away, and he lives as seeing Him who is invisible,' and with glad humility and whole-hearted
fidelity discharges his duty with an eye single to the glory of God, without any itching desire for the
honor that man can give, or other reward than the ' well done' of the Lord.
The Personal Experience Of The Soul Winner
Every soul-winner is in the secret of the Lord, and has had a definite personal experience of salvation
and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which brings him into close fellowship and tender friendship and
sympathy with the Saviour. The Psalmist prayed, "Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my
iniquities. Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore unto
me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then," said he, "will I teach
transgressors Thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." (Psalm 51:10-42.) He saw that
before he could be a soul-winner, before he could teach transgressors the way of the Lord and
convert sinners, he must have his own sins blotted out; he must have a clean heart and a right spirit;
he must be a partaker of the Holy Ghost and of God's joy. In short, he must have a definite, constant,
joyful experience of God's salvation in his own soul in order to save others. It was no "hope-I-amsaved" experience he wanted; nor was it a conclusion carefully reasoned out and arrived at by logical
processes; nor an experience based upon a strict performance of a set round of duties and
attendance upon sacraments, but a mighty transformation and cleansing of his whole spiritual
nature and a glorious new creation wrought within him by the Holy Ghost.
It must be a definite experience that tallies with the Word of God. Only this can give that power and
assurance to a man which will enable him to lead and win other men. You must have knowledge
before imparting knowledge. You must have fire to kindle fire. You must have life to reproduce life.
You must know Jesus and be on friendly terms with Him to be able to introduce others to Him. You
must be one with Jesus, and be "bound up in the bundle of life" with Him if you would bring others
into that life.
Peter had repented under the preaching of John the Baptist, had forsaken all to follow Jesus, and
had waited with prayer and unquenchable desire until he had received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and of fire, and had been anointed with power from on high, before he became the fearless,
mighty preacher who won 3,000 converts in a day.
Paul was mightily converted on the road to Damascus, and heard the voice of Jesus tell him what to
do, and was baptized with the Holy Ghost under the teaching of Ananias before he became the
apostle of quenchless zeal who turned the world upside down
Luther was definitely converted and justified by faith on the stairway of St. Peter's at Rome before
he became the invincible reformer who could stand before popes and emperors and set captive
nations free.
George Fox, Wesley, Finney, Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, William Taylor, James Caughey, Moody
and General Booth, each and all had a definite personal experience that made them apostles of fire,
prophets of God and saviours of men. They did not guess that they were saved, nor "hope" so. but
they knew "whom they believed." and that they had passed from darkness into light and from the
power of Satan unto God.
This experience was not evolution, but a revolution. No evolutionist ever has been or ever will be a
great soul-winner. It is not by growth that men become such, but by revelation. It is not until God
bursts through the veil and reveals Himself in their hearts through faith in His dear Son. and gives a
consciousness of personal acceptance with Him, and sheds abroad His love in the heart, destroying
unbelief, burning away sin, consuming selfishness, and filling the soul with the passion that filled the
heart of Jesus, that men become soul-winners.
The experience that makes a man a soul-winner is two-fold. First, he must know his sins forgiven; he
must have recognized himself a sinner, out of friendly relation with God, and careless of God's claim,
heedless of God's feelings, selfishly seeking his own way in spite of divine love and compassion, and
heedless of the awful consequences of separating himself from God and this must have led to
repentance toward God, by which I mean sorrow for and an utter turning away from sin, followed by
a confiding trust in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He must have so believed as to bring a restful
consciousness that for Christ's sake his sins have been forgiven and that he has been adopted into
God's family and made one of His dear children. This consciousness results from what Paul calls "the
witness of the Spirit," and enables the soul to cry out in deep filial confidence and affection, "Abba
Father." Second: He must be sanctified; he must know that his heart is cleansed, that pride and selfwill and carnal ambition and strife and sensitiveness and suspicion and unbelief and every unholy
temper are destroyed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost -- personal Pentecost -- and the incoming of
a great love for, and loyalty to, Jesus Christ, before he can be largely used to win souls.
II. It must be a constant experience. People who frequently meet defeat and fail of victory in their
own souls will not be largely successful in winning men to Jesus. The very consciousness of defeat
makes them uncertain in their exhortation, doubtful and wavering in their testimony, and weak in
their faith, and this will not be likely to produce conviction and beget faith in their hearers
Dr. Asa Mahan lived in the enjoyment of full salvation for over fifty years, and only once felt a slight
uprising of temper. Finney, Wesley, Fletcher and Bramwell, like Enoch, walked with God, and so
walked "in the power of the Spirit" constantly, and were soul-winners all their lives, even to old age.
III. It must be a joyful experience. "The joy of the Lord is your strength," said Nehemiah. "Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation," prayed David. "I feel it my duty to be as happy as the Lord wants
me to be," wrote McCheyne, the gifted and deeply spiritual young Scotch preacher, who was
wonderfully successful in winning Souls.
"Oh, my soul is very happy! Bless God! I feel He is with me," cried Caughey, while preaching his
sermon on "The Striving of the Spirit" No wonder he won souls.
Whitefield and Bramwell, two of the greatest soul-winners the world ever saw, were at times in
almost an ecstasy of joy, especially when preaching, and this was as it should be.
John Bunyan tells us how he wrote the "Pilgrim's Progress" in his filthy Bedford dungeon. He says,
"So I was led home to prison, and I sat me down and wrote and wrote because joy did make me
write." Hallelujah!
God wants His people to be full of joy. "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you and that your joy might be full." said Jesus. (John 15:11.) And again He said, "Ask and
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:24.) "And these things write we unto you that
your joy might be full," wrote John. (1 John 1:4) "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy," wrote Paul, and
again he writes, "The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." "Joy in
the Holy Ghost" is an oceanic current that flows unbroken through the holy, believing soul, though
surrounded by seas of trouble and compassed about by infirmities and afflictions and sorrows,
We have thought of Jesus as "the Man of Sorrows" until we overlook His fullness of exultant joy.
(Luke 10:21; John 15: 11)
Joy can be cultivated and should be, as is faith or any other fruit of the Spirit
(1) By appropriating by faith the words that were spoken and written for the express purpose of
giving us fullness of joy. "Now the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace in believing," Wrote
Paul to the Romans. It is by believing.
(2) By meditating on these words and holding them in our minds and hearts until we have gotten all
the sweetness out of them as we would hold honey in our mouths.
(3) By exercise, even as faith or love or patience is exercised. This we do by rejoicing in the Lord and
praising God for His goodness and mercy, and shouting when the joy wells up in our souls under the
pressure of the Holy Spirit. Many people quench the Spirit of joy and praise, and so gradually lose it.
But let them repent, confess, pray and believe and then begin to praise God again and He will see to
it that they have something to praise Him for, and their joy will convict sinners and prove a mighty
means of winning them to Jesus.
Who can estimate the power there must have been in the joy that filled the heart of Peter and
surged through the souls and beamed on the faces and flashed from the eyes of the one hundred
and twenty fire-baptized disciples, while he preached that Pentecostal sermon which won three
thousand bigoted enemies to the cross of a crucified Christ?
O Lord, still "make Thy ministers a flame of fire," and flood the world with Thy mighty joy!
The Radicalism Of Holiness
"Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Cor. xiii.
5).
"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27).
Dear brother, do not think you can make holiness popular. It cannot be done. There is no such thing
as holiness separate from "Christ in you," and it is an impossibility to make Christ Jesus popular in
this world. To sinners and carnal professors, the real Christ Jesus has always been and always will be
"as a root out of a dry ground, despised and rejected of men." "Christ in you" is "the same yesterday,
today, and for ever" -- hated, reviled, persecuted, crucified.
"Christ in you" came not to send peace on earth, but a sword; came "to set a man at variance against
his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. x. 35, 36).
"Christ in you "will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed of penitence and
humility; but He will pronounce the most terrible, yet tearful, maledictions against the hypocritical
formalist and the lukewarm professor who are the friends of the world and, consequently, the
enemies of God. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas. iv. 4).
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (I John ii. 15).
In the homes of the poor and the haunts of the outcast, "Christ in you" will seek and save the lost,
and will sweetly, tenderly whisper, "Come unto Me, I will give you rest"; but in stately church and
cathedral, where pomp and pride and conformity to the world mock God, He will cry out with
weeping and holy indignation, "The publicans and harlots shall go into the Kingdom of Heaven
before you."
Christ in you is not a gorgeously robed aristocrat, arrayed in purple and fine linen and gold and
pearls, but is a lowly, peasant Carpenter, horny-handed, truth-telling, a Servant of servants, seeking
always the lowest seats in the synagogues and feasts, condescending to wash the disciples" feet. He
"respecteth not the proud" (Ps. xl. 4), nor is He of those who "flatter with their tongue" (Ps. v. 9); but
His "words are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Ps. xii. 6);
words "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, discerning the thoughts and
intents of the heart."
Seek to know and follow in the footsteps of the true, real Jesus; the humble, holy Peasant of Galilee;
for, truly, many "false Christs" as well as "false prophets" have gone out into the world.
There are dreamy, poetical Christs, the words of whose mouths are "smoother than butter, but in
whose hearts is war; whose words are softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords" (Ps. lv. 21). There
are gay, fashionable Christs, "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God having forms of godliness,
but denying the power (holiness of heart) thereof; which creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 4-7).
There are mercantile Christs, who make God's house a den of thieves (Matt. xxi. 13).
There are feeding Christs, who would catch men by feeding the stomach rather than the heart and
head (Rom. xvi. 18).
There are learned, philosophical Christs, who "spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world" (Col. ii. 8).
There are political-reform Christs, who forget their Father's business in an all-absorbing effort to be
elected, or elect, a ruler over this world; who travel half-way across the continent to deliver a speech
on prohibition or women's rights, while a hundred thousand sinners are going to Hell at home; who
vainly endeavor to club the fruit off the branches rather than to lay the axe at the root of the tree,
that the tree may be good (Matt. iii. 10).
They wanted to make the "Christ in you" a king one day, but He wouldn't be a king, save of men's
hearts. They wanted to make Him a judge one day for about five minutes, but He wouldn't be a
judge. He made Himself of no reputation (Phil. ii. 7). He might have stopped on the throne of
imperial Rome, or among the upper classes of society, or the middle classes, but He went from His
Father's bosom, down past the thrones and the upper, middle and lower classes of society to the
lowest place on earth, and became a Servant of all, that He might lift us to the bosom of the Father,
and make us partakers of the Divine nature and of His holiness (2 Pet. i. 4; Heb. xii. 10).
"Christ in you" gets under men and lifts them from the bottom up. If He had stopped on the throne
He never would have reached the poor fishermen of Galilee; but, going down among the fishermen,
He soon shook the throne.
It will not be popular, but "Christ in you" will go down. He will not seek the honor that cometh from
men, but the honor that cometh from God only (John v.44; xii. 42, 43).
One day a rich young man -- a ruler -- came to Jesus and said, "Good Master, what shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life?" (Mark x. 17). No doubt, this young man reasoned somewhat thus with
himself: "The Master is poor, I am rich. He will welcome me, for I can give Him financial prestige. The
Master is without influence in the state -- I am a ruler; I can give Him political power. The Master is
under a social ban, associating with those poor, ignorant fishermen; I, a wealthy young ruler, can
give Him social influence."
But the Master struck at the heart of his worldly wisdom and self-conceit, by saying unto him, "Go
and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, follow Me." Come, you can serve Me only in
poverty, in reproach, in humility, in social obscurity; for My kingdom is not of this world, and the
weapons of this warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
You must deny yourself, for if you have not My spirit you are none of me (Rom. viii. 9), and My spirit
is one of self-sacrifice. You must give up your elegant Jerusalem home, and come with Me; but,
remember, the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. You will be considered little better than a
common tramp. You must sacrifice your ease. You must give up your riches, for "hath not God
chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom"? (Jas. ii. 5). And it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter that kingdom. Remember,
when you do this, you will lose your reputation. The bankers and belles of Jerusalem will say you are
beside yourself, and your old friends will not acknowledge you when they meet you on the street.
My heart is drawn to you; yea, I love you (Mark x. 21), but I tell you plainly that if you will not take
up the cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple; yea, "if any man come to Me, and hate not
*[That is, to love the human in a lesser degree than the Divine.] father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke xiv.
26). If you will do this, you shall have treasure in Heaven (Matt. xix. 21).
Do you not see the impossibility of making such a radical Gospel as this popular? This spirit and the
spirit of the world are as fully opposed to each other as two locomotives on the same track running
toward each other at the rate of sixty miles an hour. Fire and water will consort together as quickly
as the "Christ in you" and the spirit of the world.
Do not waste your time trying to fix up a popular holiness. Just be holy because the Lord God is holy.
Seek to please Him without regard to the likes or dislikes of men, and those who are disposed to be
saved will soon see "Christ in you," and will cry out with Isaiah: Woe is me! for I am undone; because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of Hosts"; and, falling at His feet, they will say with the leper, "Lord, if Thou
wilt Thou canst make me clean." And Jesus, having compassion on them, will say, "I will, be thou
clean."
