HELPS TO HOLINESS

by COMMISSIONER S. L. BRENGLE

PREFACE

THIS BOOK is intended to help every reader of its pages into the immediate enjoyment of Bible Holiness. Its writer is an Officer of The Salvation Army, who, having a gracious experience of the things whereof he writes, has been signally used of God, both in life and testimony, to the sanctifying of the Lord's people, as well as in the salvation of sinners. I commend him, and what he has here written down, to every lover of God and His Kingdom on the earth. I joyfully add, that the perusal of some of the papers which follow has been abundantly blessed to my own heart, and that I have no doubt but that the Holy Spirit has instructed and influenced the writer.

In no department of its teaching has The Salvation Army suffered more reproach than in this—of " Holiness unto the Lord." Indeed, its teaching, as distinct from its methods, has, apart from this, been largely welcomed by every section of the professing Church. It is one of the strange contradictions of modern Christianity, that every Church seems to hold so lightly the importance of its own creed, that it extends the right hand of benediction to every other ; and thus there is a tacit understanding, nowadays, that it does not much matter what you believe, so long as you profess to believe something. Thank God ! we have been in great measure preserved from this false charity, and from the chaotic indefiniteness and confusion which inevitably flow from it ; and our witness to Entire Sanctification has done much to preserve us, for it has aroused opposition, not merely from the intellectual apologists for existing systems, but from the thousands whose half-hearted service and unwilling consecration it has condemned.

Because, the Holiness that we contend for is a fighting Holiness, a suffering Holiness, a soul-saving Holiness; in short, JESUS CHRIST'S Holiness. Any mere "enjoyment of religion," or " waiting on God," or " fulness of blessing," which has not immediately and indissolubly joined with it, in every expression of it, the most unselfish and aggressive passion for the instant rescue of sinners from their sins, is, in our judgment, a mere caricature of the Higher Life of complete union with Christ, which the Word of God declares to be the highest life of all.

And this fact makes it impossible for us to issue even a book like this without a word of caution to every reader. There are, alas multitudes of good people who delight to read and to hear anything about Holiness, who frequent Holiness Meetings and Higher Life Conventions, and yet, in the course of years, appear —whatever professions their lips may make—unable to see the need of separation from the world in so small a matter as the putting away of the worldly dress of the soberly-elegant, the ease-loving habits learnt in the wealthy home, or the worldly associations of their family and their circle. For your soul's sake, do not read this or any other Holiness book, if you are not willing to hear in it the voice of God telling you what to leave, and what to do for Him. And when you have read, go at once, and, without consulting anybody, obey. God help you!

W. BRAMWELL BOOTH.

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

LONDON, E.C.

February 7th. 1896.

INTRODUCTORY

On January 9th, 1885, at about nine o'clock in the morning, God sanctified my soul. I was in my own room at the time, but in a few minutes I went out and met a man, and told him what God had done for me. The next morning, I met another friend on the street, and told him the blessed story. He shouted and praised God, and urged me to preach Full Salvation and confess it everywhere. God used him to encourage and help me. So, the following day, I preached on the subject as clearly and forcibly as I could, and ended with my testimony.

God blessed the word mightily to others, but I think He blessed it most to myself. That confession put me on record. It cut the bridges down behind me. Three worlds were now looking at me as one who professed that God had given him a clean heart. I could not go back now. I had to go forward. God saw that I meant to be true till death. So, two mornings after that, just as I got out of bed, and was reading some of the words of Jesus, He gave me such a blessing as I never had dreamed a man could have this side of Heaven. It was a Heaven of love that came into my heart. I walked out over Boston Common before breakfast, weeping for joy and praising God Oh, how I loved!

In that hour I knew Jesus. and I loved Him till it seemed my heart would break with love. I loved the sparrows, I loved the dogs, I loved the horses, I loved the little urchins on the streets, I loved the strangers who hurried past me, I loved the heathen—I loved the whole world.