The Renewing Of Power
Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Paul.
To do God's work we must have God's power. Therefore Jesus said: "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye
be endued with power from on high." (Luke 24:49.) And again He said: "Ye shall receive power when
the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1:8.)
The soul-winner receives this power when he is sanctified wholly and filled with the Spirit, and he
need never lose it. But while the Holy Spirit abides with the believer, there yet seems to be need for
frequent renewals of the power He bestows. And, thank God, He he made ample provision to meet
this need. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength," said Isaiah. "Wait on the Lord;
be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord," cries David.
Years ago President Asa Mahan wrote as follows of his old friend: "The extraordinary power which
attended the preaching of President Finney during the early years of his ministry was chiefly owing
to a special baptism of the Spirit which he received not long after his conversion; hence it was that
when through him the 'violated law spake out its thunders,' it did seem as if we had in truth 'come
unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness and darkness
and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words.' But when he spoke of Christ, then
indeed did his 'doctrine drop as the rain, and his speech distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the
tender herb and as the showers upon the mown grass.' The reason also why he is bringing forth such
wondrous fruit in his old age is that while his whole ministry has been under the power of the Spirit,
his former baptisms have been renewed with increasing power and frequency during a few years
past."
The need for these frequent renewings and anointings does not necessarily arise from backsliding.
Sometimes the soul feels the need of a renewal of its power when confronted by great opposition,
danger and powerful foes. The apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost, and had not only won their
great Pentecostal victory, but many others as well, when suddenly a stubborn wall of opposition
arose before them. They were arrested by the rulers, thrust into prison, brought before the high
priest, sharply questioned by what power and name they were working their miracles, and then
when no ground for punishment could be found, they were threatened and commanded to preach
no more in the name of Jesus.
When they were let go they went to their own people, told them what had happened, and began a
sweet, childlike, heaven storming prayer meeting, told the Lord the story, too, and cried to Him to
show forth His power, and then a wonderful thing happened; Pentecost was repeated; "the place
was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and
they spake the word of God with boldness, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great peace was upon them all."
They waited before the Lord and their strength was renewed, their power reinforced from heaven.
their past victories put into the shade and "a great company of the priests were obedient to the
faith."
Sometimes the need for this renewal of strength arises after great victories. For victory is usually
secured as the result of great spiritual and mental activity, and often physical activity as well, and it
is but natural that there should be a reaction; the pendulum, if left alone, swings to the other
extreme. Depression may follow, the powers of soul and mind relax, joyful emotions subside, and
the inexperienced soul-winner may at this point get into great perplexity, and suffer from fierce
temptation; and strain himself to keep up his accustomed spiritual activity, crying out with David,
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me?" And again. "My flesh
and my heart faileth," and imagine himself to be backsliding. But what is needed now is not so much
anxious wrestling with God as quiet waiting upon God for a renewal of power, saying to his soul,
"Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance, and my God," and
though heart and flesh do fail, "yet God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." At such
times the strength of the soul is to sit still in quietness and confidence. (Is. 30:7, 15.)
I once heard a wise old evangelist, one of the mightiest this country has produced, say that while at
home after a season of rest, the Spirit of God would come upon him, leading him to earnest prayer
and travail for the salvation of men. This was God's way of preparing him for a campaign, and for
victory, and away he would go for battle and siege, to rescue the souls of men, and never did he fail
to win. But after a while there seemed to be an abatement of power, when he would return home
for another season of rest and quiet, waiting upon God for the renewal of his strength. And thus he
continued till he was past eighty, still bringing forth fruit in old age.
Again, there is sometimes need of a renewal of power owing to weakness and infirmity of the flesh.
Paul must have received a great addition of power when, instead of removing his "thorn," Jesus said
to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." And such was
the uplift that Paul got at that time that ever afterward he took "pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake," glorying in them, since
through them the power of Christ rested upon him, and in weakness he was made strong. Spiritual
power is not necessarily dependent upon physical energy, and however much he may be afflicted
with infirmities there are mighty enduements of power for the soul-winner if he intelligently and
with quiet and persistent faith seeks them from on high.
There will be times of loneliness and spiritual agony such as Jesus suffered in the Garden, or Elijah
when he felt that all the prophets were slain, and there was none true to God in Israel but himself.
Or again, when there is widespread barrenness and desolation, when revivals have ceased, and
worldliness sweeps in like a flood, and there is apparently no vision, and God seems silent, and the
devil mocks and taunts, then the soul-winner will need to have his spiritual strength renewed. And
he may fully expect such a renewal. The angels are all round about him, and the heavens are
bending over him, and Jesus has lost none of His tender interest and sympathy for him. An angel
came and strengthened Jesus in His agony (Luke 22:43), and an angel strengthened Elijah for his long
and lonely journey, and an angel came to Daniel and said, "O man, greatly beloved, fear not; peace
be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong." And not only an angel, but the Lord Himself will surely
empower His trusting workers. It was Jesus that cheered Paul in the chief captain's castle (Acts
23:11), and John on the lonely Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:17), and so He still cheers and strengthens His
servants and warriors. Bless His name!
These renewals of power are not always necessarily of an extraordinary character. There are
sometimes great uplifts of physical strength without any apparent cause, but ordinarily a man's
physical strength is renewed by rest and the timely eating of proper food. And so there may be times
when the Spirit of God falls upon the soul-winner, giving him great uplifts and visions and courage.
But ordinarily power comes by the use of the simple means of much regular prayer and patient,
diligent searching of God's Word and a daily listening to God's voice It is renewed like fire, not by the
fall of lightning from Heaven, but by the addition of new fuel; like physical strength, not by some
hypodermic injection of fresh blood, but by proper food. David calls upon his soul to bless God "who
satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Ps. 103:5.)
This will require time and attention on our part, but it will be time well spent. It is by appropriate
food, then, that the soul is strengthened. Jesus told us what that food was when He said, "Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matt 4:4.)
And does not this correspond to Paul's statement that though the outward man was perishing, yet
"the inward man is renewed day by day"? and with that passage that says, "The Lord revealed
Himself unto Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord"? It is the Lord that renews our strength, but
He does it not in some mysterious way, but by means of His Word, which we read and meditate
upon and appropriate by faith. Through it we see Jesus and come to know our Lord. Bless His name!
My own strength is usually renewed by the opening up of some new truth, or the powerful
application of some promises, or portion of the Word of God to my soul, which I am enabled to
make my own by a definite and bold, affectionate and daredevil act of faith in secret prayer.
The Seamless Coat Of Jesus
Jesus never pitied Himself, nor did He seek the pity of any man. One day He asked His disciples,
'Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'
'John the Baptist,' replied one
'Elijah,' said another.
'Jeremiah or one of the prophets,' answered a third.
'But whom say ye that I am?' He asked.
'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' replied ever-ready Simon Peter.
At last their eyes had pierced through the veil of His humanity, the disguise of His lowly village
ancestry, and His humble occupation as a carpenter, and recognized the King, King Eternal, King of
Kings, and Lord of Lords. The splendor of His Being, before which seraphim and cherubim, angels and
archangels veil their faces, was so accommodated to their poor eyes and minds that their eyes were
not blinded and they were not afraid.
'Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,' said Jesus, 'for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my
Father which is in Heaven.'
The secret was out! The Son of God, the Eternal Word, 'full of grace and truth,' was made flesh and
was in the world, dwelling among men. But the secret must not just yet go further, so 'He charged
His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ.' It must not be bruited
abroad. He must draw the veil yet closer about Himself, that only sincere, humble souls might know
Him, and that the sin of men might run its course, and its malignity and utter enmity to God might
be revealed in their treatment of Him, the well-beloved, only begotten Son of the Father.
From that time forth Jesus began to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the
third day.'
Such statements, it should seem, would have dumbfounded the disciples. But not Peter; his poor,
dull mind was roused and his tongue loosed, and he took Jesus 'and began to rebuke Him, saying: Be
it far from Thee, Lord ('pity Thyself' is the marginal reading), this shall not be unto Thee.'
But Jesus did not pity Himself, and He would have none of Peter's pity nor worldly counsel and
comfort. 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' said He to Peter, 'thou art an offense unto Me: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.'
But while Jesus would not pity Himself, nor even permit Peter to counsel pity, yet what, humanly
speaking, could be more pathetic than the scene at the Cross, when He, the most loving and devoted
of the sons of men, and the poorest, was stripped of His only suit of clothes, His only earthly
possession, and nailed nude to the Cross to die, while those who crucified Him divided the poor little
bundle of clothes among themselves and cast lots for His seamless coat?
His coat without seam, that must not be rent! Think of that careless, cruel soldier stalking about in
the coat of Jesus! What a picture!
But while the soldiers, for their own selfish purpose, spared the seamless coat that day, how often
has it been rent since then, and that by those who profess to know and love Him.
I like to think of that first society of His people, which we now speak of as the Early Church, as the
seamless robe of Jesus. It enshrined His spiritual presence. He clothed Himself with it as with a
garment. Through its members He, the risen Christ, was still seen by the children of men.
He was revealed in its spiritual life. To the wonder-struck multitude on the day of Pentecost, amazed
at the glowing, fire-baptized disciples, and inquiring, 'What meaneth this?' while 'others, mocking,
said, These men are full of new wine,' Peter replied: 'This Jesus whom ye crucified hath God raised
up, whereof we are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear.'
The radiant, joy-filled, fearless, conquering life of the Early Church was the life, the presence of
Christ, in its members. 'It is not I that live, but Christ that liveth in me,' wrote Paul. And 'When Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.'
He was made manifest in the activities of the Early Church. 'Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this?
or why look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to
walk?' asked Peter of the Jerusalem crowd after healing the lame man at the temple gate called
Beautiful. 'The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His
Son Jesus . . and His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and
know yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'
What they did, they did by the power of Christ working in and through them, as the branch brings
forth fruit by the power of the vine from which comes its life.
But most surely was He seen and known in and by the love which His disciples had one for the other.
'By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples,' said Jesus, 'If ye have love one to another.'
While they loved 'they were of one heart!' and so long as they were of one heart, they were of one
mind.' Their unity began in the heart and extended to the head, and worked itself out in deeds of
loving fellowship and service. Many of them even sold their possessions and had all things in
common, so great was their love for the Saviour and for each other.
Like the coat of the Master, the infant Church was 'without seam, woven from the top throughout.'
The first rent in the seamless robe came when Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sought credit for a
love and generosity of which their wretched hearts were destitute, by pretending to give all when
they were holding back part of the price of their sold possession.
A wider rent was threatened when the Grecians began to murmur against the Hebrews 'because
their widows were neglected in the daily ministrations.' But this was wisely and promptly arrested by
the action of the Apostles in appointing 'seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and
wisdom,' to look after that business.
The rending of this seamless robe can always be traced back to lack of love. The great heresy of the
ages is not manifested so much in false doctrine as in failing love and consequent false living. Faith is
lost when love leaks out and living becomes selfish. Heresy begins in the heart, not in the head. The
heretic of the early Christian society was the loveless schismatic. 'I hear there are divisions'
('schisms,' margin) 'among you,' wrote Paul to the Corinthians, 'and I partly believe it. For there must
be also heresies ' ('sects, schismatics ') 'among you that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you.'
In the tenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul gives us examples of what befell God's ancient people,
the Church in the wilderness, and he says: 'These things were our example. . . All these things
happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of
the world are come.' As we study the history of Israel we see, as in type, the things we must do and
avoid doing if we would save ourselves and guard the heritage God has given us. Again and again we
see the rending or attempted rending of the seamless robe of the Ancient Church. Sometimes it was
through envy and jealousy that the rending was attempted. On one occasion Miriam and Aaron
would have rent the seamless robe. They spoke against their brother, Moses: 'Hath the Lord indeed
spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us?' But the Lord was listening. 'The Lord heard it
. . . and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them,' and lo! 'Miriam became leprous, white as
snow.' Korah and Dathan would have rent the robe, but again with sure and swift judgment God
acted as umpire, and Korah and Dathan perished in their presumption.
Again the rending was attempted by Absalom through unholy ambition. By flattering words and fair
promises he sought to steal the hearts of the men of Israel, only to perish in his deceit and pride and
have his name handed down through the ages and spit upon as a synonym of unfaithfulness and
basest treachery.
A fatal rending was finally occasioned by the supercilious pride of those in authority, against which
God Himself took up arms. When Rehoboam, turning from the advice of wise old men, listened to
the haughty counsel of his young nobles and declared his little finger should be thicker than the loin
of his father, ten tribes forsook him, and the seamless robe of the Ancient Church of Israel was
fatally and finally rent asunder and is not yet mended, for to this day the ten tribes are known as the
'lost tribes.' What the oily duplicity of Absalom failed to accomplish the insolent arrogance of
Rehoboam brought to pass. A further rending was caused by the shameless, sinful neglect of those
who should have shepherded the sheep. Jeremiah and the lesser prophets weep and lament and
bitterly protest against those who fleece and scatter the sheep instead of feeding and shepherding
them, causing the people of God to wander and perish for lack of humble oversight and loving care.