Do you want to know what Holiness is ? It is pure love. Do you want to know what the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is ? It is not a mere sentiment. It is not a happy sensation that passes away in a night. It is a baptism of love that brings every thought into captivity to the Lord Jesus ; that casts out all fear ; that burns up doubt and unbelief as fire burns tow ; that makes one "meek and lowly in heart ; " that makes one hate uncleanness, lying and deceit, a flattering tongue, and every evil way with a perfect hatred ; that makes Heaven and Hell eternal realities ; that makes one patient and gentle with the froward and sinful ; that makes one " pure, peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy ; " that brings one into perfect and unbroken sympathy with the Lord Jesus Christ in His toil and travail to bring a lost and rebel world back to God. God did all that for me, bless His holy name !

Oh, how I had longed to be pure ! Oh, how I had hungered and thirsted for God—the living God ! And He gave me the desire of my heart. He satisfied me—I weigh my words—He satisfied me! He satisfied me!

These ten years have been wonderful. God has become my Teacher, my Guide, my Counsellor, my All and in All. He has allowed me to be perplexed and tempted, but it has been for my good. I have no complaint to make against Him. Sometimes it has seemed that He had left me alone, but it has been as the motherwho stands away from her little child to teach it to use its own legs that it may walk. He has not suffered me to fall. He has been with my mouth, and helped me to speak of Jesus and His great Salvation in a way to instruct, and comfort, and save other souls. He has been light to my darkness, strength to my weakness, wisdom in my foolishness, knowledge in my ignorance. When my way has been hedged up, and it seemed that no way could be found out of my temptations and difficulties, He has cut a way through for me, just as He opened the Red Sea for Israel. When my heart has ached, He has comforted me ; when my feet had wellnigh slipped, He has held me up ; when my faith has trembled, He has encouraged me ; when I have been in sore need, He has supplied all my need

; when I have been hungry, He has fed me ; when I have thirsted, He has given me living water.

Oh, glory to God ! What has He not done for me ? What has He not been to me ?

I recommend Him to the world.

He has taught me that sin is the only thing that can harm me, and that the only thing that can profit me in this world is " faith which worketh by love." He has taught me to hang upon Jesus by faith for my salvation from all sin, and fear, and shame, and to show my love by obeying Him in all things, and by seeking in all ways to lead others to obey Him. I praise Him ! I adore Him ! I love Him! My whole being is His for time and eternity. I am not my own. He can do with me as He pleases, for I am His. I know what He chooses must work out for me eternal good. He is too wise to make mistakes, and too good to do me evil. I trust Him!, I trust Him! , I trust Him ! "My expectation is from Him," not from man, not from myself, but from Him. He has been with me for ten years, and I know He will never fail me.

During these ten years God has enabled me to keep a perfect, unbroken purpose to serve Him with my whole heart. No temptation has swerved that steadfast purpose. No worldly or ecclesiastical ambition has had an atom of weight to allure me.

My whole heart has cried within me as did Ephraim's : " What have I to do with idols ? I have heard Him and observed Him."

" Holiness unto the Lord " has been my motto. In fact, it has been the only motto that could express the deep desire and aspiration of my soul. For a year and a-half at a stretch I have been laid aside from work by bodily weakness. At one time I should have thought this a cross too heavy to be borne ; but in this, as in all things else, His grace was sufficient. Of late God has been especially blessing me. My heart pants after Him, and as I seek. Him in fervent, patient, believing prayer, and in diligent searching of His Word, He is deepening the work of grace in my soul.

S. L. BRENGLE.

CHAPTER I.

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," and " Without holiness, no man can see the Lord." Therefore, " Be ye holy ! " Anyone who reads his Bible in sincerity, "not handling the Word of God deceitfully," 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 cleanseth us from ALL sin." Not one bit of sin is left, for the old man is crucified, " that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin," for "we are free from sin." And we are henceforth to " reckon ourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

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 breaks and starts, but steadily—just what God wants us to be and do. Jesus said, " Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good." Now, an apple tree is an apple tree 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, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," 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 to thus 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," 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

" for them. And though they pray daily, " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," 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 to the Lord 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. 6.) And again, He promises that He would " grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life."

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.

CHAPTER II.

Holiness—How to Get It.

"My people perish for lack of knowledge." " This is life eternal, to 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 recognise the " exceeding sinfulness of sin," 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 speaking " (1 Peter 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." (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. x2.) 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 back yard, 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 says : " Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." " The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." And it is just this we sing about :-" To get this blest washing I all things forego ; 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 get 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, " So far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed my transgressions from me." 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 have passed away, and, behold, all things have become new."

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," 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," 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 heart, 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 be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended ; though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee." And shortly after, when the mob came to take his Master, he boldly attacked them with the sword ; but next day, when his blood had cooled a little, and the excitement was over, he got so frightened by a little girl, 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 favourable, or who can even stand an attack of the Skeletons, 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 got 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." 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 bath made this man strong ; yea, the faith which is by Him bath 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 (x Peter iv. x), and followed Him Who left us an example that we should follow His steps.

" But we cannot get what Peter got 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 ye shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; for if ye, 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." 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 the 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." RECEIVING BEFORE GIVING.

There is spiritual bankruptcy, as there is a pecuniary one. I may become so eager to help the poor, that I indiscriminately give away all my property, and so become a pauper myself. Likewise I may be so eager to help souls, that I give away all my spiritual capital. I talk, and talk, and talk, without waiting on God to fill me. This is folly. We should wait to be clothed with power from on high. We should take time to hear what the Lord will say ; then speak so much as He gives us to speak, and no more. Then again seek His face, and be quiet and attentive before Him till He refills us. If we do not do this we become weak inwardly ; we draw on our reserve power, and become exhausted both spiritually and mentally.

We may be so eager to give, that we become impatient of waiting upon God to receive, forgetting that Jesus said : " Without Me ye can do nothing." Those who have blessed men the most, and blessed the most men, have taken time to listen to God's voice, and to be taught of Him. CHAPTER III.

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 labour through all the spring and summer months. The rule in the spiritual world is this : " If a man will not labour, neither shall he eat," and, " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

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 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 (Salvation Army) Captain knelt with her Soldiers, and sang

" Anywhere with Jesus I will go,"

and added, " Anywhere but to Hell, Lord." Her consecration was imperfect, and to-day she is out of the 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 to-day he walks the streets a common drunkard, in 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. The consecration consists in a perfect putting oft 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, to thus 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 examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, and added, " in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad " Thess. 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, ii. 14., and iii. 2-5 ; so that Paul says, " We were comforted over you, in all our affliction and distress, by your faith." Strong faith that, but it was not perfect, for Paul adds, " Night and, day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and perfect that which is lacking in your faith " (iii. 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."

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." 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." 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," 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 splendour, shame of the Cross, self-will, and the like. It makes its possessors " meek and lowly in heart," 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 get 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 love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned ; " 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." 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 Hint ' " In this present world " His only beauty is that inward " beauty of holiness," 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."

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 "? Then, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you ; present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and run with patience the race which is set before you, looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of your faith. 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." " 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." CHAPTER IV.

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, " He wrestles 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." 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 affections on things above, not on things on the earth." Such things now have no more attraction for him than the brass trinkets, eagle feathers, and war-paint of an Indian.

If he once coveted the honour and praise of men, he now counts such as dung and dross, that he may win Christ, and have the honour 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 has chosen him to be a soldier."

I do not mean to say that Satan will never hold up any of these worldly and fleshly pleasures and honours 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 ?" Or, Satan may offer him great power, and honour, and riches, as he did to Moses in Egypt ; but, comparing these with the infinite fulness 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."

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." All these worldly baits were held out to Jesus (Matt iv. 1-11, and Luke iv. 213), 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."

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 " whom the Son maketh free is free indeed," even with the " liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." 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."

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 far-reaching 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" 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.

He says with Paul, and fully realises it in his heart as he says it, that " the things that are seen are temporal," and will soon perish ; " but the things that are not seen " with our natural eyes, but are seen by the eye of faith, " are eternal," and will remain when " the elements are melting with fervent heat," and "the heavens are rolled together as a scroll." Now, in the very nature of the case, these things can only be held by faith ; but so long as he 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 a newly-sanctified man.

He will accuse him of sin, when the man's conscience is as clear of wilfully 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 ; " " having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof ; " 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-andout 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, steadfast in the faith." Hear James : " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Listen to Paul : " Fight the good fight of faith." " Now, the just shall live by faith." " Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

And John : " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." " 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 ; " 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."