Paul found partiality, favoritism, and a partisan spirit endangering the unity of the seamless robe in
Corinth: while at Ephesus he foresaw danger arising from the perversity of those who selfishly
sought leadership, and he forewarned them in his farewell address of this danger.
Listen! 'Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers, to feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own Blood. For I
know ' -- Oh, the pity of it! -- 'I know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in, not
sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away
disciples after them' -- rending the seamless robe, to gratify their own lust for leadership
I think of The Salvation Army as a seamless robe of the Master, beneath whose unrent folds in all
lands cluster unnumbered multitudes. Little children, unspoiled as yet, but compassed about with
innumerable perils, are there, looking to The Army for the bread of Eternal Life whereby their souls
shall live, for guidance amid hidden and treacherous snares, and for protection from lurking and
watchful foes. Adolescent boys and girls are there, with all their inexplicable moods and trying
tempers, their day dreams, their pride and foolishness, their loyalty and rebellions, their ardor and
despair, their hopes, their loves, their fun and laziness, their humility, conceit, strange insight, and
hasty judgments, their sensitiveness and abysmal ignorance; there they are beneath the folds of this
seamless Salvation Army robe of the Saviour.
Straying girls and wronged women are there: great sinners, terrible criminals, hopeless outcasts,
washed in the Blood of the Lamb, are there. Widows and orphans, husbands and wives bearing
burdens of toil and care and anxiety, are there. Aged people, with white hair and feeble steps and
dim eyes, are there. The heathen are coming under its world-wide sheltering folds, and for the sake
of all these who look trustingly to it for safety and shelter, it must not be rent.
For sixty years sinister eyes have watched to see it rent in twain. Futile attempts have been made by
some to rend it, and they have torn off a bit here and there. But the robe still spreads its ample and
ever-expanding folds over the nations.
It must not be rent, and yet it may be unless we 'serve the Lord with all humility of mind,' and in
honor prefer others before self, remembering Paul's exhortation to his Philippian brethren 'Fulfill ye
my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory: but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves.' Let us keep in mind the prayer of Jesus just before the shame and suffering of Pilate's
judgment hall and the tragedy of the Cross. I pray for them . . that they all may be one; as Thou,
Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent Me. . . I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect In one: and that the
world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me ' (John xvii.
21, 23).
If ever this seamless coat is rent, then in the solemn words of the Redeemer: 'Woe to that man by
whom the offense cometh.'
The Secret Of Power
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah xl. 31).
If I were dying, and had the privilege of delivering a last exhortation to all the Christians of the world,
and that message had to be condensed into three words, I would say, "Wait on God!"
Wherever I go I find backsliders -- Methodist backsliders, Baptist backsliders, Salvationist backsliders
-- all kinds of backsliders by the thousand, until my heart aches as I think of the great army of
discouraged souls, of the way in which the Holy Spirit has been grieved, and of the way in which
Jesus has been treated.
If these backsliders were asked the cause of their present condition, ten thousand different reasons
would be given; but, after all, there is but one, and that is this: they did not wait on God. If they had
waited on Him when the fierce assault was made that overthrew their faith and robbed them of
their courage and bankrupted their love, they would have renewed their strength and mounted over
all obstacles as though on eagles' wings. They would have run through their enemies and not been
weary. They would have walked in the midst of trouble and not fainted.
Waiting on God means more than a prayer of thirty seconds on getting up in the morning and going
to bed at night. It may mean one prayer that gets hold of God and comes away with the blessing, or
it may mean a dozen prayers that knock and persist and will not be put off, until God arises, and
makes bare His arm on behalf of the pleading soul.
There is a drawing nigh to God, a knocking at Heaven's doors, a pleading of the promises, a
reasoning with Jesus, a forgetting of self a turning from all earthly concerns, a holding on with
determination to never let go, that puts all the wealth of Heaven's wisdom and power and love at
the disposal of a little man, so that he shouts and triumphs when all others tremble and fail and fly,
and becomes more than conqueror in the very face of death and Hell.
It is in the heat of just such seasons of waiting on God that every great soul gets the wisdom and
strength that make it an astonishment to other men. They, too, might be "great in the sight of the
Lord," if they would wait on God and be true, instead of getting excited and running to this man and
that for help when the testing times come.
The Psalmist had been in great trouble, and this is what he says of his deliverance: "I waited
patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an
horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He
hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the Lord" (Ps. xl. 1-3).
The other day I went to a poor little corps where nearly everything had been going wrong. Many
were cold and discouraged; but I found one sister with a wondrous glory in her face, and glad, sweet
praises in her mouth. She told me how she had looked at others falling around her, had seen the
carelessness of many, and noted the decline of vital piety in the corps, until her heart ached and she
felt disheartened and her feet almost slipped. But she went to God, and got down low before Him,
and prayed and waited, until He drew near her, and showed her the awful precipice on which she
herself was standing -- showed her that her one business was to follow Jesus, to walk before Him
with a perfect heart, and to cleave to Him, though the whole corps backslid. Then she confessed all
that God showed her; confessed how near she had come to joining the great army of backsliders
herself through looking at others; humbled herself before Him, and renewed her covenant, until an
unutterable joy came to her heart, and God put His fear in her soul, and filled her with the glory of
His presence.
She told me, further, that the next day she fairly trembled to think of the awful danger she had been
in, and declared that that time of waiting on God in the silence of the night saved her, and now her
heart was filled with the full assurance of hope for herself, and not only for herself, but also for the
corps. Oh, for ten thousand such soldiers!
David said, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him (Ps. lxii. 5); and again
he declares: "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His name do I hope. My soul waiteth for
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning" (Ps. cxxx. 5); and he sends out this ringing
exhortation and note of encouragement to you and me: "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and
He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" (Ps. xxvii. 14).
The secret of all failures, and of all true success, is hidden in the attitude of the soul in its private
walk with God. The man who courageously waits on God is bound to succeed. He cannot fail. To
other men he may appear for the present to fail, but in the end they will see what he knew all the
time: that God was with him, making him, in spite of all appearances, "a prosperous man."
Jesus puts the secret into these words: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt. vi. 6).
Know, then, that all failure has its beginning in the closet, in neglecting to wait on God until filled
with wisdom, clothed with power, and all on fire with love.
The Soul-Winner And The Children
Not only did Jesus say, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not," but He
gave to Peter the positive command, "Feed My lambs," and in that command laid a responsibility
upon soul-winners for the children, for "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven," and in no other field and
among no other class can they work with such immediate success, and such far-reaching results.
Children are not hard to reach with the Gospel, if the soul-winner will but be simple and use
common sense in dealing with them. They are not hardened in sin, their consciences are tender and
their hearts open, their minds receptive, their wills pliable, their faith simple; they are keenly alive to
the love of Jesus, the glories of heaven, the terrors of hell, and the omnipresence of God. They learn
readily to pray in faith about everything, and to cast all their care upon God. No eyes are so keen as
theirs to see the Light that lighteneth every man, and no hands are so ready to do His bidding, and
no feet so ready to run in His ways.
And yet effort must be put forth ceaselessly to win them and keep them after they are won, for the
corruption of their own natures and the evil example and teaching of a hostile world and the wiles of
the vigilant and tireless enemy of all souls will soon blind their eyes and harden their hearts and
utterly ruin them, if they are not soon won to Jesus and filled with His love. You may feel yourself
unfitted for this task, but it is your business to fit yourself for it, if God has called you to be a worker
for souls. The first thing necessary is to believe in the possibility of the conversion of the children;
and certainly the plain teachings of Jesus, the examples found in the Bible, and the multitude of
examples that anyone can see with his own eyes if he will open them and look, ought to convince
the most skeptical of this possibility.
Almost from babyhood the Lord spoke to Samuel, and filled his heart and mind with wisdom, so that
none of his words fell to the ground (1 Sam. 2:26, and 3:1-21) From a child God ordained Jeremiah a
prophet unto the nations, and filled him with His Spirit (Jer. 1:5-10), and if this was possible under
the law, how much more gloriously is it possible under the Gospel?
Jonathan Edwards, in one of his works, tells of a wee girlie, only five years of age, going to and from
her bedroom looking most sad and disconsolate. Her mother asked her what was the matter, and
the little thing replied, "Mamma, when I pray God doesn't come."
The mother tried to comfort her, but her little heart was filled with hunger which only the Comforter
Himself could satisfy, and she still continued to go disconsolately to her bedroom. But one glad day
she ran from her room, leaped into her mother's bosom, threw her arms around her neck and cried,
"O mamma, mamma, when I pray now, God comes!"
And up through the years of her childhood and youth and womanhood she lived such a life of
Christian humility and grace and truth as was the wonder of all who knew her.
Secondly, since they can be won, you must make up your mind that you will win them; you must put
from your mind forever the thought that "anything will do for the children." It will require much
prayer, and patience, and love, and tact, and divine wisdom to win them to the Saviour, and to keep
them after they are won. They must have "line upon line, precept upon precept." If one teaching of
the lesson is not sufficient then they must be taught it again and yet again. "Why do you tell Charles
the same thing twenty times over?" asked the father of John and Charles Wesley of the mother.
"Because nineteen times won't do," replied the wise and particular mother.
"Hear, O Israel," said the Lord; "the Lord is one God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, and these words which I command you this day
shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of
them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down
and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand and they shall be for
frontlets between thy eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of thine house, and upon thy
gates." This was the way that the children of the old Israelites were to be taught, and this must be
the standard the soul-winner sets for himself and for his people today.
The children should be noticed; and I am increasingly convinced that in every meeting where there
are children present something should be said that is suitable to them, and the invitation to come to
Jesus should include them.
When they do come, they should be dealt with most thoroughly, their little hearts should be probed,
their sins searched out and thorough repentance required. Their fears must be tenderly removed by
showing them the fullness of God's love, and the certainty of salvation when they give up sin. Their
thought should be turned to Jesus and their faith fixed on Him and grounded in His Word.
Give them His sure promises, such as, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Above all you must be simple and make things very plain for the children. They do not know the
meaning of many big words that you understand quite well, therefore you must take pains to make
yourself understood.
The other day I was talking to some juniors, and I gave them this text, "Remember now thy Creator
in the days of thy youth." I asked them if they knew what the word "Creator" meant, and none of
them knew, neither did they know what the word "youth" meant. So I had to explain that the text
meant that they were to remember and think about God and love Him while they were little boys
and girls.
Again I gave them the text, "Behold how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." But
none of them knew the meaning of the word "unity."
One said that meant home, and that was a pretty good guess, but I had to explain that the text
meant that it was good and pleasant for little brothers and sisters, and big ones, too, to live together
in peace, without quarreling and fighting, and they understood that.
The following story from a Boston paper will illustrate my meaning further: "The songs which were
sung for Dewey by the school children included so many references to Columbia that a teacher in a
certain South End public school thought that she would find out how many of her pupils understood
what the word Columbia meant. She put the question and received these answers among others:
"A ship."
"A man that came over from Spain and discovered our country."
"A bisikkel."
"A captain"
But not one pupil in the class (seventh grade) knew that Columbia was another name for the United
States of America.
You will have to put on your thinking caps, and set your brains to work to make your teaching simple
for the children; but love will help you.
Some time ago I heard a Junior worker singing lustily to a lot of juniors:
Get your baggage on the deck And don't forget to get your check, etc., but he didn't explain that it
simply meant that they were to give themselves to Jesus, and throw away their sins, and be sure and
get His love in their hearts. So when he got through I felt sure that there was nothing but a confused
rattle of "baggage, deck, check, quick," in the ears of the juniors, with no useful or saving idea in
their little heads and hearts.
If you will pray to God for wisdom and love He will help you to make the deepest spiritual truths
plain to the children.
Through simplifying my talks God gives me the joy of seeing many juniors seeking Him for salvation,
and occasionally I have seen some gloriously sanctified.
Some time ago, in one of my Sunday afternoon meetings, I had a penitent-form full of juniors, with
each of whom I dealt personally. I asked one little fellow:
"What are you here for, darling?"
"To get saved," said he.
"Get saved from what?" I inquired.
"From my sins."
"And what are your sins?"
"I fight," and then he broke down and cried.
"And what are you here for?" I asked a little girl.
She too, was there to get saved, and I asked what her sins were. She hesitated a little and then said:
"I'm cruel to my sister and brother;" and then she broke down and cried.
Another little girl swore, and another disobeyed her mother. One little boy told lies, another smoked
cigarettes, and another was disobedient to his teacher; and so they told of their sins and broke down
and wept and prayed and asked God to forgive them and make them good, and I have hope that
most of them got saved.
In one of my meetings a little girl of ten got saved and sanctified and lived a holy life for about three
years and then died happy, sending me word that the Lord still sanctified her and kept her to the
end.