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

" Cast not away your confidence, therefore, which hath great recompense of reward."

CHAPTER V

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, saith the Lord." (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 : " 0 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. ll,12, 14.) God is going to do wonderful things for you, if you will not cast away your faith and your boldness. But, 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 hart in all His fulness—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 realise, 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 show it unto you," said Jesus ; and again He says, " He shall testify of Me." (John xv. 26 ; xvi. 13, 14.)

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. 24.) 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 baptised 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 words to be " sweeter 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. i. 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 ; " and you will understand what Jesus meant when He said, " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." While you walk in humble obedience and childlike faith, trusting 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 passible to utter." 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 wilfully 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 Him, 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 to praising the Lord for His presence with them. If you will seek light when you have light, you will find darkness and confusion ; and so 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," 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," " Be filled with the Spirit." Finally, do not be surprised it you have very unusual temptations. You remember that it was after Jesus was baptised 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." 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 you," 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. 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 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.)

CHAPTER VI

" Fight the Good Fight of Faith."

(I Tim. vi. 12)

A friend with whom I once billeted claimed the blessing of a clean heart, and testified to it at the breakfast table the next morning. He said he had doubted whether there was such an experience; but, since going to The ( Salvation) Army, he had been led to study the Bible, and to observe the lives of those who professed it, and he had since come to the conclusion that he could not serve God acceptably without holiness of heart. But the difficulty was, to come to the point where he would take it by faith. He said he had expected to get it some time, he had hoped for it, he had looked forward to the time when he should be pure ; but he saw that it must be claimed now, and right there began his fight of faith. He took hold of one end of the promise, and the devil got hold of the other end, and they pulled and fought for the victory now. The devil had often gotten the victory before ; but this time the man would not cast away his confidence, but came " boldly to the throne of grace," and " obtained mercy, and found grace to help in time of need ; " the devil was conquered by faith, the brother walked off with the blessing of a clean heart, and this morning he said : " God filled me with the Spirit last night," while the glad tones of his voice and the bright light of his face backed up his words. The last thing a soul has to give up, when seeking salvation or sanctification, is " an evil heart of unbelief." This is Satan's stronghold. You may drive him from all his outposts and he does not care much, but when you assail this citadel he will resist with all the lies and cunning he can command. He does not care much if people do give up outward sin. A respectable sinner will suit his purpose quite as well as the most disreputable. In fact, I am not sure but that some people are worse than the devil wants them to be, for they are a bad advertisement for him. Nor does he care very much if people indulge a hope of salvation or of purity ; indeed, I suspect he likes them to do so, if he can get them to stop there. But let a poor soul say to himself, " I want to know I am saved now. I must have the blessing now. I can't live any longer without the witness of the Spirit that Jesus saves me now, and cleanses me now," and the devil will begin to roar, and lie, and use all his wits to deceive the soul and switch it on to some side track, or rock it to sleep with a promise of victory at some future time.

This is where the devil really begins. Many people say they are fighting the devil, who do not know what fighting the devil means. It is a fight of faith, in which the soul takes hold of the promise of God, and holds on to it, and believes it, and declares it to be true in spite of all the devil's lies, in spite of all circumstances and feelings to the contrary, and in which it obeys God, whether God seems to be fulfilling the promise or not. When a soul gets to the point where it will do this, and will hold fast the profession of its faith without wavering, it will soon get out of the fogs, and mists, and twilight of doubt and uncertainty, into the broad day of perfect assurance. Glory to God ! It shall know that Jesus saves and sanctifies, and shall be filled with a humbling, yet unutterably joyful, sense of His everlasting love and favour. A comrade whom I love as my own soul, sought the blessing of a clean heart, and gave up everything but his "evil heart of unbelief." But he did not understand that he was still holding on to that. He waited for God to give him the blessing. The devil whispered : " You say you are on the altar for God, but you don't feel any different." The " evil heart of unbelief" in the poor fellow's heart took the devil's part, and said, " That is so." The brother felt all discouraged, and the devil got the victory.

Again he gave himself up, after a hard struggle—all but "the evil heart of unbelief." Again the devil whispered: " You say you are all the Lord's, but you do not feel as other folks say they felt when they yielded all to God." The " evil heart of unbelief " again said, " That's so," and again the man fell, through unbelief.

A third time, after much effort, he sought the blessing, and gave God all but the " evil heart of unbelief." The third time the devil whispered : "You say you are all the Lord's, but you know what a quick temper you have; now, how do you know but what next week an unlooked for temptation may come that will overthrow you ? " The third time the " evil heart of unbelief" said, " That's so," and for the third time our brother was beaten back from the prize. But, at last, he got desperate in his hunt for God, and in his desire for holiness, and the witness of the Spirit that it was his now, and right there, he was willing for God to show him all the depravity of his soul, and God showed him the " evil heart of unbelief " that had been listening to the devil's voice and taking the devil's part all the time. Good people, professing Christians, do not like to admit that they have any unbelief remaining in them ; but until they acknowledge all the evil that is in them, and take God's part against themselves, He cannot sanctify them.

Again he came, and put his all on the altar, and told God he would trust Him. Again the devil whispered, " You don't feel any different ; " but this time the man hushed the " evil spirit of unbelief," and answered himself, and said : " I do not care if I do not feel any different. I am all the Lord's."

" But you do not feel as other folks say they feel," whispered the devil.

" I do not care if I do not. I am all the Lord's, and He can bless me or not, just as He pleases."

" But there is your quick temper."

"I do not care ; I am the Lord's, and I will trust Him to manage my temper. I am the Lord's! I am the Lord's!"

And there he stood, "resisting the devil, steadfast in the faith," and refusing to listen to the suggestions of " an evil heart of unbelief," all that day and night and the following day. There was a stillness in his soul, and a fixed determination to stand on the promises of God for ever, whether God blessed him or not. About ten o'clock the second night, as he was getting ready to go to bed, without any thought of anything unusual going to happen, God fulfilled His ancient promise: "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple." Jesus, the Son of God—" He that liveth, and was dead," but is now " alive for evermore " was revealed in him, and manifested to his spiritual consciousness, until he was " lost in wonder, love, and praise." Oh, how he exulted and triumphed in God his Saviour, and rejoiced that he had held fast his faith, and resisted the devil !

Now, it is to this point that every soul which gets into the Kingdom of God must come. The soul must die to sin, it must renounce all unbelief, and give up all doubts. It must consent to be " crucified with Christ" now; and when it does this, it will touch God, and feel the fire of His love, and be filled with His power, as surely as an electric tram receives electric fire and power when proper connection is made with the wire above.

God bless you, my brother, my sister, and help you to see that "now is the accepted time." Remember, if you are all given up to God, everything that makes you doubt is from Satan, and not from God ; and God commands you to "resist the devil, steadfast in the faith." " Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which bath great recompense of reward."

CHAPTER VII

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 one of the Cadets, at least, 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 the brethren." He is our " elder brother," and we are to be like Him. "As He was, so are we in this present world," and " He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself so to walk even as He walked." 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 you with an everlasting love," He says. Oh, glory to God ! How marvellous 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." 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 ; " 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 chose 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."

How that did help me in the Training Home! The second day I was there, they sent me down into a dark little cellar to black half a cartload 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." 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 to the humble." 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 its own." "Be clothed with humility." Jesus had a meek and gentle heart.

Paul speaks of " the meekness and gentleness of it;" 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." 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."

That was the very perfection of meekness, that not only would not strike back when He was lied about, but suffered the most cruel and shameful wrongs. " Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh," 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."

I know a coloured 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. Someone 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," for " He shall beautify the meek with salvation."

CHAPTER VIII

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, 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 in 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 bath put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our God : many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

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—snowed 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 ;" and again he declares : " I will 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 ; " and then 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." 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 the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." 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. CHAPTER IX.

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 Han, 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 backslidden ; 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 the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth." 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, sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow," and proving to be " a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 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.