But after we have done all, we must remember that they are only lambs, and not sheep; that they
are growing children, not grown men and women; that they are in the formative state, tender and
inexperienced; that life and the world are full of interest to them; that they have a personality and
individuality of their own, and are not always willing to take the simple word of their elders, nor to
yield to admonition and instruction, but desire to prove their own powers, and to taste and see all
things for themselves. Therefore it will be necessary not only to talk much to them about God, but to
talk even more to God about them, and to depend upon the mighty, constant co-operation of the
Holy Spirit in securing their salvation, and keeping them in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must show all diligence in our efforts until, if possible, we can at least say with Paul to Timothy,
that "from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
The Soul-Winner's Commission To The Children
"Lovest thou Me? Feed My lambs."
Rough and ready Peter, that horny-handed old fisherman, thought he was cut out for and best fitted
to be a prime minister or secretary of state, a bishop, a colonel, or a commander, and it seems had
several disputes with the other disciples as to whether he should not be the greatest among them
(Mark 9:34; Luke 9:46). How big must have been his surprise then when he got his commission from
Jesus as a Junior worker, and received orders to feed the lambs! What a mighty argument he could
have made to prove that he was not fitted for work with the children! To be sure, he had at least
one boy of his own (see 1 Peter 5:13), and maybe several others, but then, he was a fisherman, and
the care of the children was left to his wife. In fact, he had no fitness either by nature or training, for
that kind of work; all his associates had been with the big, burly men of the sea, and what did he
know about talking to children? All his thoughts and desires and ambitions ran in another direction,
and was he not too old and set in his ways to change now?
But when Jesus, with infinite knowledge and wisdom and tenderness, looked straight into his eyes
and asked him that searching question, 'Lovest thou Me more than these?" and then in reply to his
answer, "Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee," said, "Feed My lambs," what could Peter say? So
Peter was first commissioned to be a Junior worker.
"But," you say, "did not Jesus mean young converts, when He said, 'My lambs'? and might they not
be men and women who were only newly converted?" True, it is probable that Jesus meant new
converts, but new converts include children, for the children are often converted, too, and did not
Jesus say, "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven"? So any way we may explain the text, we cannot
escape the fact that Peter was commanded to work with and for the children. And if Peter, why not
you and I, my comrade officers? Are we not commanded to look well to the flock over which the
Holy Ghost hath made us overseers? (Acts 20:28) and was there ever a flock in which there were no
lambs? If so, it was a flock doomed to speedy extinction.
Are we not commanded to do with our might what our hands find to do? And do we not find
multitudes of little ones unshepherded, unloved, untaught, and for whose tender little souls no man
cares, nor prays, nor weeps before the Lord, and whose little hands are stretched out towards us,
saying "Come, and help us"? Shall we wait till they are old in sin and hardened in wickedness and
fixed in unholy habits and bondslaves of the devil before we work and plan and pray for them and
seek their salvation? Is it possible that we have a call to the work of saving souls and yet have no
commission for the children? No, no, no! To every worker who says to Jesus, "Lord, Thou knowest
that I love Thee," in answer to His question, "Lovest thou Me?" Jesus says, "Feed My lambs." The
worker may feel that he has no fitness, no tact, no skill, no gifts for that kind of work, but the
commission lays upon him the responsibility to study and think and watch and pray and love and
believe and work himself into fitness; and by beginning with just such poor, feeble, untrained gifts as
he has, and making the most of every opportunity, and by being diligent and faithful, by courage and
pluck and good cheer and faith, and by seeking God's blessing day by day, this fitness can surely be
attained.
The poor, thick-headed numskull who never dreamed he had any music in his soul or in his fingers
till he got converted at The Salvation Army penitent-form, but who set himself to it and patiently
thrums away at a guitar or blows at a cornet for six months or a year until he can play fairly well, can
with equal diligence and patience and determination and attention, learn to interest and bless and
help the children; but he must put his heart and soul into it.
I read some time since of a minister who was sure he was called and fitted only to preach big
sermons to big folks, but one day he heard a brother minister talk so instructively and entertainingly
to the children that he determined to acquire that gift, and by thought and prayer and practice he,
too, became a powerful children's worker.
Go thou, my brother, my sister, and do likewise.
Do you ask, "How can I become such a worker?"
1. Make up your mind that you ought to do so, and that by God's grace you will; then, make it a
matter of daily prayer and thought and meditation. Above all, seek help from God.
2. Get all the help you can from others. Study their methods, but don't become a vain imitator of
anyone. Be yourself.
3. Study the best books you can find on the subject. There are many bright books that will greatly
help you which you can get at Headquarters.
4. Try to put yourself in the place of the child, and ask what would interest you. Make things very
plain and simple. Watch for illustrations that the children can understand, and that will interest
them.
5. But above all have a heart full of tender love and sympathy for the little ones, and you will be
interesting and helpful to them whether you can talk much or not. They will feel your love and
respond to it, and so you can point them to Jesus and help them in their first timid steps toward
Heaven.
In the words of Paul, "Meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may
be manifest unto all." (1 Tim. 4:15, R. V.)
The Special Campaigner
I
'And He gave some . . . Evangelists.' For many years now my own work has been the work of an
evangelist or campaigner. For five years, long before I met The Army, I resisted the Lord's call to
preach. I wanted to be a lawyer and enter politics. To my youthful mind -- foolish, darkened, proud,
ambitious -- all the supreme prizes of life lay in that direction. I respected preachers, but not their
job; it looked small to me, not a man's size. But at last a woe, a solemn, inescapable, eternal woe
faced me if I preached not, and I surrendered. Then I discovered that there were prizes, position,
and places of power in the ministry. But the job of the Evangelist seemed to me to be beneath the
dignity of a full-orbed man. Then one day, when in an agony of desire for purity of heart and the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, God graciously sanctified me. The Holy Spirit took possession of my
yielded, open heart. Christ was revealed in me, and a great passion for the saving and the sanctifying
of men burned within me. About that time a multimillionaire had built one of the finest churches in
my native State, and the congregation through him was looking for a pastor. To my surprise I found
that the vice-president of my old university had recommended me, and one day I received a call to
the pastorate of that Church. I was elated. I felt that God Himself had opened a great door of
opportunity and of usefulness to me.
While still considering this call, I went three hundred miles to a holiness convention to sit under the
ministry of some great teachers whose books had blessed me. Then God laid His hand upon me, and
I knew that I was not to accept the call to that Church, and lo! I found that which I had least
esteemed, had most despised, was the work to which God called me, and for which He had set me
apart. I must be an Evangelist. I felt ordained to this.
I was young, unknown, in debt for a part of my education. I had no one to advise me. I was utterly
alone and had no assurance that any Church would welcome my evangelistic services. But on my
knees I talked it over with the Lord as I would with an earthly friend, and by faith into evangelistic
work I plunged. Doors opened and I saw many souls saved and sanctified, and from that work, within
ten months, I was led into The Salvation Army, where I found myself in London, blacking boots,
scrubbing floors, selling 'War Crys,' as a Cadet in the International Training Garrison. After receiving
my Commission, I returned to the U.S.A. and had command of three Corps, two Divisions under a
Provincial Commander, and was Provincial Secretary or Chancellor of the two principal Metropolitan
Provinces in that country, with Headquarters in Chicago and New York.
But God's 'gifts and calling are without repentance,' and the inner urge to do the work of an
Evangelist was ever with me. The worst storm that ever struck us in America had overtaken The
Army. Our ranks were broken. Our people were full of distress and anxious questionings. Our battleline from the Atlantic to the Pacific, three thousand miles long, was in confusion, and I felt, when in
my office, a consuming desire to get out on the Field, to meet our people face to face, to hearten,
reassure and cheer, to exhort, to teach, to lead them, distraught and sore perplexed, into 'the
fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ,' and to win sinners to the Saviour. One day I sought
and obtained an audience with the Consul, asked her if I might speak to her about myself and my
work as I would of any Officer, and then told her my convictions. Within three months I was
appointed National Spiritual Special, and for about thirty years now I have been a Campaigner.
It has not been an easy job. It has oftentimes been lonely and wearying to the point of exhaustion. It
has taxed my mind, challenged my will and utmost devotion, drunk up my spirit, drained me to the
dregs till there seemed to be no virtue left in me, and I have had to slip away into solitude, like my
Master, to the mountains, for quiet communion, for the replenishing of exhausted reserves of power
and the renewing of all life's forces. It has been a fight but not a defeat, Hallelujah! I have not been
forsaken! His presence has not failed me. He has assured me that the battle was not mine but His,
and He has called on me to trust Him and be not afraid. Again and again I have heard His whisper in
my heart: 'Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be
thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Be steadfast,
unmovable. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord.' Sometimes the whisper has been sweet and full of
comfort as the tender, cooing voice of a mother to a weary, distressed child; and sometimes it has
been sharp and imperative as the staccato notes of a military command on a field of battle. I have
not been mollycoddled. I have never been for an instant permitted to think I was God's pet, and that
I could expect special favors from Him. He has called me to share His cross, and to endure hardness
as a good Soldier, not pleasing myself, not entangling myself with worldly interests or affairs that did
not concern me, but to attend strictly to the work He has given me to do.
And now, out of some thirty years of experience as a Campaigner, let me write.
II
When they sought him where he had last been seen, all they could find was a small streak of ashes;
he had been consumed by the flood of flame which swept over the doomed city, burning to ashes in
five hours 69,000 houses that in five minutes had been cast to the ground by the heaving earth. He
was an exporter of silk, a wealthy Parsee from India, with great warehouses in Yokohama. One
month before the earthquake and fire, the Swedish Officer, who told me this story, had visited him
in his office asking for a donation to help The Salvation Army in its work for sailors in that city. He
listened to the Officer's plea, and then replied: 'If you can tell me one thing you Officers of The
Salvation Army do which has not as its ultimate object the winning of men to Christ, then I will give
you a liberal donation. But you cannot do it; you wear uniform, you march the streets, you carry
banners, you beat drums and blow instruments, you conduct Meetings, you open Shelters and Soup
Kitchens, you build Citadels, conduct Training Colleges, Rescue Homes, Men's Shelters, publish books
and papers and solicit money for just one object -- to help you win men to Christ and make them
followers of Him. I do not believe in Christ. I do not need your Christ. I am rich, but I will give you
nothing.' A month later the earthquake, the all-consuming fire and the poor little handful of ashes!
The proud, self-complacent Parsee had grasped the central purpose of The Salvation Army. All its
Officers and workers have or should have this supreme object always in full view. But while there is
one spirit and one object, there are manifold ministries to express that spirit and secure that object.
There are 'some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.' Some serve
tables as did Stephen, Philip, and others; and some give themselves wholly to the ministry of the
word and prayer, as did Peter and the other Apostles (Acts vi. 1-8). But all have one object to attain - the winning of souls from sin through faith in Christ, and the binding of them in vital union to
Christ, and making them channels of His saving grace to others.
The Evangelist or Campaigner is the man who probably more directly than any other labors to
accomplish this great work. The Corps Officer, the Divisional Commander, the Departmental Officer,
the Commissioner, has many executive and administrative duties which do not bear so directly upon
the saving of men as does the work of the Campaigner. Their work is a vitally essential work in
preparing the way for and conserving the work of soul-winning, but much that they do bears only
indirectly upon the Salvation of men. The Campaigner's work, however, is direct, immediate,
unchanging. This one thing he does. The burden of caring for the flock, of collecting and
administering finance, of erecting buildings, of directing affairs, does not fall upon him as upon
others. His sole burden, his one responsibility, is for the souls of men. It is a secret burden, a
responsibility which is laid upon him and which he assumes in the silence and secret place of his own
soul. It is elusive, known and measured only by God and himself. It cannot be measured by a yard
stick. It cannot be weighed on man-made scales. It cannot be tabulated in statistics. The Campaigner
belongs to a Divine order, just as the prophet and the Apostle. He has a Divine calling. His gift is a
Divine bestowment, and he himself is one of God's gifts to men. 'And He gave some -- Evangelists ' -counterparts of The Salvation Army Campaigner, who is the Evangelist of the New Testament and
whose sole business is the saving of men, the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the body
of Christ on earth, which is composed of all true Christians.
If we judge the importance of his work in the mind of God by the place Paul assigns him when he
mentions the various orders of ministry, then he stands next to the Apostles and Prophets and
before the pastor and teacher.
When we consider his work we will see that this relationship is perfectly logical. He receives the
revelation, the good news of God's love and plan of Salvation through faith in Christ from Apostles
and Prophets, and then by bold and loving presentation of this revelation, this good news, he saves
men and turns them over to the pastor to be shepherded, and to the teacher to be instructed in the
things of God. His great work is not the training of souls but the saving of them; having accomplished
this work he passes on to other fields of labor. He does not erect the building, he provides the
material; or, to change the figure, he lays the foundations, others build thereon. He is a fisher of
men: his business is to catch them. He is a reaper of souls on the world's vast harvest fields; that is
his one work, and to that he should give himself with great joy and full and unwearied devotion. He
may have other gifts, and, if so, he should not neglect them but cultivate them to the full and make
them contribute to and support his God-given gift and calling as an Evangelist. He should not minify
his calling. He should not vex and discourage himself by comparing it with that of other men, with
that of the Divisional Commander and Commissioner who handle great affairs, control great
commands, and direct their own appointments within their commands, as I knew one Special do,
much to his own distress and the crippling, in some measure, of his splendid powers.