He 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." 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 honour 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 will 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 ; " and Solomon said : " Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." He must walk in unbroken communion with God. He must not forget, but cultivate a spirit of joyful recollection by which he will be always conscious that he is in the presence of God. "

Delight thyself in the Lord," 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," and He will lead you to thus know and love God, and God will make you the instrument of His own power. CHAPTER X.

The Man God Uses.

I was talking with a Christian merchant a while ago, 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," 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 through the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him ! "

Oh, how God wants to use you I 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 Him ? ' Does he search My Word, and meditate therein day and night, in order to do according to all that is written therein ? ' 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,' so that I cannot guide him with Mine eye' ? 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, and out of season' ? 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." 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 evildoer, even unto bonds ; but the Word of God is not bound ; " 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 Paul's head off, and thought they had done with him for ever, yet his usefulness increases, and his mighty words and works are to-day 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 gets 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 in Asia be turned away from me." 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. This He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive."

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.

CHAPTER XI.

Your Own Soul.

I was once asked the question by a woman : " Cannot one take too much care of one's own soul ? I see all about me, everywhere, so much sorrow, and suffering, and injustice, that I am perplexed at God's way of ruling the world ; and it seems to me as though every Christian ought to be trying to help others, instead of looking out for one's own soul."

Here is a common perplexity. Every Christian sees around him sorrow and suffering, which he cannot help, and his perplexity at the sight is the Lord's prompting for him to take the very uttermost care of his own soul, lest he stumble and fall through doubt and discouragement.

By the care of his soul I do not mean that he shall coddle, and pet, and pity himself, nor work himself up into some pleasant feeling. But I mean that he should pray, and pray, and pray, and seek the presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit, until his soul is filled with light and strength, that he may have unquestioning faith in the wisdom and love of God, that he may have unwearied patience in learning His will (Heb. vi. 12), and that his love may be equal to the great need he sees all about him.

Reader, maybe you, too, are troubled by the sight of unhelped wretchedness near you. No living soul can answer to your satisfaction the questions that will rise up within you, and that Satan will suggest as you look on the misery of the world. But the blessed Comforter will satisfy your heart and your head, if you have the faith and patience to wait while He teaches you " all things," and leads you " into all truth."

" They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." You cannot help people if you go to them robbed of your strength through doubts, and fears, and perplexities. So, wait on God till He strengthens your heart. Do not get impatient. Do not try beforehand to find out what God will say, nor just how He will say it. He will surely teach you; but you must let Him do it in His own way, and then you will be able to help people with all the might and wisdom of Jehovah.

You must trust His love, and you must abide His time ; but you must wait on Him, and expect Him to teach you. If the King of England is coming to Windsor Castle, the servants do not lie around listlessly, nor hunt up a lot of work to do ; but everyone stands in his own place, and waits with eager expectancy. This is what I mean by waiting upon God. This kind of taking care of your own soul you cannot do too much of, and do not let anyone drive you from it by ridicule or entreaty.

The woodman would be very foolish who thought he had so much wood to cut that he could not take time to grind his axe. The servant would be useless who went to the city to buy things for his master, but was in such a hurry that he did not come to his master for orders, and for the needed money. How much worse is he who attempts to do God's work, without God's direction and God's strength !

One morning, after a half-night of prayer which I led, and in which I had worked very hard, I got up early to be sure of an hour with God and my Bible, and God blessed me till I wept. An Officer who was with me was much moved, and then confessed :

" I do not often find God in prayer—I have not time." People who do not find God in prayer must hinder His cause, instead of helping it.

Take time. Miss breakfast, if necessary, but take time to wait on God, and when God has come and blessed you, then go to the miserable ones about you, and pour upon them the wealth of joy, the love; and peace God has given you. But do not go until you know you are going in His power. I once heard The General say in an Officers' Council :—" Take time to pray God's blessing down on your own soul every day. If you do not, you will lose God. God is leaving men every day. They once had power. They walked in the glory and strength of God, but they ceased to wait on Him and earnestly seek His face, and He left them. I am a very busy man, but I take time to get alone with God every day and commune with Him. If I did not, He would soon leave me."

God bless the dear old General !

Paul said, " Take heed (1) to yourselves, and (2) to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." (Acts xx. 28.) And again, " Take heed (1) to thyself, and (2) to the doctrine, for in so doing thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." (I Tim. iv. 16.)