The Campaigner should magnify his office. It is true that he is a lone man without authority to
command and direct others and administer great business, and at times he may be oppressed with a
feeling of his own insignificance. But he has spiritual authority, the authority which eternal truth
bestows and with which God clothes chosen workers who work and labor in the power of the Holy
Ghost. However small he may feel within himself, he must not minify his office. His work is vital. It is
God-ordained, and he is walking in the footsteps of the Master who, without any semblance of
worldly power, or man-made authority, was the first Campaigner.
His one weapon is 'the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.' His enduement of power for
his work is none less than God the Holy Ghost. The Almighty Holy Ghost goes with him to hearten, to
guide, to give him insight and wisdom and courage, boldness in attack, patience in difficulty, and
faith and hope in the blackest night. However lonely at times he may feel, he is not alone, 'never, no,
never alone.' He must stir up his faith and recognize the Divine Presence, humbly acknowledge his
dependence, boldly claim Divine help, and draw freely upon the Divine resources placed at the
disposal of his faith.
III
It is the Campaigner himself, and not the details of his campaign, about which I write. Probably no
two Campaigners if left to themselves would plan a campaign exactly alike. Personally, I have never
attempted anything spectacular, although I would not discourage this in others. Pageants,
spectacular marches and uniforms, striking subjects, special music, all may be most useful to reach
the crowd. Cottage Prayer Meetings and Half Nights of Prayer before a Campaign, with personal
visitations, announcements, and invitations, I have found most helpful. They stir up interest and a
devout, prayerful, expectant spirit that make victory assured.
The Campaigner cannot make this initial preparation himself. The Divisional Officer, the Corps
Commander, Locals and Soldiers, should do this work in advance of the Campaign, and if they do it
with heart and soul, and their own hearts are prepared for the visitation of the Spirit, victory is
already in sight.
In all my campaigns it is this preliminary work and this heart preparation for which I have pleaded,
and for which I have in secret prayed.
IV
1. The Campaigner must spend time and give all diligence to the preparation of his own heart. If his
own heart is broken, he can then break the hearts of others. If his heart is aflame, he can kindle a
flame in other hearts. A striking program, a brilliant address, a beautiful song may dazzle the crowd
and play on the surface of their emotions, but it is only the passion of the Cross that will bring them
in contrition and brokenness of heart to the Cross. Other things are important, but this preparation
of the heart is the one thing without which all other things are empty and vain.
The Founder always blamed himself if he did not succeed. It is true that other factors are at work for
or against the campaign, and the Campaigner should not be too quick to assume all the blame of
failure. We know there were places where the Master could do not mighty works, because unbelief
frustrated Him. And so it may be with the Campaigner. But usually, if he is warm and tender, joyous
and bold, and 'full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' no man will be able to stand before him. Results
rich and enduring will reward his labor (Joshua i. 5).
The Campaigner must study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed. God is not a hard Master, but He will not, cannot, lightly approve us. We must not
presume on His good will: but with all watchfulness and diligence so work that He can approve, and
that our hearts will not condemn, but will reassure us.
2. The Campaigner must exercise his spiritual sense lest, having eyes to see, he see not, and having
ears to hear, he hear not. He must have eyes that pierce through appearances: that can see the
horses and chariots of fire where others see only the arrogant, encircling hosts of Syria. He must
have ears to hear the assuring voice of his Captain, and distinguish it from the voices of self-interest,
of expediency, and of the fiend who sometimes simulates, and is 'transformed into an angel of light.'
The Apostle speaks in commendation of those 'who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.' But beyond discernment of good and evil, the Campaigner must have
eyes to see victory where others see foredoomed defeat. The smallest crowd may have
immeasurable possibilities in it. A Luther, a Wesley, a William Booth, may be looking out through the
eyes of some little child or some awkward, shy, or mischievous, adolescent boy. An Elizabeth Fry, a
Catherine Booth, or a Hannah Ouchterlony may spring forth from the chrysalis of some reserved girl
who listens with rapt attention. Personally, I seldom speak to a congregation without thinking that I
may be addressing directly or indirectly some one who shall yet be a prophet of the Highest, a herald
to nations. Possibly I have been somewhat influenced by the results of my first sermon in my first
appointment as a young preacher. In that first service two people, a young man and a young woman,
yielded to Christ, were saved, and the young man, principal of the public school, preached for me
before the end of the year and went later as a missionary to India. Sometimes we reach them
indirectly. We get some nobody saved and God uses that nobody to reach somebody who becomes
'Great in the sight of the Lord.' Let us have no hesitancy in permitting our spiritual imagination to
reinforce our faith and enkindle our hope and so sustain our courage in the face of massed and
mocking foes and threatened defeat.
3. The true Campaigner is a humble man. He seeks nothing for himself. He is willing for others to
carry off the so-called prizes of this life. He is not a lord over Christ's heritage; he is a shepherd of the
sheep, 'an ensample to the flock.' He holds no dominion over the faith of his brethren, but he is a
helper of their joy (2 Corinthians i. 24). Like John the Baptist, he is quite willing to decrease, if only
Christ increases; his joy is that of the friend of the Bridegroom (John iii. 29, 30). Like Paul he is
jealous over his comrades with a godly jealousy, desirous above all things to espouse them to one
husband and present them as a chaste virgin to Christ; and he fears lest by any means that old
serpent who beguiled Eve through his subtlety, should corrupt them from the simplicity that is in
Christ (2 Corinthians xi. 2, 3). And like Epaphras, he labors fervently in prayer that they may stand
perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians iv. 12).
4. Finally, this lonely man, coming to a Division and Corps, with no power to command, but only to
preach and pray, to help and inspire and to seek the lost, should be received as the messenger of
God, and supported by love and prayers and understanding sympathy and helped in his mission in
every possible way, that Christ may be glorified, souls won, little children gathered into the fold, and
all comrades quickened and sanctified.
The Studies Of The Soul-Winner
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth. -- Paul to Timothy." (2 Tim. 2:15.)
"Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee.
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." (1
Tim. 4:13,15.)
No man or woman need hope to be a permanently successful soul-winner who is not a diligent
student of the truth, of the will and ways of God, of men and of methods. A man cannot successfully
build a house, or write a poem, or govern a city, or manage a store, or even shoe a horse or make a
mousetrap without thoughtful study.
A doctor must think and study, and that diligently and continuously, if he would understand the
delicate human organism and the subtle diseases to which it is subject and the various remedies by
which these diseases are to be antagonized.
A lawyer must be a diligent student if he would win cases before judges and juries in the face of selfinterest and skillful opponents.
How much more then should the soul-winner study in order that he may understand the diseases of
the soul, the ramifications of evil, the deceitfulness of the human heart and the application of the
great remedy God has provided to meet all the needs of the soul; or, to change the figure, how must
he study to win his case at the bar of man's conscience, when the man's own deceitful heart is the
opposing counsel, assisted by that old adversary, the devil, who for six thousand years has been
deceiving the children of men and leading them down to hell!
Oh, that every man who sets himself to be a soul-winner might fully recognize the tremendous odds
against which he fights and set himself by much believing prayer and joyous diligent study to show
himself a man "approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed!" Thank God no
one called of Him need be discouraged or dismayed. Only let him not bury his talent in a napkin, nor
spend his time in idle dreaming, but let him stir up the gift that is in him and faithfully give a little
time each day to those studies that will enlighten the mind and fit him for the work God has called
him to, and he shall surely be blessed of God and find himself "furnished unto every good work."
1.The first thing and the last to be studied is the Bible. The doctor may know all about law and art,
history and theology, but if he is unacquainted with his medical books he is a failure as a doctor. The
lawyer may have devoured libraries, traveled the wide world over and become a walking
encyclopedia and dictionary, but if he is unacquainted with his law books, as a lawyer he is a failure.
So the worker for souls may read ten thousand books, may be able to quote poetry by the mile, may
be acquainted with all the facts of science and history, and may even be a profound theologian, but
unless he is a diligent student of the Bible, he will not permanently succeed as a soul-winner. He
must become full of the thoughts of God. He must eat the Word and digest it and turn it into
spiritual blood and bone and muscle and nerve and sinew, until he becomes, as someone has said,
"A living Bible, eighteen inches wide by six feet long, bound in human skin"
Finney used to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and read his Bible until 8. During one of his revival
services in Boston he said: "I gave myself to a great deal of prayer. After my evening services I would
retire as early as I could, but rose at 4 o'clock in the morning because I could sleep no longer, and
immediately went to the study and engaged in prayer. And so deeply was my mind exercised, and so
absorbed in prayer, that I frequently continued from the time I arose at 4 o'clock, till called to
breakfast at 8 o'clock My days were spent as far as I could get time, in searching the Scriptures I read
nothing else all that winter but my Bible, and a great deal of it seemed new to me. Again the Lord
took me, as it were, from Genesis to Revelation. He let me see the connection of things, the
promises, the threatenings, the prophecies and the fulfillment; and indeed the whole Scripture
seemed to me all ablaze with light. and not only light, but it seemed as if God's Word was instinct
with the very life of God."
This diligent attention to the Word of God is a command He said to Joshua, "This book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night" The object of this
earnest study was, "That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein," and the
result, "for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success."
David's "blessed man" is not one who simply refuses to keep company with the ungodly and abstains
from their ways, "but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law doth he meditate day and
night." (Ps. 1:2.) And the difference between him and the ungodly is the difference between a
fruitful tree planted by the river and "the chaff which the wind driveth away."
Jesus declared the importance of the Word when He told the devil that "man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Mrs. General Booth read her Bible through a number of times before she was twelve years old. No
wonder God made her a "mother of nations." She was full of truth, and she could never open her
mouth without saying something that was calculated to expose shams and falsehoods, overthrow
the devil's kingdom of lies and build up God's kingdom of righteousness and truth in the hearts of
men.
Whitefield read the Bible through many times on his knees with Henry's notes. Again and again the
writer has read his Bible through on his knees, and it is ever new and as David said, "sweeter also
than honey or the honeycomb." And like Job he can say "I have esteemed the words of His mouth
more than my necessary food"
Wesley in his old age called himself "A man of one book." It is from this armory that the soul-winner
is to draw his weapons with which he fights all hell. It is here that he is to study the mind and heart
of God, the truth about Jesus Christ, sin and the way of escape from it, and the facts about heaven
and hell, a Judgment Day and eternity. Here he is to find a law for the lawless, warnings for the
careless, promises for the penitent, encouragement for the distressed, balm for the wounded,
healing for the sick, life for the dead. He is to "preach the Word," for it is "profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto every good work" And in preaching it, if he preaches as they did of old,
"with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven," he will find it living and active and "sharper than any
two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and
quick to discern th e thoughts and intents of the heart." I have sometimes read or quoted the Word
of God to people, and it fitted their case so pat that it smote them like a lightning bolt.
"Is not My Word like a fire? saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"
But the soul-winner must not study it simply that he may preach it, but that he may himself live by it,
be furnished, strengthened, enlightened, corrected and made wise by it. It must pass through his
own soul and become a part of his own spiritual life before he can preach it with power and apply it
effectually to the saving of men. And in order to do this he must be filled with the Holy Ghost. In
fact, it is only as he is filled with the Spirit that he will be able to get much benefit from the Word of
God or have much love for it.
The Bible is a sealed book to unspiritual people, but when the Comforter comes it is unsealed and its
wondrous meaning made clear. I read recently of a lad, who could not read, receiving the baptism of
the Holy Ghost. Then he got his unsaved sister to read the Bible to him and he explained it to her.
Hallelujah! The Holy Ghost in him enabled him to understand what the Holy Ghost in holy men of old
enabled them to write. Only the Holy Ghost can help men to understand His Book.
An old colored lady loved her Bible very much. A friend who found her reading it frequently, gave
her a commentary to assist her in getting at its meaning. A few days later seeing her, he asked,
"Well, Auntie, how do you like that book I gave you?" She replied, "Oh, dat be a very good book, but
de Bible do throw a lot o' light on dat 'er book."
The Bereans show us the way to read the Bible (Acts 17:11). 1. They received the Word with all
readiness. 2. They searched the Scriptures. It was not with them just a hasty, careless, thoughtless
reading; they searched as men would search for hidden treasure. 3. They did this daily.
Personally for years I have given the best hour of the day to the Bible, until I want it more than I
want my food.
It should be read early in the day, before other things crowd in What is read should be remembered.
In eating it is not the amount we eat, but the amount we digest that does us good, and just so is it in
reading and studying. It is not the amount we read, but what we remember and make our own that
does us good.
2. Besides the Bible, the soul-winner ought to lay out a course of reading for himself, and stick to it,
reading a few pages each day. Ten pages a day will mean from ten to fifteen books a year.
Every Salvation Army officer ought to read the General's "Letters," "Holiness Readings," the "F. O.,"
and Mrs. Booth's works. "Books that Bless," by the Chief, will prove invaluable.
"Holy Living and Dying," by Taylor; Law's "Call," "Saint's Rest," by Baxter; Edwards' "Life of Brainerd,"
Wesley's works, "Life of Fletcher," "Life of Bramwell," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Half Hours with St. Paul,"
by Daniel Steele; "Holiness and Power," by Rev. A M. Hills, and Finney's and Caughey's works will
make a library that can be read again and again with untold profit by soul-winners.
Not too much time should be spent over newspapers. It would probably not be wise to discard them
altogether, but better do that than let them rob you of the time that should be spent in deep study
and earnest prayer. I once heard the General say, "I have not read a newspaper for ten days." All
useful knowledge may prove valuable to the soul-winner, and he should seek information
everywhere. It is well to carry a notebook and constantly make notes. Gladstone made notes on the
margins of books he read.
The soul-winner should study not only books, but men and methods. John Wesley became a
supreme master in practical and experimental theology and a matchless soul-winner largely through
his study of men. He examined thousands of people -- men, women and children, with reference to
their religious experience, and especially their experiences of sanctification, until he became
acquainted with the human heart and the workings of the Holy Spirit as few men have ever done. I
know of no better and surer method of acquainting one's self with the human heart and the way the
Holy Spirit works with men to save than by this close, personal, private conversation and inquiry
about the religious experiences of the Christians around us. This is the scientific method applied to
the study of the human heart, the Christian life and religious experience, and it can be carried on
wherever you can find a human being to talk with you. "He that winneth souls is wise."
The Temptations Of A Sanctified Man
How can a man that is "dead to sin" be "tempted?" asked an earnest but unsanctified Christian of
me some time ago. "If the very tendencies and inclinations to sin be destroyed, what is there in the
man to respond to a solicitation to evil?
This is a question which every man will ask sooner or later, and when God showed me the answer, it
threw great light on my pathway and helped me to defeat Satan in many a pitched battle.
The fact is, that the truly sanctified man who is "dead to sin" does not have any inclinations in him
that respond to the ordinary temptations of men. As Paul declares, "We wrestle not against flesh
and blood" -- against the sensual, fleshly and worldly temptations which used to have such power
over him -- but "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against wicked spirits in heavenly -- as in his closet, in secret prayer-places" (Eph. vi. 12,
marginal reading).
If he were once a drinking man, he is no longer tempted in the least to get drunk, for he is "dead"
and his life" is hid with Christ in God" (Col. iii. 3).
If he were ever proud and vain, delighting in dress and jewels, he is no longer allured by the cheap
glitter and the vain pomp and glory of this world, for he has set his affection on things above, not on
things on the earth (Col. iii. 2). Such things now have no more attraction for him than the brass
trinkets, eagle feathers and war-paint of an Indian.
If be once coveted the honor and praise of men, he now counts such as dung and dross, that he may
win Christ and have the honor that comes from God only.
If he once desired riches and ease, he now gladly gives up all earthly possessions and comforts, that
he may have treasure in Heaven and not be "entangled with the affairs of this life"; "that he may
please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (2 Tim. ii. 4). I do not mean to say that Satan will
never hold up any of these worldly and fleshly pleasures and honors to induce the soul to leave
Christ, for he will. But what I do mean to say is, that the soul being now "dead to sin," having the
very roots of sin destroyed, does not respond to the suggestion of Satan, but instantly rejects it.
Satan may send along a beautiful adulteress, as he did to Joseph in Egypt; but this sanctified man will
flee away and cry out, as Joseph did, "How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
(Gen. xxxix. 9).
Or, Satan may offer him great power and honor and riches, as he did to Moses in Egypt; but
comparing these with the infinite fullness of glory and power he has found in Christ, the sanctified
man will instantly reject the Devil's offer: "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt" (Heb. xi. 25, 26).
Or again, Satan may tempt his palate with the dainty wines and rich viands of a king's palace, as he
did Daniel in Babylon; but, like Daniel, this sanctified man will have at once "purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he
drank" (Dan. i. 8).
All these worldly baits were held out to Jesus (Matt. iv. 1-11 and Luke iv. 2-13), but we see in the
account of the apostles how gloriously He triumphed over every suggestion of the Tempter. And just
as He rejected Satan's temptations and gained the victory, so will the sanctified man, for he has
Christ Himself come to dwell in his heart and to fight his battles, and can now say with the Master,
"The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me" (John xiv. 30).
In fact, he has found such satisfaction, such peace and joy, such comfort, such purity and power in
Christ, that the power of temptation along any of the old lines is completely broken, and he now
enjoys the liberty of the sons of God; he is free as any archangel, for "if the Son ... shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed "(John vii. 36), even with "the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free" (Gal. v. 1).
But while Christ has set this sanctified man at liberty, and he no longer has to fight against his old
worldly passions and fleshly appetites, yet he has a continual warfare with Satan to keep this liberty.
This warfare is what Paul calls" the good fight of faith" (I Tim. vi. 12).
He must fight to hold fast his faith in the Father's love. He must fight to hold fast his faith in the
Saviour's cleansing Blood.
He must fight to hold fast his faith in the Holy Spirit's sanctifying and keeping power.
Although not seen by the world, this fight is as real as that of Waterloo or Gettysburg, and its farreaching consequences for good or evil are infinitely greater.
By faith, the sanctified man is made an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ (Rom. viii. 17) of
all things, and his faith makes his Heavenly Father and this heavenly inheritance so real to him, that
the influence of these unseen things far surpasses the influence of the things he sees with his eyes,
hears with his ears, and handles with his hands.
The sanctified man says with Paul, and fully realizes it in his heart as he says it, that "the things
which are seen are temporal," and will soon perish; "but the things which are not seen" with our
natural eyes, but are seen by the eye of faith, "are eternal" (2 Cor. iv. 18) and will remain when" the
elements shall melt with fervent heat" (2 Pet. iii. 10), and "the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll" (Isa. xxxiv. 14).
Now in the very nature of the case, these things can only be held by faith; but so long as the
sanctified man thus holds them, Satan's power over him is utterly broken. This the devil knows quite
well, so he begins systematic warfare against the faith of such a man.
He will accuse him of sin, when the man's conscience is as clear of willfully breaking God's law as is
the conscience of an angel. But Satan knows if he can get him to listen to this accusation and lose
faith in the cleansing Blood of Jesus, he has him at his mercy. Satan will in this way accuse a
sanctified man, and then turn right about and declare that it is the Holy Spirit, instead of himself,
condemning the man! He is "the accuser of the brethren" (Rev. xii. 10). Here is the difference we
want to notice:
The devil accuses us of sin.
The Holy Spirit condemns us for sin.
If I tell a lie, get proud, or break any of God's commandments, the Holy Spirit will condemn me at
once. Satan will accuse me of having sinned when I have not, and he cannot prove it.
For instance, a sanctified man talks to a sinner about his soul, urges him to flee from the wrath to
come, and give his heart to God; but the sinner will not. Then Satan begins to accuse the Christian:
"You did not say the right things to that sinner; if you had, he would have given in to God."
It is of no use arguing with the devil. The only thing the man can do is to look away from the accuser
to the Saviour and say:
"Dear Lord, Thou knowest that I did the best I could at the time, and if I did anything wrong or left
anything unsaid, I trust Thy Blood this moment to cleanse me."
If Satan is met this way at the beginning of his accusation, the man's faith will gain a victory, and he
will rejoice in the Saviour's cleansing Blood and the Spirit's keeping power; but if he listen to the
devil until his conscience and faith are both wounded, it may take a long time for his faith to regain
the strength which will enable him to shout and triumph over all the power of the enemy.
When Satan has injured the faith of the sanctified man, he will begin to blacken the character of
God. He will suggest to the man that the Father no longer loves him with that mighty love He had for
His Son Jesus; yet Jesus declares that He does. Then he will suggest that, maybe, the Blood does not
cleanse him from all sin and that the Holy Spirit cannot -- or, at least, does not -- keep anybody
spotless and blameless, and that, after all, there is no such thing as a holy life down here in this
world.
As a further result of this wounded faith, the man's secret prayer loses much of its blessedness; his
intense desire to deal with souls will grow dull; the joy of testifying for Christ will grow less, and dry
talk will take the place of burning testimony, and the Bible will cease to be a constant source of
blessing and strength. Then the devil will tempt him to actual sin, through the neglect of some of
these duties.
Now if the man listens to Satan and begins to doubt, woe be to his faith! If he does not cry mightily
to God, if he does not search the Bible to know God's will and find His promises, and plead them day
and night, as Jesus did, "who in the days of His flesh ... offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death" (Heb. v. 7); if he does not
hurl these promises at Satan and resolutely shut his ears to every suggestion to doubt God, it is only
a question of time when he will be numbered among those who have a name to live and are dead
(Rev. iii. 1); "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. iii. 5); whose prayer
and testimonies are dead; whose Bible study and exhortations and works are dead, because there is
no living faith in them; or he will become an out-and-out backslider.
What shall the sanctified man do to overcome the devil?
Listen to what Peter says: "Be sober, be vigilant" (that means, keep your eyes open), "because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist
stedfast in the faith" (I Pet. v. 8, 9).
Hear James: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" ([[iv. 7 >> Bible:James 4:7]]).
Listen to Paul: "Fight the good fight of faith" (I Tim. v. 12). "The just shall live by faith (Rom. i. 17).
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked" (Eph. vi. 16).
And John: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John v. 4). "And they
overcame him" (the devil, the accuser of the brethren) "by the Blood of the Lamb" (in which Blood
they had childlike faith), "and by the word of their testimony" (for if a man will not testify his faith
will soon die), "and they loved not their lives unto the death "(Rev. xii. 11); they obeyed God at all
costs, and denied themselves to the uttermost.
Paul attaches the same importance to testimony when he says: "Let us hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering" (Heb. x. 23).
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
God" (Heb. iii. 12).
" Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward (Heb. x. 35).
The Terror Of The Lord
Knowing.... the terror of the Lord, we persuade men (2 Corinthians v. 11.)
'The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth,' (Psalm ix. 16.)
The majesty of God's law can be measured only by the terrors of His judgments. God is rich in mercy,
but He is equally terrible in wrath. So high as is His mercy, so deep is His wrath. Mercy and wrath are
set over against each other as are the high mountains and the deep seas. They match each other as
do day and night, as do winter and summer, or right and left, or top and bottom. If we do not accept
mercy, we shall surely be overtaken by wrath.
God's law cannot be broken with impunity. 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' We can no more avoid
the judgment of God's violated law than we can avoid casting a shadow when we stand in the light
of the sun, or than we can avoid being burned if we thrust our hand in the fire. Judgment follows
wrong-doing as night follows day.
This truth should be preached and declared continually and everywhere. It should not be preached
harshly, as though we were glad of it; nor thoughtlessly, as though we had learned it as a parrot
might learn it; nor lightly, as though it were really of no importance; but it should be preached
soberly, earnestly, tearfully, intelligently, as a solemn, certain, awful fact to be reckoned with in
everything we think and say and do.
The terrible judgments of God against the Canaanites were but flashes of His wrath against their
terrible sins. People with superfine sensibilities mock at what they consider the barbarous ferocity of
God's commands against the inhabitants of Canaan, but let such people read the catalogue of the
Canaanites' sins as recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus (verses 6-25), and they will then
understand why God's anger waxed so hot. The Canaanites practiced the most shameless and
inconceivable wickedness, until, as God says, 'the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.'
'Fools make a mock of sin ' wrote Solomon (Proverbs xiv. 9), and professedly wise men still lead
simple souls astray as the serpent beguiled Eve, saying, 'Ye shall not surely die.' (Genesis iii. 4.)
But men who understand the unchangeable holiness of God's character and law tremble and fear
before Him at the thought of sin. They know that He is to be feared; 'the terror of the Lord' is before
them. And this is not inconsistent with the perfect love that casteth out fear. Rather it is inseparably
joined with that love, and the man who is most fully possessed of that love is the one who fears
most -- with that reverential fear that leads him to depart from sin. For he who is exalted to the
greatest heights of divine love and fellowship in Jesus Christ sees most plainly the awful depths of
the divine wrath against sin and the bottomless pit to which sinners out of Christ are hastening.
This vision and sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and of God's wrath against wickedness
begets not a panicky, slavish fear that makes a man hide from God, as Adam and Eve hid among the
trees of Eden, but a holy, filial fear that leads the soul to come out into the open and run to God to
seek shelter in His arms, and to be washed in the Blood of 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world.'
Lo! on a narrow neck of land, 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand, Yet how insensible! A point of
time, a moment's space, Removes me to that heavenly place, Or shuts me up in Hell!
Before me place in dread array The scenes of that tremendous day, When Thou with clouds shalt
come To judge the people at Thy bar; And tell me, Lord, shall I be there To hear Thee say, 'Well
done!
Be this my one great business here, With holy joy and holy fear, To make my calling sure; Thine
utmost counsel to fulfill, To suffer all Thy righteous will, And to the end endure.
The Worst Drunkard In Town Got Saved Last Night And-Many years ago I was visiting Riverside, California, for a brief campaign, and was met at the train by
the Captain in charge at about ten o'clock in the morning. His face was glowing as he said to me: 'We
got the worst old drunkard in town saved last night; and I have seen him twice this morning, and he
is doing fine.' How could the poor old drunkard do otherwise, with a Captain bubbling over with
faith, love, and good cheer, following him up like that! Don't forget, he saw the old saved drunkard
twice the next morning. 'Twice'! That is the way new-born babies are cared for, and that is the way
to care for new-born souls.
This Officer came east to Pennsylvania; and a Spiritual Special visited his Corps, had about fifty
Converts, and the Captain did not lose one, but enrolled them all as Soldiers. On another occasion he
labored until after midnight with a drunkard, and then carried him to his lodging-place on his back.
The proprietor of the lodging-house refused to receive him, but the Captain carried the chap upstairs
to his room, put him to bed, followed him up; and made a Salvation Army Blood-and-Fire Soldier out
of him.
On the way home that night, long after midnight, the Captain had to cross a great irrigation ditch,
and when he came to the bridge he heard a splash and a groan. Rushing forward he found a man's
feet sticking up, but his head under the bridge and under the water. He pulled the man out of the
water and got the water out of him, prayed with him, got him saved, and the man became an
earnest Christian. The poor fellow in a fit of discouragement was trying to commit suicide.
This Captain is now a Lieut.-Colonel, and a Divisional Commander; and is still passionately seeking
souls, and looking after Converts.
I would like to commend to all my comrades on the Field a re-reading of the life of the Angel
Adjutant; and call to your special attention the faithful way in which she watched for souls, and
shepherded her Converts. She was a good shepherd and 'the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the
sheep.'
New Converts need care just as new babies do. Many years ago I was taken off of my Provincial
Campaigns and put in charge of the Chicago No.1 Corps; and was Commanding Officer for three
weeks while awaiting the arrival of the Officer who had been appointed to the Corps. One night a
man fifty years of age was converted. He had been a builder and contractor but had met with
reverses, and in his discouragement came to The Army and yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ. I took
special interest in him; gave him a word of cheer, and a hearty handshake in every Meeting, but one
night he failed to come, and I was anxious.
I could not call to see him that night, but I did write him a little note, before going to bed, and
enclosed a little tract. I told him how greatly I missed him, expressed my hope that he was well, and
urged him to look unto Jesus if he were passing through any temptation, and told him I was praying
for him and looked forward to seeing him the following evening. And, sure enough, he was present
the next night, and then he told me how he had been passing through a fierce temptation the day
before, and was just about to give up and go back to his old life, when my letter with the little tract
came with its message of love and faith, 'and that,' said he, 'saved me.' He became a Soldier and for
years was a devoted Christian and worker for the Lord. The little note and tract and a two cent
stamp saved him.
If the flock is to be preserved, the lambs must be shepherded.
If babies are to live, they must be nursed with tender care.
If the world is to be saved, we must have Converts and they must be guarded with sleepless
vigilance, and followed with ceaseless and loving care.
Union With Jesus
Jesus said, 'I and My Father are one' (John x. 30), and it is His loving purpose that you and I shall be
able to say that too, and say it now in this present time, in the face of the devil and in holy,
triumphant defiance of a frowning world and of shrinking, trembling flesh.
There is a union with Jesus as intimate as that of the branch and the vine, or as that of the various
members of the body with the head, or as that between Jesus and the Father. This is shown by such
Scriptures as that in which Jesus said, 'I am the Vine, ye are the branches' (John xv. 5), and in His
great intercessory prayer, where He prays, 'that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and
I in Thee, that they also may be one in us' (John xvii. 21).
It is also shown in such passages as that in which Paul, speaking of Jesus, says that God 'hath put all
things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body'
(Eph. i. 22, 23), and again that we 'may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ'
(Eph. iv. 15), and again, 'For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one' (Heb.
ii. 11). It is also shown clearly in Paul's testimony, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. ii. 20).
This union is, of course, not physical, but spiritual, and can be known to the one who has entered
into it by the direct witness of the Spirit; but it can be known to others only by its effects and fruits in
the life.
This spiritual union is mysterious and yet simple, and many of our everyday relationships partially
illustrate it. Where two people have interests or purposes the same, they are to that extent one. A
Republican or Democrat is one with every other man of his party throughout the whole country in so
far as they hold similar principles. This is an imperfect sort of union. And yet it is union. Our General
may be in any part of the world, pushing forward his mighty schemes of conquest for Jesus, and
every other Salvationist, however humble he may be, just in so far as he has the same spirit and
ideals as the General, is one with him. A husband and wife, or a boy and his mother, may be
separated by continents and seas, and yet be one. For six months three thousand miles of wild
waves rolled between me and a little woman I rejoiced to call 'wife,' but my heart was as absolutely
true to her and my confidence in her fidelity was as supreme as now when we sit side by side -- and
we were one.
But more perfect, more tender, more holy and infinitely more self-consuming and ennobling and
enduring is the union of the soul with Jesus than is any other possible relationship. It is like the union
of the bay with the sea. It is a union of nature, a commingling of spirit, an eternal marriage of heart,
and soul, and mind.
I. It is a union of will. Jesus said, 'I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of
Him that sent Me' (John vi. 38), and again,' My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me' (John iv.
34). And so it is with those who are one with Jesus. The Psalmist said, 'I delight to do Thy will, O my
God' (Ps. xl. 8), and that is the testimony of every one who has entered into this divine union. There
may, and doubtless will, be times when this will is hard for flesh and blood, but even then the soul
says with its Lord, 'Not my will, but Thine, be done' (Luke xxii. 42), and prays always, 'Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven' (Matt. vi. 10).
In the very nature of things there can be no union with Jesus without this union of will, for there is
really very little of a man but his will. That is really all he can call his own. His mind, with all its
splendid powers and possibilities, may be reduced to idiocy; he may be robbed of his property. His
health, and even his life may be taken away from him, but who can enter into the domain of his will
and rob him of that?
I say it reverently, so far as we know, not even God Himself can compel a man's will. God wants to
enter into a partnership, an infinitely tender and exalting fellowship, a spiritual marriage with the
will of man. He approaches man with tremendous inducements and motives of infinite profit and
loss, and yet the man may resist and utterly thwart the loving thought and purpose of God. He can
refuse to surrender his will. But surrender he must, if there is to be a union between him and God,
for God's will, based as it is on eternal righteousness, founded in infinite knowledge and wisdom and
love, is unchangeable, and man's highest good is in a hearty and affectionate surrender to it and a
union with it.
II. It is a union of faith -- of mutual confidence and esteem. God trusts him, and he trust God. God
can entrust him with the honour of His name and His holy character in the midst of a world of rebels.
God can empower him and beautify him with His Spirit and adorn him with all heavenly graces,
without any fear that the man will take the glory of these things to himself. God can heap upon him
riches and treasures and honors without any fear that the man will use them for selfish ends or
prostitute them to unholy purposes.
Again, the man trusts God. He trusts God when he cannot trace Him. He has confidence in the
faithfulness and love of God in adversity as well as in prosperity. He does not have to be fed on
sweetmeats and live in sunshine and sleep on roses in order to believe that God is for him. God can
mingle bitter with all His sweets, and allow the thorns to prick him, and the storm-clouds to roll all
about him, and yet he will stubbornly trust on. Like Job, his property may be swept away in a day,
and his children die about him, and yet with Job he will say, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord' (Job. i. 21), and still trust on.
His own life may be menaced and be filled with weariness and pain, and his faithless wife bid him
curse God and die, and yet he will say, 'What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall
we not receive evil?' (Job. ii. 10), and still trust on.
His friends may gather about him and attack his Christian integrity and character, and foolishly
assault the foundations of his faith by assuring him that if he were right with God these calamities
could never befall him. Yet he will look up from his ash-heap and out of his utter wreck and ruin and
desolation, cry, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' (Job. xiii. 15). And though communities or
nations conspire against him, he will say with David, 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? . . Though an host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be
confident' (Ps. xxvii. 1, 3).
A woman said to me the other day, 'I dread to think of the end of the world. It makes me afraid.' But
though worlds, like drunken men, tumble from their orbits, and though the universe crash into ruin,
the child-like confidence of the man who trusts God will enable him to sing with the Psalmist, 'God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth
be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters
thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof ' (Ps. xlvi. 1-3).
God can be familiar with such a man. He can take all sorts of liberties with his property, his
reputation, his position, his friends, his health, his life, and allow devils and men to taunt him; but
the man unchangeably fixed in his estimate of God's holy character and everlasting love, will still
triumphantly trust on.
III. It is a union of suffering, of sympathy. Once when I was passing through what seemed to me a
perfect hell of spiritual temptation and sufferings, the Lord supported me with this text, 'In all their
affliction He was afflicted' (Isa. lxiii. 9). The prophet refers in these words to the afflictions of the
children of Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness after their escape from the hard bondage of
Pharaoh, and he says in all their sufferings Jesus suffered with them.
Let her child be racked with pain and scorched with fever and choked with croup, but the mother
suffers more than the child; and so let the people of God be sore tempted and tried, and Jesus
agonizes with them. He is the world's great Sufferer. His passion is for ever. He once tasted death for
every man. He suffers still with every man. There is not a cry of anguish, nor a heartache, nor a pang
of spiritual pain in all the world that does not reach His ear and touch His heart, and stir all His
mighty sympathies. But especially does He suffer and sympathize with His own believing children.
And in turn the man who is one with Jesus suffers and sympathizes with Jesus.
Any injury to the cause of Christ causes him more pain than any personal loss. He mourns over the
desolations of Zion more than over the loss of his property. The lukewarmness of Christians cuts him
to the heart. The cry of the heathen for the gospel of salvation is to him the cry of the travail, the
agony of Jesus Himself. He gladly says, with David, 'The reproaches of them that reproached Thee
have fallen upon me' (Ps. lxix. 9). He esteems the reproach of Christ greater treasure than all the
pleasure and power and profits of this world combined. As the true wife gladly suffers privation and
shame and reproach with her husband whom she knows to be righteous and honorable, so he who
is one with Jesus rejoices that he is 'counted worthy to suffer shame for His name' (Acts v.41). He
suffers and sympathizes with Jesus.
IV. It is a union of purpose. The great mass of men serve God for reward; they do not want to go to
Hell; they want to go to Heaven. And that is right. But it is not the highest motive. There is a union
with Jesus in which the soul is not so anxious to escape Hell as it is to be free from sin, and in which
Heaven is not so desirable as holiness. The soul in this state thinks very little about its reward. His
smile of approval is its Heaven. The housekeeper wants wages, but the wife never thinks of such a
thing. She serves for very love. She is one in purpose with her husband. His triumphs are hers. His
losses are hers. All he has is hers and she is his. And, as the Apostle says, 'For all things are yours, . . .
and ye are Christ's' (I Cor. iii. 21, 23). The will of God is the supreme good of this man. Some one has
said that if two angels were sent into this world, one of whom was to rule it and the other was to
sweep street crossings, that the sweeper would be so satisfied with his Heavenly Father's will that he
would not exchange places with the ruler.
The purpose of Jesus is to save the world and uphold the honor of God, and establish truth in the
lives, the hearts, the laws, the customs of men, and this is the purpose of this man.
In order to do this, Jesus sacrificed every earthly prospect, and laid down His life, and this man does
the same. He does not stand in the presence of the world's great crying need and hesitate and
wonder if the Lord really wants him to give a few cents or dollars for the salvation of the heathen.
He does not quibble as to whether God really requires him to make the sacrifice and leave his dogkennel and chicken coop and barn and house furnished a little below the standard of beauty and
luxury set by his ungodly neighbors. He does not struggle and kick against the pricks when he feels
God would have him forsake business and preach the gospel. He would loathe himself to have such
mean thoughts.
He does not say, 'If I were rich,' but out of the abundance of his poverty he pours into the lap of the
world's need, and like the widow he gladly gives all his living to save the world. When God looks
about for a man to stand up for His honour and warn a wicked world and offers terms of peace to
sinners, this man does not say, 'If I were only educated or gifted I would go,' but with a heart flaming
with love for Jesus and the world He has bought with His Blood, cries out, 'Here am I, send me.' It
can be said of him as it was of his Lord 'The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up' (John ii. 17).
A young carpenter in New England, whose name was unknown, came every few months to the
Divisional Headquarters, and gave a hundred or more dollars for the work of God in India, or some
other portion of the world. He was one with Jesus in His purpose to save the world.
On a bitter wintry day a poor woman came to John Wesley's apartment in Oxford University. She
was shivering with cold. Wesley asked her why she did not dress more warmly She replied that she
had no warmer garments. When she was gone, Wesley looked at the pictures on his walls, and said
to himself in substance, 'If my Lord should come, would He be pleased to see these on my walls
when His poor are suffering with cold?' Then he sold the pictures and gave to the poor. And in this
way began that mighty and life-long beneficence and almost matchless self-sacrifice that has led to
the blessing of millions upon millions of men.
O my God, that Thy people might see what union with Thee really means.
Do you ask, 'How can I enter into this union?'
1. Read God's promises until you see that it is possible. Especially read and ponder over the fifteenth
and seventeenth chapters of the Gospel according to John.
2. Read and ponder over the commandments until you see that it is necessary. Without this union
here there will be no union in eternity.
3. Make the sacrifice that is necessary in order to become one with Jesus.
The woman who will be the true wife of a man must be prepared to give up all other lovers, leave
her home, and forsake father, mother, brothers and sisters, change her name, and utterly identify
herself her prospects for life, her all, with the man she loves. And so must you be prepared to
identify yourself utterly with Christ, to be hated, despised, rejected, crucified of men; but armed,
baptized with the Holy Ghost, and crowned of God.
Does your heart consent to this, my brother? If so, make a perpetual covenant with your Lord just
now. Do it intelligently. Do it with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, and God will seal you for His
own. Do not waver. Do not doubt. Do not cast away your confidence because of your feelings or lack
of feelings, but stand by your facts. Walk by faith, and God will soon prove His ownership in you in a
way that will be altogether satisfactory to both your head and your heart, and convincing to men
and devils.
What About The Future Of The Salvation Army?
There are some questions always being asked and never fully answered, for the simple reason that
only Omniscience knows the answer, and Omniscience is not disposed to answer questions which
can be solved in measure by diligent attention to the spirit and principles revealed in the Bible, and
the final answer to which is largely contingent upon our good behavior, our humility, our loyalty to
truth and love, our unswerving allegiance to Jesus, and our diligence in keeping His commandments
and walking in His footsteps.
I have recently been asked what I think about the future of The Salvation Army. This is an old
question, about as old as The Army itself. It was going the rounds when I joined The Army over forty
years ago, and some one has been asking it ever since. Both friends and foes of The Army have asked
it. Officers and Soldiers whose lives and whose families have been linked up and entwined with The
Army have asked it; and I doubt not our leaders have pondered over it and given it their profoundest
and most anxious thought.
It is a question which those who love God and the souls of men can hardly avoid. With some it is a
purely academic question. They would like to solve the question for intellectual satisfaction. Others,
mere busybodies, would pry into the future, like many who are curious to know all about the affairs
of their neighbors, that they may have something about which to gossip. It is not a matter of vital
interest to them. Indeed, they are of that large class of people who have no vital interest in anything.
They are like the lying woman in Solomon's day who stole another woman's baby, but had so little
real interest in the baby that she was willing to have it cut in two rather than to acknowledge her
theft and lie.
With others it is a painfully practical question. Their hearts are in The Army. It is as dear to them as
life. They are bound up in the bundle of its life. They have sacrificed every other interest for it. They
are given over to it soul and body, and have dedicated not only themselves, but their children also to
it. They can paraphrase the ancient Psalmist's declaration of his devotion to Jerusalem 'If I forget
thee, O Salvation Army, let my right hand forget her cunning.
'If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not The
Salvation Army above my chief joy.'
They feel that the highest interests of the Kingdom of God upon earth are bound up with The Army,
an the coming and establishment of the Kingdom are in large measure dependent upon its spiritual
life and prosperity.
There are some people who are cocksure that they know the answer. There are optimists who see
nothing but the most rosy future for The Army. But there are pessimists who prophecy its imminent
disruption and dissolution.
Many years ago, just after a tour that had taken me round the world, an old Officer asked me with a
quizzical look: 'Are you going to leave The Army ship before she sinks?' I assured him that from a
rather wide range of intimate observation I saw no signs that the ship was seriously leaking, or likely
to sink, but that even if I did, as an Officer my business was to stick to the ship and do all in my
power to save it, or go down with it and its precious freightage of the souls of men and women and
little children. 'The hireling fleeth when he seeth the wolf coming. The good shepherd giveth his life
for the sheep.' And the true Officer gives his life for The Army and the souls who are in its keeping.
Doubters and timid souls have been prophesying the end of The Army from its very beginning, but
still it lives and prospers. But what will be its future? Will it continue to live and prosper? Or has it
fulfilled its mission?
Like a great bridge hung upon two buttresses, so The Army is buttressed upon God and man.
Is it God's Army? Did He inspire and gird and guide William Booth when, with heart aching for sinful
men and spirit aflame for the glory of God and the honour of Christ, he stepped out on Mile End
Waste and began the work that has developed into The Salvation Army? Is God for us, or against us,
or indifferent to us? I can sing for myself
His love in time past forbids me to think, He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review Confirms His good pleasure to see me quite through.
But can I be so confident for The Army? His guidance, His overruling Providence, His gracious and
mighty deliverances in the past are unmistakable, are on record, known and read of all men who
care to read. He has overshadowed The Army with a pillar of cloud and fire as surely as He did
ancient Israel; He has gone before and opened the 'two leaved gates of brass,' as He did for Cyrus,
and empowered Army Officers and Soldiers and made them more than conquerors, as He did the
Apostles and saints of the Early Church; but do all these wonders of His favor and grace give
assurance for the future? Is The Army sacrosanct? Are we favorites and pets of the Almighty? This
leads us to the second point of dependence.
If God is for us, and I fully believe He is, does not that insure our future?
The future of The Army depends not only upon God -- I say it reverently and in His fear -- but also
upon man, upon men, upon you and me and all who have to do with The Army. 'Hear ye me,' cried
the prophet Azariah, 'Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be
with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you: but,' and here is warning for us to heed, for
here lurks danger, 'but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you.' And this is a timeless prophecy,
eternally true, and not of private interpretation, as true today as it was three millenniums ago; as
true of The Army, of you and of me, as it was of ancient Judah and Benjamin and their king Asa; and
it is 'written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world have come.' Let us search our
hearts, order our lives, and be admonished.
In so far in the past as we have sought God with our whole heart, walked in His ways, and lived and
wrought in the spirit of our Lord and Master He has been with us, preserved us, prospered the work
of our hands, fulfilled the desires of our hearts, and blessed us in the presence of our enemies. Can
we still confidently expect His favor for the future? Yes, and only, if we continue to abide in Him and
fulfill the conditions that have permitted Him to pour benedictions upon us in the past.
And what are these conditions? I think we shall find them expressed in the closing ministry of Jesus
and of Paul. Of our Lord in those closing days of His ministry when preparing His disciples for His
departure, and the days when they must stand alone without His incarnate presence, and lay the
foundations and build the church and give it the living example and word that would guide it
through storm and stress of agonizing pagan persecutions, of worldly allurements and seductions, of
subtle philosophizings, of pain and poverty, of indifference and scorn, and the dangers of wealth and
power and wide acclaim. Of Paul in his later ministry; his farewell address to the elders of Ephesus at
Miletus, and his prison letters to the churches and his young friends and lieutenants, Timothy and
Titus.
The warnings, the exhortations, the example, the close and intimate instructions of our Lord given to
His disciples in the last few closing months and days and last night of His ministry, and His High
Priestly prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, show us the plain path in which we
must walk, if the future of The Salvation Army is to be happy and prosperous and its great promise
come to ample fulfillment.
And what were the example and teachings of the Master in these fleet, closing days?
As He drew near the cross His disciples thought He was drawing near to a throne and crown, and
they were each ambitious and contentious for first place and highest honors. But He told them
plainly that He should be rejected of men and crucified. Then Peter rebuked Him: 'Pity Thyself -- be it
far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.'
But He rebuked Peter and replied : ' If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow Me.'
It was not an unusual sight in the Roman Empire to see a line of men following a leader, each
bearing a cross on his way to crucifixion. This was the picture He would have them visualize. They
were to follow Him, their Leader, each bearing his own cross, not seeking to save his life, but ready
to lose it for His sake and for the sake of the brethren. 'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.'
So mightily at last did this teaching grip the early disciples and fire their spirits, that they actually
coveted martyrdom and ran upon death with joy. In this they may have swung to an extreme, but if
The Salvation Army of the future is to prosper and win spiritual triumphs, we must follow the
Master, not seeking first place or power, but glorying in the cross.
This was the secret of Paul. He was the pattern disciple. He had sat at the feet of Jesus and learned
of Him until he could write: 'What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ; neither
count I my life dear unto myself; that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus. . . . God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ; by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.'
1. If the future of The Salvation Army is to be spiritually radiant and all conquering, we must not
simply endure the cross, but glory in it. This will arrest the world, disarm Hell, and gladden the heart
of our Lord.
2. We must 'by love serve one another.' We are following Him who 'came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.' We, too, must give our lives for others,
shrinking from no service, holding ourselves ever ready to wash the feet of the lowliest disciple.
3. We must still prove our discipleship by our love one for the other. It is not enough to wear the
uniform, to profess loyalty to Army leaders and principles, to give our goods to feed the poor and
our bodies to be burned. We must love one another. We must make this the badge of our
discipleship. We must wrestle and pray and hold fast that we do not lose this.
The Army is so thoroughly organized and disciplined, so wrought into the life of nations, so fortified
with valuable properties, and on such a sound financial basis, that it is not likely to perish as an
organization, but it will become a spiritually dead thing if love leaks out. Love is the life of The Army.
'If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.' But if love leaks out we
shall lose our crown, we shall have a name to live and yet be dead. We may still house the homeless,
dole out food to the hungry, punctiliously perform our routine work, but the mighty ministry of the
Spirit will no longer be our glory. Our musicians will play meticulously, our Songsters will revel in the
artistry of song that tickles the ear, but leaves the heart cold and hard. Our Officers will make broad
their phylacteries and hob-nob with mayors and councilmen and be greeted in the market-place, but
God will not be among us. We shall still recruit our ranks and supply our Training Garrisons with
Cadets from among our own Young People, but we shall cease to be saviors of the lost sheep that
have no shepherd.
If the future of The Salvation Army is to still be glorious, we must heed the exhortation: 'Let
brotherly love continue.' We must remember that all we are brethren and beware lest through
leakage of love we become like the wicked of whom the Psalmist wrote: 'Thou sittest and speakest
against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son (Psalm l. 20), and find our hearts full of
strife and bitter envying where the love that suffereth long and is kind should reign supreme.
This is that for which Jesus pleaded on that last night before His crucifixion: 'This is My
commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. These
things I command you, that ye love one another.'
This is that for which Paul pleaded and labored: And the Lord make you to increase and abound in
love one toward another and toward all men . . to the end He may establish your hearts
unblameable in Holiness before God . . . at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ' (1 Thessalonians iii.
12, 13).
This is that to which Peter exhorted the universal church: 'Seeing ye have purified your souls in
obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one
another with a pure heart fervently; . . . And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins ' (1 Peter i. 22; iv. 8).
4. How else but by fullness of love for one another can we fulfill those supernatural requirements
expressed by Paul and Peter? For more than forty years I have pondered and prayed over those two
brief and searching words of Paul: 'Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love: in
honour preferring one another,' 'Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves.' These are lofty spiritual heights scaled only by
those in whose pure hearts burns selfless love.
In so far as this spirit rules in our hearts God can work with us and bless us, and the spiritual
triumphs and glory of The Army for the future are assured. But in so far as these graces of the Spirit
in us fail, so far will The Army as a spiritual power in the earth fail.
Akin to these words of Paul are those of Peter: 'The elders which are among you I exhort. . . Feed the
flock of God, . . . not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre (or rank or power), but of a ready
mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. Likewise, ye
younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed
with humility.' Nothing will so certainly insure the prosperous and happy future of The Army as this
spirit, and I am persuaded that nothing other than this can insure it. This is the life, the pulsing,
eager, satisfying, and yet ever unsatisfied, outreaching, world embracing life of The Army.
Organization and Government are important, vastly important, for the direction and conservation of
the activities of the life; but without the life the Organization is a bit of mere mechanism and the
government is a pantomime.
Finally, in closing, let me recommend to my comrades the world over, for prayerful study and
meditation, Paul's farewell address to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, recorded in Acts xx. 17-35.
Over and over again and again, through more than four decades, I have read and pondered that
address, and prayed that the spirit that was in Paul might be in me and in all my comrades, for this is
the spirit of Jesus. This is that for which He prayed on that last night of His agony as recorded in the
seventeenth chapter of John. And this is that, and that alone, which can and will insure the
victorious and happy future of our world-wide Army.
What Is Holiness?
A number of years ago, before many of the young people for whom this book is written were born, a
girl asked me, 'What is this sanctification, or holiness, that people