Paul did not mean to promote selfishness by telling us to first take heed to ourselves ; but he did mean to teach that, unless we do take heed to ourselves, and are full of faith, and hope, and love in our own souls, we shall be unable to help others.

CHAPTER XII.

Gideon's Band.

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." The Lord also knew that there were a lot of weak-kneed followers among them, with coward 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." 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 thy 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 not afraid, but they were not self-indulgent. 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, 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 was 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 selfconceit 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 War Crys, 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 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 he got his thigh out of joint, and did not complain a word. But he got the blessing. Glory to God!

When Jesus prayed, and agonised, 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 to-day 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 : " 0 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. "Be temperate in all things," the Apostle says; 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 other things 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 labourer 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 travelled 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 is fresh, and before the cares of the day have 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.

CHAPTER XIII.

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. 18-20.)

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 honoured, he was thrust into prison and chained between two ignorant, and probably brutal, Roman soldiers.

The thing that stirred me was the quenchless zeal of the man, and the work he did under 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 did seem 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 surrounded by such desperate circumstances and 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 circumstances.

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, 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." 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 oft 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, and 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. (Psalm cxxxi. 2.) Yet my heart longed for the glory of God and the salvation of nations, and I prayed, and watched reports of the 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 heard 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 Army is not there yet, but it will surely go. 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 the 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 honour 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.

CHAPTER XIV

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 shall come 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 scepticism. 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 persevere in seeking, he will surely find. But if someone 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 scepticism.

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 someone, " 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, " If 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 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."

CHAPTER XV

Don't Argue.

" The servant of the Lord must not strive." 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.

I.—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.—ST. PAUL.

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 " thoroughly furnished " 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 purpose, but to the subverting of the hearers." I take it that St. 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." (2 Tim. ii. 23, 24.)

Plainly, the Apostle thought this advice important, for he repeats it in writing to Titus : " 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."

3.—MARQUIS DE RENTY.

We who have had the Gospel taught us in such simplicity and purity, can scarcely realise 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 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 lustre.

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 fervour in prayer and praise, and his constant hungering and thirsting after all the fulness 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," and his example has encouraged me to follow a like course, and so " keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," 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 foes, and take every argument out of their mouths. They came to Him one day, and asked whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Cmsar or not. Without any discussion whatever, He asked for a coin. He then asked whose image was on the coin.

" Caesar's," they replied.

"Then render to Cesar 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, " Let him that is without sin cast the first stone at her," 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 any means to 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 hot-headed, 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. Indeed, it seems to me an old Canaanite that is often let live, when it should be destroyed as mercilessly as Samuel hewed Agag in pieces.

But let us who have " become partakers of the Divine nature," 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."

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 " acknowledgment of the truth," than in having won an argument.

CHAPTER XVI

Letting the Truth Slip.

" Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which as have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." (Heb.ii.i.) The truth that saves the soul is not picked up as we 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 gets the truth will have to use his wits, will need much prayer, and 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 truth—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 for it. 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." It usually 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 " 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 where its breakfast is to come from, 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 " 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," 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," 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." He no longer remembers that the Bible says, " Life and death are in the power of the tongue," and that we must let our " speech be always with grace seasoned with salt," 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;" 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."

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.

" 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." 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: " Seek and keep all the commandments of God."

2. Do what God commanded Joshua : " Meditate therein day and night." What for ? "That thou mayest observe to do according to"—some of the things " written therein " ? No! "All that is written therein." (Josh. 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."

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 soulsickness. 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 ; and again He said, " The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."

3. " Quench not the Spirit." 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 schoolchildren 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." CHAPTER XVII.

If You Have Lost the Blessing—What ?

"Turn, 0 backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou feast 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. 54, 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. (Gen. 1. 15-18.)

"And, when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will 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 when 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 " (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 Him " ; 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 they know not ; I will lead them in paths they have not known." 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." (1 Cor. 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 any way He may come, whether it be 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 no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

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." 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 adversary." 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." 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." " And they loved not their lives unto the death." 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 lift 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.)

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI