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THE KESWICK
CONVENTION

Its Message, Its Method and Its Men

Edited by

CHARLES F. HARFORD, M.A., MJX

LONDON : MARSHALL BROTHERS
KESWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW, EC

EMMANUEL

-N.

R. W. SIMPSON AND CO., LTD.,

PRINTERS,
RICHMOND AND LONDON.

TO THE MEMORY OF

THOMAS DUNDAS HARFORD-BATTERSBY

AND

ROBERT WILSON,

FOUNDERS OF THE KESWICK CONVENTION,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

BY THE EDITOR.

Help from Earth and Heaven

WE who are called apart to hills and dales

Where in each sunrise God is speaking clear,
Where from each sunset's glow we seem to hear

The songs of wreathed angels, the all-hails

Of bright-winged seraphims — may watch the sails
Of yonder boat that steals across the mere,
And know that to the haven as we steer

For us the invisible power of God prevails.

Lo ! to the mountains, as we lift our eyes,

For help we feel th' Almighty arms are spread ;
To bring us peace, the lake and field and grove
Proclaim a Father's mercy and His love ;
While, from the tireless stars, at night is shed
The joy of those who watch in Paradise.

H.D.R.

Preface

TO-DAY is Whit-Sunday which is observed through
out the world as the day on which the Church of
Christ remembers that great article of the Christian
Creed which all hold in common, " I believe in the Holy
Ghost." The Keswick Convention exists to make this
belief not merely a theological formula, but " a living
bright reality " to each Christian soul. The manner in
which this annual gathering of God's people has attained
to the position of world-wide influence and importance
which it now holds is told in the following pages by the
pen of many witnesses. Three small volumes have
already been issued dealing with this subject. The first
and largest of these is entitled " Canon Harford-Battersby
and the Keswick Convention," by two of his sons,
tracing the origin of the Convention to the life of the
founder. The second is a volume by the Rev. A. T. Pierson,
D.D., the gifted missionary writer from the United
States, and a chapter from this book is embodied with
some modification in the present volume. The third
volume has been issued by the Religious Tract Society
and its title is " Holiness by Faith " containing four
chapters by the Bishop of Durham, Rev. J. Elder
Cumming, Rev. F. B. Meyer, and Rev. Hubert Brooke.
Part of Mr. Brooke's chapter in that book is also
reproduced here. It was felt, however, by the publishers
of this volume that there was a widespread need for a
more detailed statement concerning the history of the
Convention, its teaching and its results, to which those

vii

Preface

most closely identified with the Convention should be
asked to contribute. The Editor as the youngest son of
the founder and as a layman was invited to gather
together the necessary material, and the accompanying
pages indicate the response which has been made to his
appeal.

Although help has been most generously given by all
of those who are the recognised leaders of the Conven
tion, yet this volume is not an official publication, the
Editor being solely responsible for the arrangement of the
work, each individual contributor being only responsible
for his or her own contribution. At the same time, whilst
there may be some difference of expression, there is a
unity of thought running through the different chapters
which is characteristic of the definiteness of the teaching,
and which shows very plainly what is the aim and object
of the Keswick Convention. If there is some repetition
this is accounted for by the fact that each contributor
wrote independently of the others, and in many cases it
will add to the interest of the book.

Pasteur Theodore Monod, of Paris, who took a leading
share in the Convention in early days, and the Rev.
Andrew Murray, D.D., who is well-known as the founder
of the Wellington Convention in South Africa, and a
most helpful writer on the subject of sanctification, were
both invited to contribute, but were unable to do so.
Both of them are referred to in later chapters.

It was obviously impossible to invite all speakers at
the Keswick Convention to write a chapter, but all who
have at all regularly taken part in the meetings have been
invited to send in some short message to be incorporated
in this book. Most of these have done so, some have felt
a difficulty in framing so brief a contribution as was
suggested, but one and all have expressed their sympathy
with this effort,

viii

Preface

These short paragraphs will be found on the back of
the title pages facing some of the chapters. In the
same position in other chapters some of the hymns are
printed, which may be taken as typical of the Conven
tion hymnology. We are grateful to the Rev. F. S.
Webster for his contribution to this subject.

Seeing that the Keswick Convention owes very much
to the beauty of its surroundings, it was felt that a short
sonnet on the beauties of Keswick would be most appro
priate. Canon Rawnsley, as the chief living poet of the
lakes, and the man who has taken the lead in preserving
for the public the beauties of the Lake district most
kindly responded to our request, and a little poem from
his pen will be found on an earlier page.

Many have from time to time, some even in the
following pages, expressed the wish that it were not
necessary to use such terms as " the Keswick Message,"
"the Keswick Speakers," or "the Keswick Movement."
This is the strong feeling of the Editor, but whilst it is
desirable that these expressions should be used sparingly,
it is almost impossible to avoid their use in any lengthy
contribution to the subject before us.

The Rev. John Battersby Harford has most kindly
read through the proofs, and has made some valuable
suggestions.

All who have helped in this work are busy people, and
each chapter has meant much expenditure of time and
thought. Mere formal thanks would be but poor
acknowledgment of their trouble, but if it should lead
some to Keswick who have never been before, if it should
lead others to enter into blessing from the reading of the
written page, one and all will feel that they have had the
best reward.

Whit-Sunday, 1907.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER. PAGE

PREFACE . . . . v

I. INTRODUCTORY.

THE EDITOR i

II. PRELIMINARY STAGES.

REV. EVAN HOPKINS . . .23

III. EARLY KESWICK CONVENTIONS.

(a) REV. PREB. H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE . 35

(b) REV. E. W. MOORE . . 45

IV. THE FOUNDERS AND SOME OF THE LEADERS.

REV. J. ELDER GUMMING . . 49

V. THE MESSAGE. ITS SCRIPTURAL CHARACTER.

THE BISHOP OF DURHAM . 65
VI. „ „ ITS METHOD OF PRESENTATION.

REV. HUBERT BROOKE . 75

VII. „ „ ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

REV. A. T. PIERSON . 87

VIII. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSAGE.

REV. J. B. FIGGIS ... 97

IX. THE WATCHWORD OF THE CONVENTION.

MR. ALBERT HEAD . . . in

X. SOME OF THE RESULTS.

REV. C. G. MOORE . . .121

XI. THE MISSIONARY ELEMENT.

MR. EUGENE STOCK . . . 131

XII. THE KESWICK MISSION COUNCIL.

REV. J. BATTERSBY HARFORD . . 143

XIII. IN OTHER LANDS.

(a) REV. F. B. MEYER . . . 157

(b) REV. C. INWOOD . . . 165

XIV. THE EFFECT ON THE INDIVIDUAL MINISTRY.

REV. HARRINGTON C. LEES . . 173

Contents

CHAPTER

XV. CLERGY AND MINISTERS AT KESWICK.

REV. CANON A. E. BARNES LAWRENCE
XVI. WOMEN AT KESWICK.

Miss NUGENT
XVII. YOUNG MEN AT KESWICK.

REV. J. STUART HOLDEN
XVIII. KESWICK HYMNS.

REV. F. S. WEBSTER,
XIX. THE LITERATURE OF KESWICK.

REV. W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS
XX. A LAST WORD.
THE EDITOR

PAGE

• 183

• 193
203

. 211
221

• 239

The Keswick Convention :
its Message, its Method
and its Men

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

By The Editor

" Stand still and see ! " yea, see, to-day,

New wonders of redeeming grace —
The mighty Potter moulds the clay

Again within this hallowed place,
Till, through the human, the Divine
Is seen once more to move and shine.

Here "commune with thine heart, be still ! "

Search all the secret stores of years,
Till silence, now unbearable, —

Self, self-betrayed with blinding tears —
Then fall at Jesu's feet, and say,

"Thou canst, Thou shalt, cleanse all to-day ! "

" Be still, and know that I am God ! "

Peace, wounded conscience, heaving breast !

Christ's pierc'd hand bears alone the rod,
His cloud transfigures and brings rest.

Take, Lord, Thy power ; reign, great I AM,

O'ershadowing Guest, all-conquering Lamb !

Then, in the hush of this fair Tent,

And solemn stillness of this hour,
Three thousand souls before Thee bent,

Break forth, O Holy Ghost, in power —
Sweep through, thou Wind of God, sweep through ;

Once more cleanse, consecrate, renew !

C. A. Fox.

The Keswick Convention : Its Message,
its Method and its Men

THERE is a fragrance about the name Keswick
which passes human language to express, which is
dependent for its sweetness not upon any single
cause, but arises from an association of circumstances
which mus-t be enjoyed in order to be understood. To
the writer Keswick seems to be the most beautiful spot
on the world's surface, judged merely from the point
of view of natural beauty, added to which it brings back
to him memories of a lovely and peaceful home, of
parents who gave to their children the example of a joyful
and holy life, but most of all it speaks to him of spiritual
privileges which have profoundly influenced his life.

It is of these that this little volume seeks to tell the
tale, and it is no disparagement of the beauty of Lake
Derwentwater, or of the varied hills which surround it,
that Keswick is associated in the minds of multitudes
not so much with its scenery as with the manifestation of
spiritual power, or shall we say of the power of the Spirit,
which has been experienced there and the influence of
which has been felt in every quarter of the world.

The Keswick Convention arose, as have many similar
undertakings which have deeply influenced the people of
our time, not from any human design to inaugurate a
great world-wide movement, but from causes which the
world would call accidental, but which we recognise as
Providential.

The Keswick Convention

When Canon Harford-Battersby returned to his parish
in the little Cumberland town, Keswick, having passed
through a remarkable spiritual change at the Oxford
Conference of 1874, his one desire was that his own
people should share with him the blessing which had trans
formed his life, and which, he was convinced, would have
the same influence on all who would receive it. Others
will tell at first hand the story of those early days, but it
is sufficient to say here that the Vicar of St. John's,
Keswick, and Mr. Robert Wilson, who from the first was
associated with him in the organisation of the Conven
tion, were at the time utterly unconscious whereunto
this would grow. How the growth has taken place from
that day to this succeeding pages will tell, and as we
look back at the eventful years which have passed since
the first Convention in 1875 we can only exclaim,
" What hath God wrought ? " Now, however, that the
Keswick Convention has grown to its present position of
influence, it is well that we should ask what is the mean
ing of this movement, and we therefore propose to speak
in this chapter of its message, its methods, and its men.

ITS MESSAGE.

Its message is perhaps best expressed in the terms of
its original title, in which it is described as a " Conven
tion for the Promotion of Practical Holiness." This
is the one reason for its existence. The Keswick Con
vention has set up no new school of theology, it
has instituted no new sect, it has not even formed
a society, but exists for the sole purpose of helping
men to be holy. It is the result rather than the
process which produces that result which it is the
aim of the Convention to produce. It desires to prove to
the world that holiness of life is possible in the office as
well as in the pulpit, in the castle as well as the cottage, in

Its Message, its Method and its Men

the lands where heathen darkness can almost be felt
as in the quiet Christian atmosphere of this land of
liberty.

But again it is no abstract proposition which the Con
vention seeks to propound, it lives above all to show how
this may be attained, and the chief justification for the
existence of this movement lies in the fact that these
results have been attained. Men and women, most of
them already believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and in
His atoning blood, a large majority of them Christian
workers, have come to Keswick cast down, restless,
selfish, powerless, almost doubting the reality of the faith
which they possessed, and they have gone away with
lives transformed. A new joy has filled their souls, the
peace of God reigns in their hearts, they have been con
strained not to live unto themselves, but unto Him, the
power of God has come upon them, and all by the exercise
of that faith which first united them to Jesus Christ, but
which has now become to them the habit of their lives.

The message of the Convention is addressed, as we have
already indicated, to those who are the children of God
through faith in Christ Jesus, and therefore taking the
words of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews we
would say " let us cease to speak of the first principles of
Christ, and press on unto perfection," or as the margin
says, " full growth." Perhaps the words full growth
express in the best way the experience which is set
forth as the normal position to which Christians should
attain. Too many are satisfied with being babes in
Christ ; they have rejoiced in the knowledge of sins for
given, and new life imparted through Christ, but like the
Galatian Christians, having begun in the Spirit they are
seeking to be made perfect by the flesh.

To such the message of the Keswick Convention is
addressed ; it sets before them a life of faith and victory,

The Keswick Convention

of peace and rest as the rightful heritage of the child of
God, into which he may step not by the laborious ascent
of some " Scala Sancta," not by long prayers and
laborious effort, but by a deliberate and decisive act of
faith.

In a word the Convention may be regarded as a
" Mission" to Christians, and has many resemblances to
the " Mission " to non-Christians with which we are all
familiar. The latter sets before the unbeliever the
efficacy of Christ's atonement to put away the sin of the
repentant soul, it bids him to accept by faith the work
which Christ has accomplished once for all, and to receive
the free gift of God which is eternal life.

The former teaches that the normal experience of the
child of God should be one of victory instead of constant
defeat, one of liberty instead of grinding bondage, one of
" perfect peace " instead of restless worry. It shows
that in Christ there is provided for every believer victory,
liberty, and rest, and that this may be obtained not by a
life-long struggle after an impossible ideal but by the
surrender of the individual to God, and the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. At Keswick, as in the ordinary
" Mission," stress is laid upon a crisis which may take
place in the believer, which has taken place in multitudes
who, by simple faith, have yielded themselves to God,
and whose lives have been from that moment transformed,
as was the case with the founder of the Convention.
Yet no one would presume to say how this crisis should
take place. With some it has taken place on the
mountain top where the soul is alone with God, and
where, far distant from the busy hum of men, a solemn
dedication has been made of the whole being to God, and
the fire of God has descended to take possession of the living
sacrifice which has thus been willingly made to Him. In
another the step may have taken place in the crowded

Its Message, its Method and its Men

tent where, amid the united prayers of God's people,
courage has been given to break with the past of dis
honouring failure, and of selfish service, and to crown
Him Lord of all, Who before had only been admitted to
divided rule over the human heart.

In some cases, as in conversion, it is impossible to tell
the exact moment in which the surrender has taken
place, but at the same time there is the definite assur
ance that this step has been taken, that the Spirit of God
is ruling in the heart, and that all is at rest.

It matters not how the experience is reached, but the
vital point is that all should enter into the experience.

ITS METHOD.

It has proved necessary in dealing with the message to
allude in some measure to the methods by which it is
presented. At the same time it will be interesting to
review the methods which have been adopted. It might
almost be said of Keswick that there is no method though
all is methodical. There is no cast-iron system by which
its meetings are dominated, and many changes have
taken place in the arrangement of the meetings, the one
desire of the leaders being that they may themselves be
led by the Spirit of God, and that no mere formalism
should characterise the gatherings. We have spoken of
the Convention as being a " Mission " to Christians. It
may be compared to what has been known as a " Quiet
Day," or a " Retreat," though ideas may be connected
with these terms which are very far removed from the
line of the Keswick Convention. It must, however, be
allowed that much of the success of the Convention arises
from the fact that the hundreds or thousands who have
met there have gone aside from their ordinary worldly
pursuits to meet with God, and this in a place of
remarkable beauty and quietness, which for the time

The Keswick Convention

appears to be altogether given up to the Convention, to
the surprise of the casual tourist, who unwittingly selects
that week in the year for his visit to the lakes.

The attitude which the attenders have been urged to
take up may best be expressed in the words of the
Psalmist, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my
expectation is from Him" (Ps. Ixii.), and this is said to
have been the keynote of the first meeting of the first
Convention of 1875. From early days suggestions were
issued to those attending the Convention, some of which
may be here quoted.

"We have met as Christians to wait upon the Lord for
the fulfilment in us of those promises of grace which He
has made to us in Jesus Christ. For the better securing
this end particular attention is requested to the following
suggestions : —

" I. Come waiting on the Lord, desiring and expecting
blessing to your own soul individually.

" II. Be ready to learn whatever God may teach you
by His word, however opposed to human prejudices and
traditions.

"III. Heartily renounce all known evil and even
doubtful things 'not of faith.'

"IV. Lay aside for the time all reading except the
Bible.

' V. Avoid conversation which has a tendency to
divert your mind from the object of the Meetings. Do not
dispute with any, but rather pray with those who differ
from you.

"VI. Eat moderately, dress simply, retire to rest
early."

There has been some tendency in recent years to smile
at the circumstantial nature of these suggestions, yet
there can be little question that attention to small details
has done much to contribute to the solemnity of the

Its Message, its Method and its Men

occasion. A plea for a simpler life has been recently put
forward as a cure for the restlessness of Society, how
much more is it needed by the Church, especially in its
season devoted to Communion with God. Keswick does
not prescribe fasting, but it suggests that the soul will be
freer for meditating on the deep things of God, when
little thought is spent on the problems, What shall we
eat ? what shall we drink ? and wherewithal shall we be
clothed ?

The tyranny of the newspaper which tends to absorb the
best moments of the day is not felt so much in a place
where the London paper at least cannot be obtained in
the early hours of the morning, and the possibility which
the Convention gives of emancipation from the absorbing
interests of business or pleasure, or the cares of the
home circle contribute to give to Keswick its unique
position. Other Conventions have been organised in
the great towns with the same message, many of the same
speakers, and a similar plan of meetings ; yet in these
cases there has not been the same element of quiet.
Many of the speakers have come only for a single meet
ing and then gone back to the pressing claims of their
various spheres, instead of setting apart the whole week
as in the case of the Keswick Convention. Similarly the
hearers often run into one meeting or another whilst the
rest of the day is occupied with the distractions of a busy
life. Much blessing has resulted in spite of these
difficulties, but the surroundings of Keswick have doubt-
les's contributed much to the position which the Conven
tion occupies amongst others of a similar kind.

If it were desired to describe in one word the methods
adopted at Keswick they might be summed up in the word
simplicity. The choice ot a tent as the place of meeting
at once severs it from associations of a sectarian
character which might naturally belong to buildings, but

The Keswkk Convention

there is a better reason for the use of tents in later
Conventions from the fact that no building could hold the
multitudes who attend the Convention, and for whom
now two large marquees are provided, each holding
about 2,250 people, these being the property of the
Keswick Convention and being pitched upon ground also
the property of the Convention,

The programme of the meetings has usually followed
the same plan. The early morning prayer - meeting
commences at 7 a.m., and is largely attended, a missionary
prayer-meeting being held in the second tent at the same
hour. This was formerly held after breakfast, but the
more recent arrangement is much preferred. A Bible
Reading is given in each tent at ten o'clock by a chosen
speaker, who delivers a consecutive course on four succeed
ing mornings. These are very largely attended, and it is
a sight not easily to be forgotten to see the large con
gregation following with the closest attention the teaching
of the speaker, whilst the platform is always crowded,
many being there who are far more accustomed to speak
than to listen, yet each and all waiting to hear what God
the Lord will speak through His own Word. This is
characteristic of the teaching of the Convention ; the
impregnable rock of Holy Scripture is the foundation
upon which each speaker builds his message, and it is in
faith in the Living Word, speaking through the written
Word in the power of the Holy Spirit that the work is
done. Following the Bible Reading there is usually a
general meeting, whilst sectional meetings for ladies,
clergy, and young men are often arranged at the same
hour.

It was hoped in the earlier days that the afternoons
might be kept free for rest and refreshment on the
lake and hillsides, but for various reasons it has
been considered necessary to have a meeting at least

Its Message, its Method and its Men

in one of the tents in the afternoons. The great
meeting of the day is, however, the evening general
meeting. At this it is sought to bring the teach
ing of the day to a practical conclusion, and an after-
meeting is held. This is usually conducted by the
speaker who gives the last address and varies somewhat
in character according to the experience and practice of
the particular leader. A break is made at the close of
the general meeting before the after-meeting, and then
sometimes follows a short second address making clear
the message of the evening. Following on this there is
usually a solemn time of prayer, and during the singing of
an appropriate hymn, whilst the congregation are on
their knees, an invitation is given to those whose hearts
have been touched by the Holy Spirit to rise in their
places as a token that they desire to consecrate them
selves wholly unto God. These after-meetings have
frequently been times of great solemnity, and many can
date from such an occasion the inspiration of their lives.

There is, however, no attempt on the part of the
leaders to press unduly the importance of some such act
of public consecration, though they are convinced of its
great helpfulness in a large number of cases, but as we
have already stated many have found the secret of
blessing in their own rooms or alone on the hill side.
Opportunities are afforded at the close of each after-
meeting for conversation with members of the platform
who may be able by individual help to guide those who
are seeking the way of holiness, but are beset by doubts
and fears. It is difficult to overestimate the value of
these conversations, and it should be known by all who
attend that the speakers and other experienced helpers
feel it a privilege to assist any who would like to bring to
them their difficulties.

It has sometimes been held that Evangelical Christians

The Keswick Convention

who feel strongly the dangers of what is usually known
as " the Confessional," do not recognise the importance
of personal dealing. This is certainly not the case
amongst the Keswick speakers, who have found by
experience the great value of personal dealing with indi
viduals by which many have been brought into the
glorious light and liberty of the Gospel, who had been
kept captive by some besetting sin, or some practice
dishonouring to God.

Very much, however, of the work ot the Convention is
done in ways which are quite unnoticed by the casual
visitor. In the various lodging-houses, in excursions on
the lake or on the mountain side, conversations have
taken place which have been truly epoch-making in many
lives, the fruits of which eternity alone can disclose.

It has been clearly stated that the Convention is
intended for those who are sincere believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but in so large an assembly there are
certain to be those who are Christians in name, and
who have never apprehended the great truths of the
Gospel. These are not forgotten, and in the course of
the Conventions many have been led for the first time to
a knowledge of sins forgiven, and peace through the
blood of His Cross.

There are, however, in addition to the regular Convention
meetings, special evangelistic meetings designed for the
benefit of the people of Keswick itself, for though there are
many among the residents who highly value the privileges
of the Convention and attend the regular meetings, this is
not possible for all, and these evangelistic meetings are
arranged on the Sunday afternoons before and after the
Convention. They have been addressed by such well-
known evangelists as D. L. Moody, John McNeill, Dr.
Torrey, William Haslam, George Clarke, and W. R.
Lane, and in addition Mr. Lane has been the leader for

Its Message, its Method and its Men

many years of open-air-services held in the market place
under the auspices of the Convention. These various
services are very much in accord with the aim of the
founder of the Convention, whose great desire it was that
his own people should be blessed.

From the contemplation of the deep spiritual mysteries
which surround the problem of the holy life it may seem
inappropriate to pass to the consideration of the methods
of administration and organisation, but there can be
little doubt that the attention paid to these matters has
contributed to the success of the movement in no small
degree. There is no dreamy sentimentalism about the
organisation of the details, every arrangement being care
fully planned by men who, like the deacons mentioned in
the Acts, are men full of the Holy Ghost, whose serving
of tables has not been regarded as of little importance, but
as a trust from God.

At the outset the management of the Convention
was entirely in the hands of the two conveners, Canon
Harford-Battersby and Mr. Robert Wilson, the former
acting as chairman of the meetings and the latter superin
tending all the business arrangements. Few can realise
the immense amount of time and trouble which was
involved in such matters as the choice of sites and of
suitable tents, and even when these problems were solved
there were the questions of the lighting and ventilation of
the tents, the security of the tent in times of rain and
storm, and it is owing to the patience, tact, and judg
ment of Mr. Wilson and the workmen who acted under
him that only on one occasion, during the Convention of
1876, was the tent blown down, and then, mercifully,
without serious damage or personal injury.

Yet all this work did not permit Mr. Wilson to take
much personal part in the Convention meetings during
the early years. It was with great difficulty that he

The Keswick Convention

could be persuaded to take a seat on the platform, and
then probably only for part of the opening and closing
meetings. In the work of organisation Mr. Robert Wilson
was ably supported by his four sons, and Mr. William
Wilson succeeded his father as superintendent of the
business side of the work when his father became chair
man, and carries this on to the present day. He has
most kindly furnished some details which illustrate most
clearly the development of the Convention. The first
tent used was a marquee employed for diocesan purposes,
and held about 600 people. It was pitched for the first
three years in very much the same position as the Eskin
Street tent at present occupies, whilst in 1878 it was put
up in a field at the bottom of the parsonage garden. The
next year it was moved back again to Eskin Street, where
some years later a tent to hold 800 was bought and became
the property of the Convention.

After various changes a piece of ground was definitely
purchased in Eskin Street with funds raised as a
memorial to the founder of the Convention in the year
1887, and from that day to this further extension of the
property has been made until the present time, when
there are two tents each holding about 2,250, and each
pitched upon its own freehold site. Not only so but each
tent is now lighted by electric light ; there is also an
office, a speaker's room, a post office, a waiting room, and
lavatories.

Besides these, there is an official bookstall in connec
tion with each tent provided by Messrs. Marshall
Brothers, the profits of sales during Convention time
being devoted to the funds of the Convention. Other
bookstalls are planted year by year outside the gates of
each tent as a result of private enterprise. Some of
them undoubtedly have their use, but there is a danger
lest these should detract from the solemn purpose of the

Its Message, its Method and its Men

Convention, especially where they represent organisations
competing with one another for support.

Another serious problem connected with the Conven
tion is that of the housing of the many visitors, estimated
last year as about 10,000. From the first until a
few years ago Mr. Postlethwaite, a resident of Keswick,
most kindly undertook to keep a register of lodgings and
to find accommodation, so far as possible, for those who
applied. What this task must have meant is difficult to
contemplate, but it must be reckoned as one of the most im
portant and difficult parts of the Convention organisation.

In the early days especially the provision for so many
visitors was naturally quite inadequate, and some strange
stories could be told of experiences in lodgings at
Keswick. There have, however, been great changes in
recent years. Large numbers of houses have been built
mainly with a view to accommodating visitors to the
Convention, and the material prosperity of Keswick is
bound up in no small degree with the annual Convention.
Many visitors are also accommodated in neighbouring
villages and many come in daily by train or bicycle from
considerable distances. Several camps have also been
arranged for men, one of which, connected with the
Y.M.C.A., under the leadership of Mr. W. H. Hudson, ot
Penrith, being particularly successful.

One further practical point remains to be considered
which has also received the special attention of a devoted
layman. The fact that Keswick is far off from the great
centres of the United Kingdom might be a difficulty but
for the resource of Mr. J. T. Budd, who now arranges
special trains to take visitors to Keswick at cheap fares,
thus greatly diminishing the difficulties. Mr. Budd's
" Key to Keswick" is an invaluable guide to those who
wish to attend the Convention.

The foregoing details may be regarded as trivial, but

The Keswick Convention

they are recorded that it may be seen how intensely
practical has been the development of this Convention,
and how many there are who have given time and
thought and labour in order to make this week of meet
ings a time of quiet communion with God.

In spite, however, of all these facilities, many would
never have been able to go to Keswick at all were it not
for the forethought of certain individuals, chiefly ladies,
who have from year to year provided hospitality for
missionaries, clergy, ministers, and other Christian
workers, undergraduates and others. It is impossible to
estimate the marvellous blessing which has come to many
of the house parties which have been arranged in this
manner. The extent to which this hospitality can be
extended naturally depends upon the supply of funds and
those who have themselves benefited by the Convention
would be rendering a great service by contributing to
these funds.*

The property of the Convention is vested in Trustees,
who are ultimately responsible for the general arrange
ments and for the conduct of the meetings.

ITS MEN.

No record of the Keswick Convention would be com
plete without some reference to the individuals through
whom this wonderful work of God has been chiefly
carried on. Few who only know the Convention in
recent years could guess how it is that this remarkable
body of men and women have become associated in this
great enterprise, and are bound together by bonds of
brotherly love and sympathy which is unexampled in any
other modern Christian movement. The great forces of
denominational partizanship which are so strong and so
unhappy a feature of the life of the Christian Churches

*Anyone desirous of contributing to these funds should write to
A, A. Head, Esq. (Keswick Convention), Corrie Lodge, Wimbledon.

Its Message, its Method and its Men

at the present time finds no echo at Keswick. Here are
men each with their own responsibilities to the Christian
bodies which they represent, each with their own earnest
convictions on many disputed questions, meeting for the
solemn week of the Convention as Christian brethren,
and all this without any sacrifice of principle, or any want
of loyalty to that branch of the Christian Church to
which they may belong. Is not this a foretaste of the
fellowship of the saints in glory to which we all profess
to look forward, but which seems so infinitely far from
realisation in the unhappy divisions of Christendom ?
What, then, has brought about this linking of hearts
and this demonstration of the possibility of Christian
Union ? It has not come about as the result of any
conference on the subject of the re-union of the churches,
not as the outcome of the labours of a Select Committee,
or any other Committee, but as the result of the working
of the Spirit of God. There can be no other answer to
this question, for no human agency could have brought
about the same result. To those who have been on
lookers from afar, to those who have been critics of the
Keswick Convention, we commend the story which here
is given of the growth of that movement which has pro
foundly influenced the spiritual life of the people of this
land, and which bears its fruit in every part of the world.

This story is told in succeeding pages by some of those
who actually took part in the meetings which led up to
the foundation of the Keswick Convention, but reference
must be made here to the Oxford Conference of 1874 to
which the beginning of the Keswick Convention can
definitely be traced. This Convention was presided over
by Mr. Pearsall Smith, who with his gifted wife were
chiefly responsible under God for the spirit of longing
after a holy life which had profoundly affected the
evangelical churches of that time, and in particular the

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The Keswick Convention

evangelical section of the Church of England, though he
never took part in the Keswick Convention.

Appended to the circular of invitation to the Con
ference at Oxford which took place during vacation time
from August 2Qth— September 7th, 1874, were the
following names : —

The Earl of Chichester.

Lord Farnham.

Sir Thomas Beauchamp, Bart.

Right Hon. W. Cowper Temple,

M.P.

Samuel Morley, M.P.
Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P.
Stephenson A. Blackwood, Esq.
Henry Kingscote, Esq.
Neville Sherbrooke, Esq.
Charles Lloyd Braithwaite, Esq.
G. Monod, Paris.
Paul Kober Gobat, Bale,

Switzerland.

V. von Niebuhr, Halle, Germany.
The Very Rev. the Dean of

Canterbury.

Rev. W. Hay Aitken, Liverpool.
,, W. Arthur, London.
„ W. E. Boardman.
„ W. A. Chapman, London.
„ A. M. W. Christopher,

Oxford.

Rev,

Thain Davidson, London.

James Fleming, London.

C. A. Fox, London.

W. Haslam, London.

E. P. Hathaway, lately of

Oxford.

E. H. Hopkins, Richmond.
Theodore Monod, Paris.
E. W. Moore, London.
S. C. Morgan, Roxeth.
T. A. Nash, Norwich.
J. Richardson, Camberwell.
W. N. Ripley, Norwich.
G. A. Rogers, Dover.
G. Savage, Bexley.
C. B. Snepp, Birmingham.
Filmer Sullivan, Brighton.
G. R. Thornton, Nottingham.
H. Varley, London.
A. Windle, Dublin.
J. T. Wrenford, Newport,

Mon.

It is interesting to note the names of distinguished and
yet godly laymen who prominently identified themselves
with the Conference, Lord Mount Temple (as he was
afterwards) being the generous host of the meetings at
Broadlands Park which preceded the Oxford Conference,
and Sir Arthur Blackwood being the one, as Mr. Hopkins
points out, who suggested Oxford as a suitable place for
the Conference. The Earl of Chichester, then President

Its Message, its Method and its Men

of the Church Missionary Society, heads the list, though
it was not for many years after that the teaching of
Oxford and of Keswick influenced as it has done in later
years the work of this Society.

At the same time it was undoubtedly the evangelical
clergy of the Church of England who were chiefly in
fluenced in those early Conferences, and the origin of the
Keswick Convention is due to the effect of the Oxford Con
ference upon the life of one clergyman, Canon Harford-
Battersby, who went away from that Conference with a
life transformed and a shining face, as many have testified,
and with the strong determination that his own people of
Keswick, and of the North should share the same blessing
which he had found. Thus it came about that the calling
together of a little company at Keswick in 1875 led to
the initiation of the annual Keswick Convention and that
Canon Harford-Battersby became in the most natural
way its first Chairman.

After this lapse of time it would serve no useful
purpose to describe the special difficulties which preceded
the holding of the first Convention. Suffice it to say
that the leaders who were to have taken part in the
meetings were prevented from being present, and the
conveners were thus led from the first in a very peculiar
way to trust not in man but in God. This is told very
graphically in the following paragraph from the pen of
Canon Harford-Battersby describing the meetings : —
" The announcement, at the last moment almost, that
those to whom we had looked for the chief guidance of
the meetings could not attend, sent us, in a very urgent
and expectant mood, to the throne of Grace, and we
pleaded there, as the man in the parable (Luke xii. 5-8)
did, with our Divine " Friend " for the help we so much
needed. And He gave it. Other helpers came in answer
to our telegrams, and their presence in the power of the

The Keswick Convention

Holy Ghost, who most manifestly spoke by their lips,
fully supplied our need." This has been the character
istic of the Keswick Convention from that day to this.
Men and women being raised up, evidently called of God,
to give the message of the Convention, and the supply
has never failed.

Prebendary Webb-Peploe is the only one of the present
Keswick platform who took part in the first Keswick
Convention, but others of the present speakers soon
took their part, and by their means a continuity of
teaching has been maintained which, in spite of many
variations, is the same as that given at the Oxford
Conference.

It would be invidious to allude to the special part
which those speakers have taken who are now the
recognised leaders of the Convention, but most of these
have contributed in one way or another to this volume.
Dr. Elder Cumming has contributed some reminis
cences of those leaders, who have finished their earthly
course, and who were prominently connected with the
Convention.

It may, however, be worth while to state how it is that
the different speakers have become identified with the
Convention. Whether it was, as in the first instance,
the personal invitation of the conveners, or in more
recent years the Trustees of the Convention, only those
are selected who know experimentally the great doctrine
of sanctification by faith, and who have been used of God
in bringing others into the enjoyment of this blessing.
No one is invited to take part merely because of the
position which he may hold as a religious teacher or
preacher. Many of those who have been most promi
nently used in helping others were formerly strongly
opposed to the teaching of the Convention, but they have
experienced for themselves the blessing which others had

Its Message, its Method and its Men

known before, and have been constrained to tell out the
great things which the Lord has done for them.

It is a remarkable fact that the speakers are drawn
from all the principal Christian denominations, though at
Keswick differences between Christians is kept out of
sight, and the motto which is placed over the door of the
tent is characteristic of the spirit of the meetings, "All
one in Christ Jesus."

Preliminary Stages

CHAPTER II

By the Rev. Evan Hopkins

Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow,

That a time could ever be,
When I let the Saviour's pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered —

" All of self and none of Thee,"
Cho. " All of self, and none of Thee."

Yet He found me ; I beheld Him

Bleeding on the cursed tree ;
Heard Him pray, " Forgive them, Father,"
And my wistful heart said faintly —

" Some of self, and some of Thee."
Cho. " Some of self, and some of Thee."

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,

Sweet and strong, and ah 1 so patient,

Brought me lower while I whispered —
" Less of self, and more of Thee."

Cho. " Less of self, and more of Thee."

Higher than the highest heavens,

Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered :
Grant me now my soul's petition —

"None of self, and all of Thee."
Cho. " None of self, and all of Thee."

THEODORE MONOD.

Preliminary Stages

THE remarkable movement that has been going on
in the Church of God, both at home and abroad
for the last thirty years and more, in connection
with the experience of a fuller spiritual life, did not have
its rise in the Keswick Convention.

The first Convention at Keswick was convened in July
1875, but during the year 1873 small meetings were held
in London, when great and definite blessings were
realised by a few. Then followed larger gatherings, and
in the year 1874 special Union Meetings for Consecration,
for two or three days at a time, were held at the Mildmay
Conference Hall, at Hanover Square Rooms, and in other
places. Similar Conferences were held in Dublin, Man
chester, Nottingham, and Leicester. On the Continent,
too, meetings for the same purpose and on exactly
similar lines were held and largely attended.

The result was that very many of God's children both
at home and abroad were brought to a deep sense of
their need in the sphere of the practical life, and
awakened to a more believing expectation that a truer
and more triumphant life was possible. The spiritual
up-lifting that so many experienced as the result of a
clear and definite setting forth of the believer's present
privileges, and the possibilities of faith, produced a
profound impression upon Christians generally. So
sudden and striking were the transformations that took
place in the experiences and life of some of God's most
earnest workers that even those who regarded the move-

The Keswick Convention

ment with suspicion, were unable to gainsay the reality
of the blessings that followed.

In the summer of 1874 the first Convention at
Broadlands was held. It had its origin in the desire
that a number of young University men, who had
found partial blessing in some meetings for consecration
held at Cambridge during term time, should spend a
few quiet days for prayer, meditation and dedication to
God, in some secluded spot. This suggestion was made
in the presence of the generous proprietor of Broad-
lands Park, near Romsey — the late Lord Mount Temple,
who was then the Right Hon. W. Cowper-Temple. He
at once said, " My place is at your service, if you will
accept it." A more suitable place it would not be pos
sible to find. The offer was accepted, and invitations
were issued, being extended to others than under
graduates. About a hundred persons in all attended
this Conference for six days, from the I7th to the 23rd of
July, ^1874.

It is interesting to note the subjects which were
selected as the main lines of this most unique gather
ing :—

" The Scriptural possibilities of faith in the life of the
Christian in the daily walk (a) as to maintained com
munion with God ; and (b) as to victory over all known
sin." These were the topics that were kept prayerfully
and steadily in mind during these days of waiting upon
God.

The meetings were held beside the quiet flowing river
that passes through the grounds, or under the beech
trees, or in the orangery. Such was the absorbing
interest felt by all, that no difficulty was found in gather
ing the guests at seven o'clock in the cool of the morning;
and it was an effort to separate when the breakfast hour
of nine came. At ten o'clock conversational meetings

Preliminary Stages

were held, Bibles in hand, in different places through
the grounds, and at eleven o'clock the time was spent in
prayer and praise, with short addresses. Meetings for
ladies only were also arranged, and at three conversa
tional meetings were held, followed by a general meeting
at four. After tea Bible readings were given till the
regular evening meeting. The manifested presence and
power of God pervaded all these gatherings, and many
stated that the long periods of silent prayer had been to
them the most solemn and helpful seasons of their spiritual
life.

One wrote at the time as follows : " We began with
the negative side — renunciation of discerned evil, and
even of doubtful doings which are not of faith, and there
fore sin. For some days the company was held under
the searching light of God, to see and to remove any
obstacles to a divine communion, aught that frustrated
the grace of God. We sought to have that which was
true in God as to our judicial standing in a risen Christ,
also true in personal appropriation and experience. Many
secret sins, many a scarcely recognised reserve as to
entire self renunciation, were here brought up into the
light of consciousness and put away in the presence of
the Lord. We desired to make thorough work, so as to
have no known evil or self-will unyielded, and we have
reason to hope that those present did so, and that we
took the position of solemn purpose to renounce instantly
everything in which we should find ourselves ' other
wise minded ' as from time to time ' God shall reveal even
this unto you.'

"In the intervals of the meetings it was interesting to
see groups gathered in the more secluded places in the
woods by the river on their knees praying, searching the
Scriptures, or speaking earnestly to each other of the
all-absorbing subject of the Convention. Some one had

The Keswick Convention

proposed to have readings at the meal times, so as to
concentrate our minds, but no such plan was needed to
keep the company even at times of refreshment to the
one engrossing subject."

In a letter received from Pasteur Theodore Monod at
the time reference is made to this memorable occasion. An
extract will be read now with interest : " The difference
between those Broadland meetings and many others that
I have attended is just the difference between a flower
and the name of a flower. Christians too often meet
only to talk about good and precious things : peace, joy,
love, and so on, but there we actually had the very things
themselves. I cannot be grateful enough to God for
having led me into such a soul-satisfying and God-
glorifying faith. I think I may say that I got all that I
expected, and more. And I begin to suspect that we
always get from God everything — provided it be good
for us — that we ask for, expecting to get it. Oh, for self-
forgetting faith, that I may have more and more, and
more of it, and that the Church of Christ may cease to
grieve Him, distress herself, and hinder the Coming ol
His Kingdom by disobeying His word ! My French
companions have all derived much benefit from the Con
ference. God be praised for His work ! Never mind
the world, nor the devil, so long as you have the sun
shine of Jesus' smile in your heart."

It will interest many of our readers to know that the
now well-known hymn " The Altered Motto " was
written by our brother during those happy days at
Broadlands.

" Oh ! the bitter shame and sorrow
That a time could ever be,
When I let the Saviour's pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
' All of self and none of Thee.' "

Preliminary Stages

A deeply interesting article was published a week before
the Broadlands Conference by the same author, entitled
" Seven Weeks of Trust," from which we learn that it
was only a short time before the hymn was written that
our brother entered into the " fulness of blessing."

The account of the Broadlands Conference was read
far and wide, and awakened considerable interest. Many
who had never before attended any meetings of the kind
were led to cry to God for the fulness of the Spirit, with
an expectation and earnestness of desire they had never
before known.

It was at the close of the meetings at Broadlands that
one made the remark : " We must repeat these meetings
on a larger scale, when all who desire can attend." And
one of the guests volunteered £500 towards the expenses
of this effort. But none of his money was found to be
necessary when the proposal was actually carried out in
the Conference that followed.

It was suggested by the late beloved Sir Arthur Black-
wood, who was present at Broadlands, that this pro
posed Convention should be held at Oxford during
vacation time.

This memorable Conference was accordingly held from
August 2Qth to September 7th, 1874. So abundant were
the offerings of the people on this occasion that large
sums remained over and above the actual expenses to be
devoted to the extension of the movement on the
Continent.

We give here a few extracts from the invitation to the
" Oxford Union Meetings for the promotion of Scriptural
Holiness " that was issued on the 8th August, 1874. And
though the notice was so short, so widespread was the
interest that very many amongst the most prominent of
God's people responded to the call. A large and repre
sentative number of clergy and ministers, together with

The Keswick Convention

laymen from all parts of the kingdom, as well as a great
many pastors from the Continent, accepted the invitation
and spent ten days in Prayer, Bible Reading, and
Conference in the University City of Oxford.

Space will not permit anything like a detailed account
of this remarkable Conference. But a quotation from an
able review that appeared in the Christian at the time will
be read with special interest to-day : —

" God hath visited His people ! If any one had said
a year ago that we should see, in the city of Oxford, an
assembly of Christians, very largely composed of members
of the Establishment and various Nonconforming bodies,
and including twenty or thirty Continental pastors,
gathered for the purpose of seeking, by mutual counsel
and united prayer and consecration, to reach a higher
condition of Christian life, it would have been considered
far more devoutly to be wished than likely to occur. And if
it had been added that we should see early morning meetings
of nearly a thousand of these men and women, of all ranks
in society, and of all denominations, gathered in prayer,
and for the communication of their experiences in the
divine life, clergymen and laymen standing up and declar
ing what God had done for their souls, there would have
been not a few to say, with the lord on whose hand the
King of Israel leaned, ' If the Lord would open windows
of heaven, might this thing be ? ' But God has opened
the windows of heaven, and is pouring out a blessing
that there shall not be room to receive it ! And not
only so, but ' God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty; . . . that no flesh should glory in His presence.'"
* * *

" We have attended many conferences, including a ten
days' convention in America, the prototype of that at

Preliminary Stages

Oxford, but in many respects this excelled them all. It
is the fruit and flower of those which have gone before —
of those at Barnet, and Mildmay, and Perth, and other
places at home, as well as of Mannheim, and Vineland,
and Round Lake, in the United States. Conferences
must be of another type henceforth.

"If it be asked, ' What is the blessing?' It is the
blessedness of the man ' who maketh the Lord his trust,'
* whose strength is in Thee,' of them who have not seen
and yet have believed, who stand by night in the house of
the Lord, trusting where they cannot see Him, who pre
sent their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, their reasonable service, and who, doing this, are
not conformed to this world, but are daily being trans
formed by the renewing of their minds that they may
know what that good and acceptable and perfect will of
the Lord is."

It was at the Oxford Conference that the late beloved
Canon Harford-Battersby himself entered into " the rest
of faith." But for this event the now well-known Keswick
Convention would never have had a beginning. For
fuller particulars we would refer our readers to the work
published some years ago entitled " Canon Harford-
Battersby and the Keswick Convention," edited by two
of his sons (Seeley & Co.).

Very soon after the Oxford Conference similar meetings
on a smaller scale, but on exactly the same lines, were
held at Stroud under the presidency of the late Mr. T.
Croome — a well-known and devoted Christian layman.

It is interesting to note that at that time Prebendary
Webb-Peploe was not amongst those who took part at
such meetings, but was seen amongst the listeners. He
had not been able to attend the Oxford Conference, and
we think we are right in saying that it was only about this
time that he himself definitely entered into the blessing

The Keswick Convention

of the more abundant life. The Cheltenham Conference
followed immediately after the Stroud Convention, and
it was there, that for the first time, our brother actually
took part publicly in the movement.

The next great series of meetings was the wonderful
Brighton Convention, which was held in the Pavilion at
Brighton, from May 2Qth to June 7th, 1875. There,
some eight thousand people, the greater part earnest
well-instructed Christians, met together for ten days in
prayer and meditation and for the purpose of personal
consecration to God. Addresses were given there during
those days which live to this day in the memories of those
who heard them, and have been the means of lasting
blessing to thousands.

Everywhere — at home and abroad — we come across
the abiding fruits of this truly memorable gathering. It
was at this Convention that Canon Battersby arranged for
the first Convention at Keswick, to take place in the
following month of July of that year 1875.

Amongst those who was present at the Brighton Con
vention was the gifted author of " Chronicles of the
Schonberg Cotta Family," the late Mrs. Charles. The
following suggestive thoughts were penned by her
immediately after the Convention : —

" It is no new thing. Yet now it seems to me as if I
had only half believed it.

" I never believed in any Saviour but a Saviour from
sin ; I never dreamed of any salvation, but a salvation
from sin. Yet now, everything, every word of the Bible,
every relation of human life, everything in nature — old
familiar hymns, the Creeds, the services of the Church,
the Holy Communion — glow, become translucent, with a
new glory and significance.

" I should not choose the phrase ' higher life.' It
seems to me the life ; the normal natural Christian life,

Preliminary Stages

which we all ought to be living, not merely a few of us ;
which we ought to be living always and not merely now
and then.

" To walk in the light is surely the simple natural
order — it would seem almost the inevitable order of true
Christian life.

" Our Sun is not a Revolving Light, alternately bright
and dark. Why should our path be through alternate
streaks of light and shadow ?

" It is simply, I think, the translation of the past and
the future into the present : in other words, of then, and
by-and-bye, into now ; of Time, with its alternations and
its decadences, into the Eternal with its ever-living youth.

" The tenses of the Christian life are not mere narrative
tenses. They are perfect and present.

" * Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood ; and hast
made us kings and priests.' That is, we are redeemed,
and do belong to God now; we are not our own, but His;
dominion over sin is not a vague promise in the future,
but a possibility and possession, now, in and through Him
who lives in those who trust Him. The consecrated,
sacrificial, sacerdotal life is not for a future age, or a
limited number, but for the whole Church every moment
now and for ever.

" It is simply the translation of possibilities into acts.
As Coleridge said, * To restore a common-place truth to
its first uncommon lustre, you need only translate it into
action.1

"That is: when the Master says 'Abide in Me' we
are not vaguely to reply ' Enable me to abide in Thee ' ;
but ' I do abide in Thee ' ; not only ' I will ' far less
' I fear I shall not,' but * Now, at this moment I do.'

" And the Master's response is, ' He that abideth in Me,
and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.'

"The beneficences, and endurances, and sacrifices of the

33 D

The Keswick Convention

believing obedient life are not constructed painfully as
works, but spring forth naturally as fruits.

" As Alexander Knox said : From the sentence in the
Litany l That we may diligently live after Thy command
ments,' which is much, we should go on to the following
petition, ' for increase of grace to hear meekly Thy word,
and to receive it with pure affection, and to bring forth
the fruits of the Spirit,' which is more.

" It is not ' Without Me ye can do but little,' but
' without Me, ye can do nothing.'

" It is not ' That ye may have a little broken interrupted
joy,' but ' That My joy may abide in you ; and that your
joy may be /#//.'

" And then, if we continue, as we continue beholding
Jesus, the Spirit Who manifests Him will reveal depth
after depth in Him ; the Babe in the Manger, the Child
'subject to His parents,' 'coming not to be ministered
unto, but to minister,' ' obedient unto death, even the
death of the Cross.'

" This is the Christ who lives in Christians. This is the
life which through His disciples He would manifest to the
world, ' that the world may believe,' Holy, Immaculate,
patient Lamb of God, to each one of us, can it indeed be
possible that Thou hast committed this, even this ? To
manifest Thee, by our living, by Thy life in us !

" Can it indeed be true that Thou hast not only promised,
but commanded this ? For Thy command seems to me to
involve, if possible, even a stronger assurance than Thy
promise.

" Tremendous responsibility, unutterable blessed possi
bility—to manifest Thee ! "

Early Keswick Conventions

CHAPTER III

(A) By the Rev. Preb. H. Webb'Peploe,

M.A.

(B) By the Rev. E, W, Moore, M.A.

I have known and valued the Keswick Convention since the year
1882.

The truth brought out in various forms is the life of peace, joy, and
victory upon which Christians can enter, and in which they can be
kept by full surrender and faith in Christ. It is summed up in the
lines : —

" Christ without our safety,
" Christ within our joy ! "

Not only Christ without, but Christ within. — Col. i. 27 —
Eph. iii, 17. Christ within to apply to us by the Holy Spirit His
finished work on the Cross ; to manifest Himself in the study of the
Word ; to cleanse us from sin, and keep us cleansed ; to fill us
continually out of His fulness ; to enable us to identify ourselves
with Himself on the Cross ; to keep self in the dust of death ; to use
us as, and when, and where He pleases.

This is the great Message of Keswick, and this has brought life
and joy and peace to thousands. It has introduced a fresh era into
missionary work, many of the missionaries through receiving the
Message having entered into newness of life. — Francis Paynter.

Early Keswick Conventions

GREAT issues flow from small beginnings, and those
who now contemplate with amazement and awe the
gatherings of thousands at the great Keswick Con
vention can hardly perhaps understand or appreciate from
whence these mighty assemblies sprang. To one who
saw, and took part in the first Keswick Convention has
been accorded the holy privilege (I will not say duty
unless my readers will carefully think of this word as
meaning only " that which is due from one to others") of
telling a little of what took place in those memorable
days, and how from the loving invitations of one man to
his friends and parishioners to come and hear what the
Lord Jesus could be and do for the true believer, have
gradually come (in the magnificent goodness cf God) the
solemn assemblies which are now seen year after year,
filling two great tents, from early morning till night,
throughout the whole of the last week of July, and drink
ing in "the words of Life" as God gives them to His
messengers.

The first gathering in Keswick, under the title of " A
Convention," began on Monday, July 28th, 1875, and its
origin may perhaps be thus described.

In September, 1874, there had been held in Oxford the
first great Convention on " Holiness," which was
attended by (I believe) about 1,000 persons, almost
everyone of whom seemed to receive distinct spiritual
blessing ; and it was at that holy gathering that the late
Canon Battersby was led to trust the gracious Saviour

The Keswick Convention

with wonderful new Light, and with a joy of soul that
demanded confession and open manifestation of the bless
ing received. But though so many had received special
help at the Oxford Convention, the teaching there given
was not allowed to pass unchallenged ; and I can
remember, with pain, how not only the godless but the
greatest Leaders and Teachers of Evangelical Truth
thought it their duty to oppose to the utmost what they
considered "very dangerous Heresy" — that Christ could
keep His people from every known sin, and that according
to our faith it would be unto us in this as in regard to our
original salvation. The fact was that they did not know
what was really being taught by sober, earnest, and
spiritually minded, men ; and they only formed their
opinions from certain mistaken reports which were
promulgated in the columns of some of the weekly-
papers. The result was (as wre some of us remember
with pain) that when in the autumn of 1874 meetings
were organised in different parts of the country — to
further the good work that had been begun at the Oxford
Convention — the Evangelical Leaders of that day felt it
their duty to oppose what they believed to be a false
doctrine of " Perfection in man." The teaching was simply
that which is now everywhere received as the complement
of that Gospel which tells of a free and full salvation in
Christ, and which makes our blessed Saviour not only a
perfect atonement for sin, but also a keeper for those who
trust Him up to the measure of their light and knowledge,
not only of their own need, but of Jesus Christ as their
" Life." This, we need hardly say, was never for one
moment intended (by those who were rightly instructed,
and were the real leaders of the movement) to be a teach
ing of "sinless perfection in man"! On the contrary,
it was always most carefully guarded by an insistence on
the fact that sin remains in us to the last, and that

Early Keswick Conventions

though Christ will by His Holy Spirit's power keep the
true believer moment by moment from falling into known
and unknown sins, yet that every thought, word, and deed
of the Christian — to the last moment on earth — is
tainted by the fact of indwelling sin or corruption, and
that therefore the blood of Christ is needed, every
moment of our lives, to cleanse us from guilt and keep us
acceptable in the sight of the Holy God. Never I
believe was the solemn meaning or force of i John i. 8,
9, 10, at any time forgotten or put aside by the real
leaders of what is sometimes called "The Keswick Move
ment." The term is a false and unmeaning one really,
for the " Movement " was nothing less than the gracious
working of the Holy Spirit, to rouse the Church of God
to a greater realization of the " Rest " which God would
give to all true believers in Christ, not only from fret, and
fear, and folly, but from all known and actual sins — and
that the Church should realize and exhibit to the world
what is really meant (in spiritual things) by " entering
into the promised land" (Heb. iii, iv).

Surely, no well-instructed Christian of our day, who
heard the teaching which I have briefly depicted, would
think of condemning it as opposed to God's Truth, and
yet it is only some twenty-eight, or twenty-nine, years ago
that, when I had been asked to set forth " Keswick teach
ing " before some fifty or sixty evangelical clergy and I
had heartily responded to the invitation, explaining from
Rom. vi.-viii., from i Cor. x. 13, and from 2 Cor. xii. 9,
guarded carefully by i John i. 8, 9, the blessed keeping
power and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ for His
people — the chairman of the meeting (himself perhaps the
very centre of Evangelical Churchmanship) rose as soon
as I had finished my address, and said: "Heresy!
Heresy ! ! Damnable Heresy ! I hold that it is for the
glory of God that we should fall into sin, that He may get

The Keswick Convention

honour to Himself by drawing us out of it " ! Thank
God ! further light was very soon given to the earnest,
but misinformed, leaders of that last generation ; and for
the honour of our Lord and the good fame of the
brethren, I may mention that each of the three great
leaders, who most determinedly opposed the movement at
first, afterwards invited me, as an exponent of Keswick
teaching, to conduct missions, or to take special services
in their parishes, and that, in each case, I was permitted
to do what they asked, and to have these honoured fathers
sitting humbly in their own parish churches, and listening
earnestly, while I set forth " the unsearchable riches of
Christ." I only mention this fact to show, how much of
prejudice had to be overcome before the glorious Gospel
of a keeping Saviour could be welcomed even by those
who had long been teachers of the great truth of ''justi
fication by faith," but who, if I understand the difference
rightly, seemed to think that human effort was the chief
element in sanctification. Of course this human effort is
demanded, but what is taught at Keswick and other similar
Conventions is that Christ keeps His faithful servant from
falling, moment by moment, according to the exercise of
faith — following the teaching of such passages as 2 Pet.
I, 10 and St. Jude 24 (where the same word, which really
means "stumbling," is given as "falling" in each of the
two verses). The immediate result of the Oxford Con
vention was that, in the autumn of 1874 several smaller
Conventions were held, in some of which I was permitted
to take part, and with very blessed and beautiful results.
These were followed by clerical meetings, &c., in which
strong opposition was shown to what was often called
" Pearsall-Smithism " or " Sinless Perfection," and at a
great gathering in June, 1875, a leading evangelical clergy
man spoke on " Holiness by Faith : Are recent statements
according to Scripture ? " and very strongly reprobated

Early Keswick Conventions

the whole movement as contrary to God's Word ! Yet
only a few years later that very same brother invited me
to take a mission in a most important parish and town.

It was in June, 1875, that the great Brighton Conven
tion was held, at which it was said that 8,000 people were
present. Only those who had the privilege of attending
those " Ten-day Meetings " can in any way appreciate
the marvellous blessing that was given. There may, of
course, have been some mistakes, and some erroneous
doctrines put forward, for men were almost excitedly
looking for light ; but on the whole it may be safely
affirmed that the Lord overruled those gatherings to give
wonderful results.

It was as the outcome of that Convention that the late
Canon Battersby, the honoured and much-loved Vicar of
St. John's, Keswick, felt impelled to invite a number of
friends to go to Keswick for a week of Holiness Meetings,
and the intention was that Mr. Pearsall Smith should be
the leader thereat. Canon Battersby was to be helped in
all the details and arrangements of the meetings by his
true and powerful coadjutor, Mr. Robert Wilson. But
man proposes and God disposes ; and so, when June 28th
came, and the meetings were to commence, Mr. Pearsall
Smith was ill and could not go to Keswick at all ; and
from that time he retired altogether from the leadership
of Conventions, and other men had to be upraised of God.

On arriving in Keswick we went straight to the Tent,
which had in it a gathering of 300 or 400 people. Canon
Battersby was, of course, the leader, and director, while
Mr. Robert Wilson, with wonderful self-denial, undertook
all the arrangements connected with the Tent and other
secular matters. During the following days of the Con
vention our numbers may have reached at some meetings
as many as 600 ; but of the great gatherings now expected
we knew nothing then. I had only gone as a listener,

The Keswick Convention

but like others found myself called to speak almost all
day long, owing to the absence of those who had been
expected as leaders. The programme of the meetings, as
issued at the time, was as follows : —

DAILY MEETINGS.

Keswick, June 28 — July 2, 1875.

Monday, June 28th,
Prayer Meeting, 7.30 p.m. — Marquee,
Daily Meetings, June 29th. — July ist.

7.0 to 8.30 o'clock. — Marquee.
Before Breakfast. — Prayer Meeting.

8.30 to 9.30 o'clock. — Breakfast.
9.45 to 11.15 o'clock.— Conversational Side Meetings-

St. John's Girls and Infant Schools.
Rev. G. R. Thornton, Rev. H. Webb-Peploe,
Mr. H. F. Bowker, Rev. T. Phillips.

Lecture Hall of the Keswick Library,

For Ladies Only.

11.45 to 1.30 o'clock. — Marquee.

General Meeting. — Prayer and Addresses.

1.30 to 3.0 o'clock. — Dinner.

3.0 to 4.0 o'clock.

Prayer Meeting. — St. John's Infant Schoolroom.
Service of Song.— Rev. J. Mountain, Marquee-

4.0 to 5.15 o'clock. — Marquee.
General Meeting. — Prayer and Addresses.

5.15 to 6.15 o'clock.— Tea.
6.15 to 7.30 o'clock.— Marquee.

Ministerial Testimonies.

7.30109.0 o'clock. — Marquee.

General Meeting.— Prayer and Addresses.

Friday, July 2nd,
Prayer and Praise Meeting, 7.0 a.m.

and all that the speakers knew of " preparation times "
was that, after long and earnest prayer, in Canon Bat-
tersby's house at night, he would apportion next day's
work and say to each one, " Will you take this ? " and
" Will you take that ? " No one thought of questioning

Early Keswicfc Conventions

his appointment, but took it as being directly " of the
Lord." The chief speakers at that first Convention were
the Rev. George Thornton, Mr. H. Bowker, Mr. T. M.
Croome, Mr. Shipley (an American), and myself. For
two or three hours each day, one was occupied with
answering questions, which were openly propounded in the
class-rooms of the schools, or sent up in writing to the
platform of the Tent ; and this part of our work was very
wearying, but exceedingly profitable, and it might with
advantage be much more used now. Nothing can be
imagined more simple, or more " unconventional," than
the arrangements of that first holy meeting at Keswick.

The second Convention in that town began on July
3ist, 1876, when the opening meeting was addressed by
Canon Battersby and the Rev. Evan Hopkins. About
400 were present that night, and perhaps 600 to 700 at
some later meetings of the Convention. The speakers of
that year were chiefly the Rev. Evan Hopkins, the Rev.
R. B. Girdlestone, the Rev. Thompson Phillips, the Rev.
J. B. Figgis and myself, with Mr. Bowker, and Mrs.
Johnson of America, besides Canon Battersby, who of
course took a leading part as the Vicar, and as Chairman
of the Convention. It was during that year's gatherings
that our Tent was blown down in the night, and Mr.
Wilson gave up the whole night to preparing the Drill
Hall for our 7 a.m. meeting. His generalship was
remarkable, and we were all most deeply indebted to him
for his labour of love. The result was, however, some
what trying for us speakers, especially for Mr. Hopkins
and myself, as we had to rush from the Drill Hall to the
Lecture Hall, and vice versa, all day long, repeating our
addresses alternately in each of these places ; but the
Convention, in those days, closed before the end of the
week ; and so one could get away on Friday, and prepare
for one's home work on the Sunday ; and it might be

The Keswick Convention

well perhaps for some of us, if the same custom prevailed
now.

Wonderful indeed were the spiritual results in those
earlier Conventions ; and one sometimes is led to yearn
for the simple delight that was manifested, as the truth of
Christ's keeping, and peace-giving power, was appre
hended by hungry and thirsty souls.

May Keswick Conventions never become formal ; but be
ever more and more owned of God, for the up-lifting of
souls into the true, and joyful, life of a believer in Christ.

I may not now write concerning the later Conventions :
Other brethren have undertaken that holy privilege and
duty : but I would simply, in closing, express my humble
astonishment, and awe, at the great things which the
Lord of Hosts has done in that consecrated place; and
pray that His mighty power and love may be ever more
and more seen, working with even greater force and beauty
than in the past, and that every Convention that is held
in Keswick may be far better than the preceding one.
Thus shall the Lord Jesus be truly honoured as our
Saviour, and men shall rejoice in the loving kindness of
their gracious God.

H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE.

TO give, as I have been asked to do, a brief sketch of
the early days of the Keswick movement is to
awaken memories of half a life-time. For, if I
may be permitted the statement, my first acquaintance
with Keswick teaching began long before the Keswick
Convention itself was thought of. Shall I ever forget
the meeting in London on May ist, 1873, attended
by about sixteen persons, five or six of whom remain
unto this present, but the rest are fallen asleep,
at which a servant of Christ arose, and instead of,
as I feared, propounding some " new theology,"
gave the simple testimony that "a great blessing had
come into his life through deep searchings of the heart."
Simple as the testimony was, it proved quick and
powerful to some who heard it, and from that little
meeting, as from an obscure source and spring, the stream
of Keswick teaching and influence, which has gone round
the world since then, may truly be said to have taken its
rise. I was not at the first Keswick Convention, sum
moned by the revered Canon Battersby (after the wonderful
Oxford gathering of September, 1874, and the Brighton
meeting in the spring of 1875) in July of the latter year.
But the next meeting I well remember in 1876, when
the tent, crowded at the early seven o'clock prayer-meet
ing in pouring rain, gave me my first impression of the
earnestness of the people.

Since then how many solemn assemblies have been
held at Keswick. The most fruitful, so far as my
experience goes, was the Convention of 1884. Only the
other day one of God's best known servants across the
border (Mr. J. G. Govan) referred, in a periodical which

The Keswick Convention

he edits, to that meeting as memorable in its issues for
Scotland as well as England. The definite old-fashioned
testimony of the eighteenth century revival, to heart
purification by faith as a distinct experience subsequent
to conversion, had been given from the platform and its
echoes borne far away by the Breath of the Spirit,
awakened response in hearts and lives and service for
God elsewhere. Different stages there are and must be
in the apprehension of believers of heavenly things, and
as their experience so will be their testimony. But if I
am asked the raison d'etre for Keswick I can only reply
that so far as I am concerned the teaching stands for that
deep heart-searching experience depicted in the sixth
chapter of Isaiah, where the prophet, already the accepted
servant of Jehovah, is convicted as he comes up into the
Holy Presence of his own need of a deeper work of
sanctification in his soul. Overwhelmed by the vision of
the Divine Purity and contrasting with it his own
unworthiness, he cries in his agony " Woe is me, I am
undone," or, in Pauline language, " Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death," and in that hour of deep
humiliation and confession there comes upon his heart
the touch of FIRE ; the flame from the altar consumes
the filthiness out of him, he is " purified outward to the
lips," and as the sound of the Master's voice, " Whom
shall I send and who will go for us," falls on that cleansed
ear there comes the glad response, " Here, Lord," if
you can make anything of such a poor instrument as I
am. " Here am I, send me."

What is Keswick ? I have sometimes been asked. Is
it a great missionary meeting ? No, I always reply, it
is not a missionary meeting, although for many years now
missionary operations have been given a large place in its
programme. But Keswick, rightly understood, is not
a missionary meeting. It is a meeting for making mis-

Early Keswick Conventions

sionaries. And I do not hesitate to say that wherever its
truths are really known, in other words, wherever Christ
comes into full possession of a human soul, there you
will find a missionary — whether his work lie in the
East of London or the West, in Europe or in Africa, at
home or abroad. If these lines should fall into the hands
of a stranger to Keswick Convention and its teaching, let
me advise him to put its influence to the test of a personal
experience.

The great annual gatherings differ no doubt as all
anniversaries will do from each other in their measure of
power and blessing. But no one I make bold to say
can go to Keswick in the spirit of prayer and faith with
out finding it good to be there.

It is not a religious picnic. It is a time of earnest
waiting upon God. It has often been a time of trans
figuration both for life and service to those who have
attended it. Its privileges are great. Its responsibilities
are greater still. But the best of all is that the superscrip
tion on its assemblies is the superscription of the City of

God.

"Jehovah Shammah."

" The Lord is there."

E. W. MOORE.

The Founders and Some
of the Leaders

CHAPTER IV

By the Rev. J. Elder dimming, D.D,

Thou sweet, beloved will of God,
My anchor ground, my fortress hill,

My spirit's silent, fair abode,
In Thee I hide me, and am still.

O Will, that wiliest good alone,

Lead Thou the way, Thou guidest best :

A little child, I follow on,

And, trusting, lean upon Thy breast.

Thy beautiful sweet will, my God,
Holds fast in its sublime embrace

My captive will, a gladsome bird,
Prisoned in such a realm of grace.

Within this place of certain good
Love evermore expands her wings,

Or nestling in Thy perfect choice,
Abides content with what it brings.

Oh, lightest burden, sweetest yoke !

It lifts, it bears my happy soul,
It giveth wings to this poor heart ;

My freedom is Thy grand control.

Upon God's will I lay me down,
As child upon its mother's breast ;

No silken couch, nor softest bed,
Could ever give me such deep rest.

Thy wonderful grand will, my God,
With triumph now I make it mine ;

And faith shall cry a joyous "Yes ! "
To every dear command of Thine.

MADAME GUYON,

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

part of this volume which has been entrusted

Ito me is a short memorial sketch of the Founders
and some of the Leaders of the Keswick Convention
who are now no more. My own memories and associa
tions do not go back to the opening in the year 1875. My
first year was 1882. But I was from that date brought
into close contact with those who were then conducting
the Convention. I enjoyed the intimate friendship of those
men. And I have, thank God ! never missed a year at
Keswick since, besides having been present at more local
conventions than I can count, from Aberdeen to Brighton,
and from Cork to Belfast.

The Founder and first Chairman was the Rev. Canon
T. D. Harford-Battersby,* Vicar of St. John's, Keswick.
As we shall see, Canon Battersby had a lieutenant and
successor to whom we all owe much, the late Mr. Robert
Wilson.

Canon Battersby was a strong Evangelical, who had
reached his doctrinal position through some suffering and
trial ; and it is not to be wondered at, that for a time he
was rather afraid of the spiritual movement and its teach
ing. Some addresses had been given at Silloth, where the
Canon was resting with his family (I think in the

* The family name was Harford, to which Battersby was added by
his father ; the latter surname has now been dropped by most of his
descendants, who are to be known as Harford Q*&y ; but to some of
us the old name is dear, and the associations which gathered round
it are not to be moved.

The Keswick Convention

summer of 1874) ; and with some of the expressions in
these he could not agree. He was, however, persuaded to go
to the Convention which met at Oxford in August, and
there something happened which meant much for many of
us. A connection of his own (a Missionary lady from
India) told me the story. In the early part of the Con
ference she was disturbed by some of the teaching, and
went to her relative for guidance, who assured her
that the teaching was one-sided and exaggerated, and that
she had better put it aside. But towards the end of the
Convention, she was passing him in the street with a
friend, when he stopped her, to take back entirely what
he had said before, and to say that he since had received a
wonderful blessing which seemed to change his whole
position. We have in his own words a statement of what
had happened ; and we have in the Oxford Convention
Report, the very words which came home to him so power
fully and so blessedly. Here are the words spoken by
Mr. Evan Hopkins, as reported (" Oxford Union Meeting,"
p. 113) : " In the story of the nobleman, John iv. 46-50,
we have an illustration of seeking faith and resting faith.
We see him first coming to the Lord Jesus with a faith
that led him to seek, but not a faith that enabled him to
rest. He has a want. He carries a burden. ' Come
down ere my child die ' ! ' Go thy way, thy son liveth ' !
But when the word was spoken, ' Go thy way, thy son
liveth ' !, at once he loses his burden, his heart is satisfied,
and his faith passes from seeking to resting ! He did not
rest on a sign, or an emotion, or an experience, but on the
word of Jesus ; ' and the man believed the word that Jesus
had spoken unto him, and he went his way.' He was
perfectly satisfied that the cure had been effected. He
acted as if he saw ! So let us rest in the promises of God.
Not merely ask, but believe that we have the petitions that
we desire of Him."

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

Such were the words : let us be thankful that we have
them still. And here also (page 174 of the same Report)
is the testimony given by Canon Battersby two days after
wards. " It was when I heard a dear brother clergyman
speak of the faith of the nobleman whose son was
healed, that the truth flashed upon my mind, and after
ward God enabled me to trust and make a full surrender.
It is a difficult thing to speak of my own experience, and
very distasteful, yet perhaps for this very reason it may
be right for one to do so, and to acknowledge the blessing
I have received." Yes, personal testimony is often
demanded by God as the seal of a blessing, and as a real
preparation for farther usefulness. He who is not willing
to make the little sacrifice which it demands, how shall
he make the much more difficult sacrifices which are
involved in teaching and in living the life of Holiness ?
Canon Battersby's voice was the last heard at the Oxford
Convention. Here is the Report : " Canon Battersby
requested those present to rise, and join him in repeating
together 2 Thess. i. 3 and iii. 16, * We are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, because that your faith
groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you
all toward each other aboundeth.' ' Now the Lord
of Peace give you peace, always, by all means. The Lord
be with you all.' With these words the Oxford Conference
ended." (p. 325.)

Such is the record of the change in dear Canon
Battersby's heart and life. He had been a Christian for
many years, but this was something more. And what
happened ? Within a week, he was home at Keswick.
There was due shortly afterwards the Annual Meeting of
the Evangelical Union of the Diocese of Carlisle (29th
September, 1874), where some leading clergy were to
attend who had been strongly if not bitterly opposed to the
" Holiness Teaching," as it was called. The Canon was

The Keswick Convention

secretary to the Union, and he wrote a paper telling of
his change and his Blessing. An attack of sickness pre
vented him from being present, but the paper was read by
a friend, and gave a full account of the teaching at Oxford.
He was now fully and publicly committed : there was no
hesitation or going back. The first Keswick Convention
met on Tuesday, June 29th, 1875, for " three days," the
circular being signed by Canon Battersby and Mr. Robert
Wilson. Of all the speakers who took part, and are now
to be found at Keswick, only Prebendary Webb-Peploe
remains. Others joined immediately thereafter, and are
still well known among us. A few whose names were con
nected with the Oxford and Brighton meetings do not
now take any part. I have the copy in MS. of a letter
written by Canon Battersby 7th July, 1875, giving a short
account of the first Convention. He says in it : " We have
had a time of extraordinary blessing. More, far more,
than our weak faith enabled us to grasp beforehand. ' The
Lord stood by me and helped me,' I can truly say for my
self; and He was very present with our dear friends
Thornton and Peploe, whose words were with great power.
Mr. Bowker and Mr. Shipley helped us much, and Mrs.
Compton's meetings with the ladies were inexpressibly

blessed, as I hear All I think agreed that we

had the Presence of the great Paraclete in greater fulness
than at any former meeting. I can only account for it by
the fact that we were so entirely thrown upon the Lord.
It has been a lesson of great value to myself, and my faith
has been much strengthened in consequence. I could, if
there were leisure to write, tell you of many, many most
blessed proofs of God's power and grace unto us. I can
feel something of what David says (Ps. xxxv. 28), ' As for
my tongue, it shall be talking of Thy righteousness and
Thy praise all the day long.' '

So it began ; and for seven years more (1875-1882) Canon

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

Battersby was Chairman, holding the helm. It was in that
last and closing year that I made his acquaintance and
paid my first visit to Keswick. I remember his sermon in
St. John's on the opening Sunday, on the 7th chapter of
Romans. I remember some of his short but glowing
words spoken from the chair. I saw something of the
home life at the vicarage. Most of all I remember his
face, which continually brings back to me the language
of Acts vi. 15, they " saw his face as it had been the face of
an angel" No other face I have ever seen has expounded
for me that verse ; but his did ! It showed at once that
there was something there, which told its own tale.

During the same year (1882) I went to the small Con
vention at Polmont, where Mr. Bowker presided. We
also held a large meeting at Glasgow, where Canon
Battersby was present, so that in Scotland the movement
was fairly begun, and had taken hold. In 1883 we
gathered again at Keswick, the first year I spoke there ;
but the news met us at the station on Monday that
Canon Battersby had died that morning. What a shock
it was ! What a sermon ! What a teaching, that this
work was not to stand in the power or wisdom of men !
What a lesson, if we could learn it, that God was
sufficient, and that God was alone ! And all through
the Convention, over which dear Mr. Bowker was Chair
man, the shadow of the grave, dark, sad, but tender and
impressive, was upon us all.

Mr. Bowker was for several years both at Keswick and
at the provincial gatherings, the recognised Chairman.
He was a man of great vigour of mind, who had long
been the head of one of the great Educational institutions;
and although we used to say with a laugh, that we seemed
still to be his " sixth-form boys," we owed him a great debt
for his continuous and watchful labours in and outof season.
In him, too, grace had a victory. I remember a group

The Keswick Convention

of us speakers dining with him in London ; and seeing a
large portrait of him taken some years before, I said,
privately, to dear Mr. Fox, that I had never seen a more
remarkable change of expression and of Christian growth
than in the comparison between the face of the portrait
and that which we saw in our still living friend, a remark
with which he quite agreed. In private, Mr.; Bowker
was a most interesting man. One story I remember
which he told. He had dined (at Carlisle, I think) in a
small company which included, among other remarkable
people, Lord Brougham. A question arose as to what
Great Britain owed her greatness. Brougham evaded
the question himself, but referred to Mr. Bowker for his
opinion. He answered, " It is to her possession of the
Word of God, in the English Bible." Brougham bowed
his head, and added " I should not wonder if you be
correct ! "

The name of the Rev. Charles A. Fox has already
occurred ; and it is with a full heart that I write it, and
trust myself to say a few words concerning one of
the best and dearest men I have ever known. He was
the poet of the Convention, perhaps the only man on the
platform who was an orator, and one of the sweetest and
truest of friends. I have sheaves of his post-cards (his
favourite postal medium), and many of his letters, in
poetry and prose ; some in joy and redolent of humour,
some in deep anxiety and sorrow ; and one at least after
the shadow of death had already reached him in the great
suffering of his latter months! Nobody touched hearts
more truly by exposing his own. The tremulous tender
ness of his soul when he opened up the depths was the
revelation of an inner man ! Certainly, I have never
known any case in which the joyous fun of a strong man
was so absolutely in harmony with Christian feeling.

He had one physical difficulty which went with him all

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

through his ministry, but was often unnoticed and to
many unknown. It was a nervous stammer which attacked
him without warning, and accompanied the expression of
any feeling which touched him deeply. It had the
strange power of specially affecting his reading of the
liturgy, so much so that latterly he almost never
attempted to do so. I had previously dealt with this
trouble in others, not unsuccessfully, and at an early
period of our friendship had spoken to him on the sub
ject. Though very sensitive about it, this was one of
the things which drew us closer together, and he once
told me that when before the Bishop for examination
for Deacon's orders, he was refused on the ground that
the stammer was so bad. But at the time he boldly
faced it in God's strength, and the Bishop proceeded,
leaving the responsibility to Fox. He told me how
often it attacked him in public ; how he met it in faith ;
and how the only physical relief was obtained by
throwing out his arms, in the fashion of the orator.
So that often when we thought him most carried away
by his feelings, he was righting his defeat. Thus was
he reminded continually that he was made strong " out
of weakness." Though apparently a strong, even a very
strong, man, there were often things which led one to
question his health. A railway journey was always a
trouble, and latterly a serious one, apparently jarring
the nervous system. And all at once, a discovery was
made, on a visit to Scotland, that very serious evil was
present in the face, and that an operation was inevitable.
It was the beginning of an awful eight months, which
framed a long death-bed experience, of agony. Even
it was turned into spiritual teaching, and poetry. He
found traces that the Master had trodden a similar
road. " The face that was more marred than any
man's" brought Him nearer than before, who "bore

The Keswick Convention

our griefs and carried our sorrows." " The Marred
Face " is the title of one of the most touching sonnets
ever written. It was the Face of the Master; and it
was the Face of this, His disciple. Here are the
words, which no one will read without great feeling ;
but only those who know the last few months of Charles
Fox's life will see the depths which lay beneath :

"THE MARRED FACE."

Marred more than any man's ! Yet there's no place
In this wide Universe but gains new grace
Richer and fuller, from that marred Face !

O Saviour Christ ! those precious wounds of Thine
Make doubly precious these poor wounds of mine ;
Teach me to die with Thee the Death Divine ;

All wounds and woes of earth, once made Thine Own,
Add colour to the Rainbow round the Throne,
And save from loneliness saints else alone.

Pain trims the lamps at Nature's eventide,
Ere the King enters to bring home His Bride,
My King, by suffering perfected and tried !

Beloved ones are hastening past, and all

The ground is strewn with blossoms they let fall

In haste to gain Love's C rowning festival.

Heaven beckons now — I press me toward the mark
Of my high calling. Hark ! He calls ! Oh ! hark !
That wounded Face moves toward me through the dark !

Another name which I have been asked not to omit is
that of George MacGregor. At no time has the number of
Scotchmen on Keswick platforms been great ; and to
find there the name of a young Free Church minister,
and of one born and bred in the Highlands, and in " the
Black Isle " above all, astonished not a few who knew.
He came there a young man — I heard the story from his
own lips. At the first Aberdeen Convention Mr. Evan

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

Hopkins and I were living together, and early in the
week came Mr. MacGregor to spend an afternoon with
us in our hospitable quarters. I forget what took him to
Keswick at first ; but the argument which he afterwards
used to induce his brother ministers of the Presbytery to
attend there was that the week would furnish them with
a full six-month list of new texts and of fresh light upon
them, a circumstance which none of them would despise !
Then he told us how deeply he had himself been impressed
and convicted, spending, I think, almost a sleepless night
in mourning before God, recalling past thoughts and
stories heard by him which Satan had prepared before
hand to tempt and injure him as long as he lived. He
told how all had been cast on God, and how the personal
experience of Canon Battersby had gone home to the
quick. From that time on to the close of his short life
he did noble service. His early training in the High
lands fitted him for very special influence among men of
his own Church and class. He had one of the most
patient intellects, which was never satisfied till he had
gone step by step through a difficult question, never
shirking a difficulty. I remember a long talk for two
hours in my own Glasgow house, where I went under a
cross-examination on a branch of the subject, such as
perhaps I never passed through before or since. And on the
last occasion of our meeting when, at Ballater, he took
tea with us and I went on over the hill with him towards
Braemar, we had another of those deep and careful
theological talks, of which he was so fond. I saw the
MS. of his first book before it was sent to the Press, and
have a most interesting letter on the subject ; and time
after time heard his searching, simple, but solemn and
powerful addresses. The " Memoir " does not, in my
opinion, do justice to this side of his character and
influence. Even his books do not quite do him justice.

The Keswick Convention

But a selection of his addresses, could it be still given,
would be well worth printing. It is one of the events in
Providence which we fail fully to understand, that such a
man should be taken after so short a career. I fear that
" overwork " was here again the temptation which a
zealous spirit could not resist ! He died in 1900, on the
3rd of May, at the age of 36, after a twelve years'
ministry, and was heard on the platform at Keswick for
ten years.

The last of the men of Keswick whom I have been told
to speak of is Mr. Robert Wilson, one of the two founders
of the Convention and its chairman from 1891 to 1900.
I remember well an incident at Bridge of Allan, where
on a wet day, three of us went to the meeting in
a cab, Mr. Ferguson, of Kinmundy (my dear, ac
complished, and venerable friend), Mr. R. Wilson,
and myself. As the cab arrived at the door, a too
audible whisper was heard from the bystanders " Look
at the three old gentlemenl" I got out first, and when
assisting Mr. Ferguson out, he whispered to me,
" How old is our friend ? " I answered that he
was then 74. When Mr. Wilson was helped out he, in
turn, asked me " how old is Mr. Ferguson ? " I answered
that I had just been asked the same question about him,
and that our friend was nearly 76. I was then eight
years younger than the older of the two, and six years
younger than the second, and now survive them both.
Mr. Wilson's characteristics were chiefly two : great
strength of will and purpose, especially in resisting
silently ; and great sweetness of spirit. He was the
selector of the Keswick motto — " All one in Christ Jesus,"
and was responsible for the three flags, "Love — Joy —
Peace" which fly over the tent. His love for Prayer
(and Habit of Prayer) was great, he was always finding
or making excuses for special prayer, and it was very

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

striking to mark his words when we prayed together alone.
He was a great strength to Canon Battersby at the begin
ning of the Keswick story. It is hardly too much to say that
without Mr. Wilson's support and brave backing, there
would have been no story at all. At all events, the two
friends stood side by side, and were at one. I have copies of
three letters from the Canon to his friend in the opening
year, 1875. On the gth March of that year, he writes to
say, " I am inviting Mr. R. P. S. (the initials are in the
letter) to Keswick for the middle of the month of June. I
do not know in the least what his engagements are,
or whether he will be able to come ; but I have
projected a series of meetings in Cumberland and think
that the time named would be the best, as then
Keswick would only be partially filled with visitors.
As there would be considerable expenses connected
with such a gathering, I should not of course make
any definite arrangements without agreement with others.
It may be that yon have already, in concert with Kendal friends,
been arranging for something in Westmoreland, if so we
might combine, and try to get together a numerous assem
blage to look for, and wait for a blessing at God's hands. I
believe that many are prepared to profit by such an oppor
tunity if it were given. Pray write a line to say what you
think. It appears to me that Keswick would be a very suitable
place ; but, if there is a better, I should be willing to yield."
Within a fortnight there is a second letter, also dated
from Cimiez (March 22nd) : " Your welcome letter was
an encouragement to me in endeavouring to carry out the
project framed in my last. The same post brought me
also one from (the proposed chairman, who was ' still un
certain ' whether he could attend). We are not very well off
for public rooms at Keswick. There are indeed several of
a modest size, but the largest (the Oddfellows' Hall) will
not hold more than from 300 to 400 people. I had thought

The Keswick Convention

of a large tent (the Diocesan Tent) as the best place of
meeting if the weather were at all suitable ; but we must
remember that the object of the meetings would be to
promote the full sanctification of believers, and that the numbers
likely to gather for this purpose might not be so large, except
indeed that it is likely that many would be attracted from
a distance. I hope that we should have a good contingent
from Kendal. Let us commit the matter to the Lord, in
faith that if He approves of it, He will give us His warrant
to proceed, and if not, He will let us see that it is so."

These extracts, I think, cannot but be interesting to all
who have been among the crowds who have in recent
years gathered at the Keswick Convention. They do not
indicate any expectation or foresight of what the future had
to bring, and we read with the greater interest of the doubts
and difficulties as they rise and are disposed of. A third
letter tells that the first meeting, which was held in a large
tent, hired for the purpose, for three days, cost a sum of
"some £76" beyond the funds collected; and though I
have been warned that this is " not for publication," I
venture to record that this sum was contributed by Mr.
Robert Wilson and the late Mr. George Moore, and that
Canon Battersby was not permitted to share the loss. I
record this the more willingly because a very similar fact
took place in Glasgow when a Convention was established
there, and the clerical members of committee were not
allowed to take part in making good the deficiency.

One looks back to many occasions when Mr. Wilson
was either a guest in my own house, or when we were
fellow-guests elsewhere — at Polmont, for instance, or at
Bridge of Allan. As I have stated already, Canon
Battersby died at the opening of my second year at
Keswick ; and though Mr. Bowker succeeded as Chair
man there, yet at many other Conventions Mr. Wilson
acted as Chairman, and it was my happy lot to be often

The Founders and Some of the Leaders

with him, to see much of the inner life, to be consulted
about any difficulties, and to hear of any new movements.
Nothing is more delightful than the memories which
such meetings have left. Perhaps those at Polmont
afforded the fullest scope for intercourse. He was in the
habit of going there some days before the meetings, and
one was often tempted to lengthen one's stay to be the
longer with him. The late dear Mr. Livingstone-
Learmouth and his wife and family were most highly
esteemed by him and by all who went to those blessed
meetings.

The cloud of sorrow gathered over Mr. Wilson's head
during his labours as Treasurer and afterwards as Chair
man. The death of his eldest son, and of his own wife,
whom one remembers almost as a dream, full of grace
and of kindness, a loss which was never made up to him,
and left a large solitude within, were followed in late
years by increasing feebleness. And then came a
mysterious malady rarely met with, though well known
to medical students — a species of dumbness, in which
even the shortest words were spoken with great difficulty
and others not at all. It, of course, made speaking in
public impossible. For a year or two, he gathered a few
of the speakers from Keswick to his table, two or three
at a time ; and how touching, how tragic, and how
beautiful it was to meet and see him, I could not say. The
trouble went on increasing, though he was still able to walk
about the grounds at Broughton Grange. He spent the
days almost always alone, his sons leaving in the morn
ing and returning by evening. One day in June, 1905,
he had his lonely luncheon in the dining-room ; as he
was longer than usual in ringing for the maid, she went
in to find the reason ; he was seated at the table, near his
plate, but something in the attitude and the bowed head
struck her ; and on approaching near, she found that he

The Keswick Convention

had died, as he sat, almost without a movement and with
out pain. " Truly, the end of that man was peace" \ Who
would not wish for such an end, if prepared for it, as he

was ?

J. ELDER GUMMING,

The Message: Its
Scriptural Character

CHAPTER V

By the Bishop of Durham

"Buried with Christ," and raised with Him too ;
What is there left for me to do ?
Simply to cease from struggling and strife,
Simply to "walk in newness of life."
Chorus, Glory be to God.

"Risen with Christ," my glorious Head,
Holiness now the pathway I tread,
Beautiful thought, while walking therein :
" He that is dead is freed from sin."

" Living with Christ," who " dieth no more,'1
Following Christ, who goeth before ;
I am from bondage utterly freed,
Reckoning self as "dead indeed."

Living for Christ, my members I yield,
Servants to God, for evermore sealed,
" Not under law," I'm now " under grace,"
Sin is dethroned, and Christ takes its place.

Growing in Christ ; no more shall be named
Things of which now I'm truly ashamed,
" Fruit unto holiness " will I bear

Life evermore the end I shall share.

T. RYDER,

The Message : Its Scriptural Character

THE Teaching of the Keswick Convention is a phrase
which invites, as we use it, a word of earnest
disclaimer of all thought of asserting for " Keswick"
a monopoly in any spiritual truth. No doubt the great
Convention in the quiet Lake-land town has been con
nected, now for more than thirty years, and in a way of
its own, with the delivery of one great side of the Christian
message. But those who love the Keswick Convention
best, and who have most cause to thank God for its exist
ence, will be the first to say that the teaching connected
with it is no private property of the place and the occa
sion; it is as old as the Apostles, and as catholic as the
Creeds. And our thankful belief is that " Keswick " has
done its best and greatest work, and is doing it, not by
forming a self-contained " school " of its own, but by
recalling, far and wide, among a large variety of
" schools" and regions of Christian life and witness,
certain great elements of truth which have tended too
often to fall out of the common view.

What then do we understand, what do I understand, by
the Teaching of the Keswick Convention ?

In my answer to this question I shall try to keep
strictly to the essentials. Many great topics of the spiritual
life are handled at every Keswick Convention. But not
all of them are distinctive of its special message, as I
understand it ; and not all who take the teacher's or
witness' part there are agreed on all these other topics.

The Keswick Convention

Those aspects of the Biblical doctrine of Holiness on
which essential agreement is sure, and is general there,
can alone be rightly called Keswick Teaching. And I think
that those aspects can all be summed up under the one
short phrase, " HOLINESS BY FAITH."

Briefly, let me develop that phrase.

First, then, What is Holiness ? What does that great
word denote, as it will be understood at Keswick, and as,
I trust, it will be understood everywhere in the light of the
Scriptures ? It is the state of character, and of life,
conditioned by surrender to the Will of God, and by a
conformity to that Will resulting from the surrender. It
is dedication to Him, on the part of the man whom He
has redeemed. It is the attitude and habit of the
Christian who, in his whole nature, body, soul and spirit,
" lives out " that dedication.

It is heart-obedience — but more. It is the obedience
of the worshipper, the votary, the devotee, who humbly
"yields himself unto God," as unto the adored and
beloved Maker, Redeemer, Possessor of his being.

Then, further, What is Faith ? I reply, unhesitatingly,
that it is, in absolute simplicity, Reliance. It is Trust
reposed upon Another. It is the attitude of quiet con
fidence in Him, as able to keep His promises, and willing
to do so, and under gracious covenant to do so. The stress
and emphasis of the idea of Faith is just upon that point,
that it is a " looking off" upon our Lord Jesus Christ, away
from our own labour and effort. It removes the soul's
reliant attention, so to speak, from the energies of our
own will to the energies of His. It is the look and action
of one who, discovering that the disorders of his inmost
soul are too much for him, turns in the " confidence of
self-despair " to Him Who " is able to subdue all things
to Himself," and then gives over the problem into His
hands.

The Message : Its Scriptural Character

It is the attitude and action, for example, of one who,
wrestling long and in vain with internal pollutions of
thought, turns away at last to ask his Lord, in simplicity,
to " cleanse the thoughts of his heart," and to keep them
clean. Or again of one who, hopeless of a victory by his
own will over his own impatient and angry spirit, asks, as
one who means it, that his Lord will " keep his temper
for him " — and finds that He can do it.

Such, in its essentials, is the doctrine of Holiness by
Faith. It is not the entire Gospel, by any means, but it is
a great element in it. It is no substitute for Justification
by Faith. Rather it presupposes it ; it is itself the sequel
truth which justification takes for granted as its comple
ment and crown. And again, it is no contradiction to the
inviolable claims of discipline and diligence. It does not
discredit for one moment the call to watch, to pray, to
" keep under the body and bring it into subjection," to
explore and ponder the Scriptures, to use the sacred
benefits of solemn public worship, and in particular of
the Holy Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood, to
prize and cultivate reverential and loving fellowship with
the Church of God. But it does tend earnestly to remind
the believer that, behind and within all these heaven-given
and heaven-commanded means of blessing, whose effect,
singly and together, is always to keep the spiritual
faculties alive and alert, and to guide and harmonize
their action — the inmost action of the soul, in the matter
of Holiness, is Faith. Ultimately, at the heart of every
thing, the man, in order to live the life of dedicated
loyalty, in order to receive more and more the spiritual
force with which to live it, is to " act Faith," hour by
hour, step by step. He is to bring his internal needs,
lackings, weaknesses, rebellions, direct to his Lord, spirit
to Spirit, and he is to trust Him in His grace and power
to set him, and to keep him, free ; to set him, and to

The Keswick Convention

keep him in such relations with His life and with His
will that an unhindered growth may be his happy
experience, now and here, in real life.

''Keswick" has this for its characteristic and unani
mous message. And it has always emphasized that side of
the message which insists on the present possibilities of the
matter. In God's providence " Keswick " has been kept
from ever formulating, as its authentic message, a dream
of " sinlessness," which would be deeply at variance with
the spirit which "veils the face" and sings, "Holy, Holy,
Holy"; a dream which always, so far as it really rules
the soul, tends away from a tender humbleness. But
" Keswick " has always and with one voice said that the
believer, " acting Faith " on his indwelling Lord, and
dwelling in his Lord by Faith, is to expect not defeat, but
victory. He is boldly, and humbly, to "claim " the promises
of liberty and purity, in a valid and wonderful reality, here
and now. He is to expect even inveterate sins to be
even suddenly rebuked and subdued by Him Who is able
to do it in him, and for him. He is to feel a holy
discontent with failure, as with that which, in the name
of the Lord Jesus, need not be. Not only as to outward
trials, but as to temptations within, he is to expect to be,
here and now, " more than conqueror, through Him that
loveth him." And so he is to expect to be, in an ever
truer completeness, " a vessel sanctified, and meet for
the Master's use" — which is the true end and goal of his
regenerate existence.

Now we affirm that such a doctrine of Holiness by
Faith is deeply and soundly Scriptural. I will attempt
to support the affirmation, that I may be as concise as I
can, by quoting from my own little theological book, Out
lines of Christian Doctrine (pp. 19 1, etc.) :

"The holy precepts for renewed man amount in their
sum to just this — a total abstinence in Christ's name from

7°

The Message : Its Scriptural Character

admitted sinning, of motive and act, and a true and entire
dedication of ' spirit, soul, and body ' to the will of God.

" The work of Faith in Sanctification is manifold
Faith is exercised at whatever moment the Christian
for any purpose definitely trusts his Lord's word and
power. It is precisely the same faculty as that exercised
in receiving remission, and its exercise is quite as simple
as then ; but it now takes another direction. And this
direction figures very largely in the Scriptures in the
matter of the Christian's victory over sin, or deliverance
from it (see e.g. Acts xv. 9, and probably xxvi. 18 ; Gal.
ii. 20; Eph. vi. 16). It is clearly indicated [in Scripture]
that for the man in living contact with Christ the true
secret for internal purity is Christ (i Cor. i. 30 ; cp. vi. 17),
living and overcoming within, by the Holy Spirit, who
effects His presence there. And our part is — to believe.

" In one great passage (Eph. iii. 14-19) we reach the
heart of the matter. The believer's practical experience
of ' all the fulness of God,' i.e., of all that which, being
in Him, is communicable as holiness to His regenerate
creature, is there connected with the coming of Christ
to dwell in the heart. And this is connected on one
hand with the work of the Spirit, ' strengthening ' the
Christian 'in the inner man,' and on the other hand
with the Christian's ' faith,' obviously as the result of
that divine work. The indwelling, with its sequel of
blessings, is secured and retained, on our side, ' by faith ; '
not by a process of discipline and labour, but by the
same humble and reverent reliance on God in His Word
which is our entrance into justification. Thus the heart
is ' purified by faith,' because faith is the admission into
it of Jesus Christ, its indwelling Redeemer, Friend, and
King, divinely able so to work on it and in it, along all
its lines of spontaneity, as to conform it effectually, yet
without force, to His most sacred will in all things.

The Keswick Convention

" This deep yet open secret of spiritual victory is
largely illustrated in Scripture. The combat of the soul is
seen portrayed, for all believing students, in the language
of the Psalms about enemies and battle. And the Psalms
bear inexhaustible witness to a secret of victory which is
in fact the man's committal of himself, for victory, to
Jehovah (see, out of many passages, Psal. xxv. 15. xxvii.
i — 6, cxxxviii. 7, 8). His is the one really prevalent force ;
His people prevail by Him. So with the conflict of the
Christian under temptation. His secret is to ' put on the
Lord Jesus Christ' (Rom. xiii. 14), wrho is, in effect, * the
whole armour, the panoply, of God' (Eph. vi. n).* In
Him alone, as vantage-ground and fortress, His follower
is 'strong' (Eph. vi. 10) against the powers of evil. ' In
Him, enabling,' the Christian ' has strength for all
things ' (Phil. iv. 13) which are to be borne or done in the
will of God.

" This divine principle is vitally connected with
the doctrine of our Union with Christ as the Second
Man, in whom Manhood, perfected and glorified, is per
sonally united to Godhead, and who, thus constituted the
Head of His people, is for them the Fountain of all grace
and virtue, to be derived from Him by faith in Him."t

In the present writer's deep conviction, not without
experiences keenly searching and humbling, yet full of the
mercy and faithfulness of God, the doctrine of Holiness by
Faith is a factor of quite vital significance in the liberty
and growth of the Christian life. Like every capital truth,
it needs, for our full safety in using it, and so for its full
benefit in our lives, to be taught and to be applied in
contact and in balance with other such truths — for
example, with the truth of guilt, and with that of justifica-

*St. Jerome rightly comments here that " most clearly, by 'all the
arms of God,' the Saviour is to be understood^
t$ee Marshall (1690), Gospel Mystery of Sanctification,

The Message : Its Scriptural Character

tion. But let it be so held, and held indeed, or rather let
it hold indeed the sorely needing soul, and then discoveries
of freedom and strength will be made, amidst all the
realities of our weakness, which will give occasion for
humble but most happy testimony, glorifying ' not unto
us ' but to our all-blessed Lord. And that testimony will
best express itself in Scriptural words :

" He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for
my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. For when I am
weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. xii. 9, 10).

"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by my faith in the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. ii. 20).

The Message: Its
Method of Presentation

CHAPTER VI

By the Rev. Hubert Brooke, M.A,

Definiteness is what I should regard as the most impressive feature
of the Keswick teaching. The speakers aim at inducing definite
personal dealing with God, with a view to the reception of some
definitei personal, and spiritual acquisition. It may be deliverance
from sin or it may be consecration to God and His service, or it may
be the apprehension of the fulness of the Holy Spirit, but in each
case definite personal action is claimed, and the " faith that worketh
miracles" still is directed towards a definite issue with a view to a
definite result in the soul's condition and experience.

This, I think, is what differentiates Keswick from other Conferences
where there is much good and eloquent speaking that leads up to
nothing in particular, except a general feeling that it is all very good
and very " nice."— W. Hay M. H. Aitken.

I believe that in the objective character of the Message given at
Keswick lies the secret of its compelling power. It searches heart
and conscience, not by turning attention inward to questions of
subjective experience, but upward to the glory of Christ's Person, the
efficacy of His Atonement, and the sufficiency of His grace for all
need in " the daily round and common task " of Christian life and
service.— S. M. Etches.

The Message : Its Method of
Presentation

THE fundamental aim and object of the Keswick Con
vention from its commencement was the promotion
of holiness, and not the development of new
Christian enterprises. Character, and not service, was the
aim held closely before all who spoke and heard at those
meetings. What we were intended to be, and not what
we were called to do, was the prominent thought in the
whole Convention. We did not profess to meet in order
to develop the fullest Christian activities, but to develop
the highest possible Christian character. The two are as
closely connected as cause and effect, for no full
Christian powers will be exerted save from a full
Christian character. But it is quite consistent with the
divine order, and in accordance with the model of the
New Testament procedure, that a deliberate separation
should exist between these two things ; and that we
should give our attention to the formation of the highest
type of character in the Christian, before insisting on
the normal outcome of Christian activities. The train
ing of the twelve disciples certainly proceeded on these
lines ; for it was mainly the great lessons of character
that were being impressed upon them during the three
and a half years of our Lord's ministry, and mainly the
fruits of active service that followed in the after years of
their work.

Reprinted by kind permission of the R.T.S. from " Holiness by
Faith." is.

The Keswick Convention

The Convention was a perhaps unconscious protest
against the popular mistake, that a newborn soul is quite
competent at once for full Christian service ; it served to
emphasize the truth, often quite overlooked, that service
is immensely influenced by the character and conduct of
him who renders it ; and it reinforced, with much needed
precision, the fact that a right character is of far more
importance in the eyes of the Master than any amount of
outward activities. The lesson of i Cor. xiii. is ever in
need of being pressed upon a world that loves to judge
by externals, and is slow to believe, that a heart and
character of love outstrips in real worth all the most
magnificent exhibitions of powers and capacities that
have ever been seen.

With such thoughts in mind as to the original purpose
and professed object of the Convention, we shall be in a
better position to define what the Message of the Con
vention was, and how its method of presentation took
shape. We shall discover that the years of the Con
vention can fairly be divided into three stages, according
as the teaching began to comprise new aspects of what is
after all only one great whole of Christian doctrine.

In the earliest years, perhaps most definitely in the first
eight or ten, of the Convention meetings at Keswick, the
chief emphasis was placed upon the great matter of
deliverance from the power of besetting sin, the attain
ment of victory in the little conflicts of everyday life and
conduct, by the power of Christ accepted in the heart by
faith. The keynote of the earliest message was this :
that there is in Christ not only a release and deliverance
from the penalty and future punishment of sins past, but
that there is also in Him an ever present power to keep
from the recurring attacks of those sins ; and that that
power is as much to be appropiated by our faith as was
the first boon of pardon for all the past. " Now unto

The Message : Its Method of Presentation

Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy " : that was the glad message that came
with such fresh force to multitudes of consciously
pardoned and reconciled souls in those early years.
Closely connected with this aspect and message of the
full Gospel came also the instant corollary of a whole
hearted consecration of the redeemed life to God. " I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
These two thoughts formed the right and left hand of the
subject ; they were the negative and positive of the
message : cleansing and consecration, deliverance and
dedication.

The consequence and fruit of such a message were at
once apparent, and the result exactly corresponded to
the cause. In those early years there were many
testimonies of a practical deliverance from the power of
besetting sin, a constant and lasting blessing found in the
keeping power of Christ, which formed so new and
blessed an experience, that many spoke of it as a
" second conversion." Though that phrase was never
adopted by the speakers, nor given any official approval,
yet it was. one quite natural under the circumstances,
especially in view of the exactly similar way in which the
two blessings came to be received. These Christian
people knew quite well, that it was by simple faith in
Christ, when their own powers and efforts had proved
worthless, that the blessing of pardon and peace had
been bestowed upon them ; and now it was a real
repetition of the same steps that brought them this further
blessing. Again they were shown that their own powers
and efforts had failed, and always would fail, to win them
deliverance from the power of besetting sins ; just as

The Keswick Convention

they had failed in attaining pardon. Again they were
shown that in Christ, and in Him alone, there lies the
secret of deliverance and victory ; even as in Him lay the
power to forgive. Again they were told to commit their
case unto the Lord, and that, trusting in Him, the
deliverance would be theirs ; even as the pardon had been
received years before. No wonder then, that with so
much alike in the need, in the Deliverer, and in the con
dition of faith, they should express the blessing received
as a "second conversion," or more often a "second
blessing." It was no denial that many more blessings
might follow, but only a thankful confession of the very
marked and real change effected by this grace of God.

With this earliest aspect of the work, and as the
immediate consequence of a true definition of sin, came
also the fruit of amendment for wrong done to others,
that most practical outcome of a real and living repent
ance, and the strongest assurance of a determined
separation from evil. All these consequences of the
Convention were among the most frequent evidences of
its practical bearing on everyday life ; and where such
fruits were apparent there could be no doubt of the
reality and God-given character of the work. Judging
by a good many cases which I have known personally,
these three early fruits of the Convention must have very
largely influenced the lives of those who attended.
Among the most common signs were to be noted the
strong conviction of sin, and the vivid recollection of old
and half-forgotten and never honestly righted faults of
bygone days. Many a soul, coming to seek and pray for
this deliverance from the power of sin of which men
were speaking, found their prayers interrupted by the
rising of such old errors of former days ; nor could they
make any progress, nor get any effectual result from their
prayers, until they had put those old things right, and

The Message : Its Method of Presentation

made amends for what they had left unconfessed and
uncorrected in their former dealings with others. So
often did such an effect of the Convention come before
my personal knowledge in the earlier days, that I found
it the very best and shortest answer to objectors, who
doubted whether this work were really a spiritual and
Scriptural movement. I was wont to say, that as long
as the constant symptoms of the blessing there sought
were a fresh sensitiveness of conscience and a deeper
conviction of the sinfulness of sin, as long as it was con
stantly leading in the very first steps to a frank confession
and honest amendment towards those who had been in
any way wronged by the one who was seeking blessing,
then I was sure such must indeed be the work of God's
Holy Spirit. With this honest dealing with regard to
their old faults there came also the wholehearted
surrender of themselves to God, for the learning of His
will and the doing of His work ; which in very many
'cases led to an increased activity of service, apparent
enough in each single person, but difficult to tabulate in
a total of such effects. Then, and most apparent to their
immediate surroundings, came so often the conquest of
tempers that had marred the Christian testimony of
former days. This was a proof which could be seen and
known of all, and was the best evidence in those days to
others who inquired or doubted about the work.

One such case may serve as an example for many.
Mr. Moody was one day talking to a friend of mine, and
asking him about the meeting of Keswick. Another
friend sitting with them broke in with a word of ridicule
about Keswick, when Mr. Moody told this remarkable
story in defence of the Convention which he had never
attended, and in explanation of his desire to know more
about it. " On one of my previous visits to this country
I found in a certain town, on the Committee that was

8l G

The Keswick Convention

arranging my meetings, a leading worker, who was the
most cantankerous Christian that I ever mei. At my
next visit, some years later, I found this man so altered
and so full of the love of God, that I at once asked
another friend what had happened to him. The friend
said, ' He has been to Keswick.' Then I said, ' I only
wish all other Christians would go to Keswick too, and
get their hearts filled in the same way with the love of
God.' " Such a testimony is worth much, for it exactly
expresses the result at which the Convention speakers
aimed, shows how apparently it had been attained in this
case, and how so keen an observer as Mr. Moody was
impressed by the result and convinced of the reality of
the work.

Now where such an effect was a commonly sought and
found experience, it could not fail to affect the lives in
other ways, besides that of deliverance from besetting
sins. Where the consecration of the whole being to God
was a real and definite act, intended to bring the life into
closer conformity to the revealed will and Word of God,
there was bound to be a change in the active side of life,
as well as in the inner realm of experience. And this
became evident in what I have suggested as forming the
second stage of the teaching at the Convention, and
which became more prominent in the next part of its
existence, from the end of the first eight or ten years.
This time the message, addressed very largely to those
who had made real proof and experience of the reality of
the earlier message, took the form of enforcing the ever
present power of the Holy Spirit, as the great Enabler
and Strengthener for all the service to which a soul is
called. As the first lesson was that of casting the burden
of besetting sins on the Lord, so this next stage
rather enforced the casting the burden of service upon
Him, and seeking to do and serve not in our own

The Message : Its Method of Presentation

power, but in His. The question was forced upon
those who were proving His power to keep, whether this
was to be all He meant to do ; and at once it became
apparent that the vessel was to be cleansed and kept
clean, solely in order that it might always be ready for
the Master's use. Capacity for service began to be
pressed upon all hearers as the work of the Holy Spirit,
as our Lord had promised in his last discourse to His
disciples after the Supper. The Holy Spirit was to teach
all things, was to witness of Christ, was to show the things
of Christ, was to enable to witness for Him to the world.
The great lesson of Pentecost, the promise of the
Father, was seen to have an ever fresh application to the
Christian life, and to be as true a promise to-day as at
the first.

One striking testimony as to the way in which this
teaching passed from the inner experience to the outer
activities was given in my hearing on one occasion at a
local Convention. A second speaker at one of the meet
ings had failed to arrive, and it was suggested that any
on the platform might give their witness to the truths
that were being taught. A senior clergyman rose and
told the following story. He said that the responsibilities
of his parish some time before began so to press upon
him, and the difficulties of fully meeting them so weighed
upon him, that he was in danger of breaking down under
the strain. Night and day the burden of souls lay upon
his heart, and his own inability effectually to bring home
the Gospel to them all oppressed him, till he thought he
would very soon succumb altogether and die. He was
one day in much depression, and was praying for help
in his helplessness, when the text flashed into his mind,
" Casting all your care upon Him." Suddenly he saw
that that must mean the care and burden of his parish,
as it had meant the burden of his sins many years before.

The Keswick Convention

There and then he committed his parish and its burdens
unto the Lord, and, as he added in closing his remarks,
" I have never borne that burden since." When I add
that he was an indefatigable worker, a remarkable visitor,
and a capable missioner, it will be seen that this
" Keswick blessing" meant no small power for service
and real capacity for Christian work. That text, " Cast
ing all your care upon Him," and the kindred one, " My
grace is sufficient for thee," are among those frequently
referred to as being the word by which the truth of
deliverance and power was communicated to the soul.

If we were to take Purity as the keynote of the earlier
stage, we may take Power as that of the second ; and in
the very order of the disciples' experience. They had
been in communion with their Master during His earthly
ministry, learning to grow like Him and to develop a
character such as He desired. Now that He was leaving
them to carry on His work, their great need was power
to do this fitly. Here, then, came the great doctrine of
the Holy Spirit, and His empowering and fitting for service.

It is not a little significant of this gradual progress of
the work and teaching, that the objections made by
people who opposed, but never attended, the Convention
changed perceptibly. In those earlier days it was some
times objected that the teachers did not give proper
prominence and honour to the Holy Spirit, because they
so strongly emphasized the keeping and delivering power
of the risen Saviour. But when the importance of the
power and working of the Holy Spirit came to be
enforced, the objection altered, and faulty teaching about
the Spirit was one of the points of the opposing charge.
It was not a change in any way officially planned;
indeed, there was from the very beginning of the move
ment a remarkable absence of planning and organising
about the work. It was the custom that all who spoke

The Message : Its Method of Presentation

came habitually with whatever of God's Word was most
fresh upon their hearts and minds ; and so the change
was unperceived and natural, just like the growth of a
healthy child, as they passed from one stage of the
message to another.

Such a step forward very soon resulted in the third of
these stages which I have suggested as marking the work.
And that last stage was indeed the one, where theory and
doctrine and personal experience passed into activities
which are somewhat more within the reach of figures for
tabulating. It was but the logical outcome of the earlier
steps. If these had led to a closer conformity to the
character which Christ desired His disciples to show, if
they had sent the obedient hearer to the Source of all
strength and fitness for service, then how and where was
that service to be rendered ? As this question came to be
formulated, there sprang up before the Convention, quite
unexpectedly and without human design, the great vista
of an unevangelized world, and the reality of the Lord's
command that His Gospel was to be sent to the uttermost
parts of the earth.

So it has come about that, in the later years of the
Convention, more and more prominence has been given
to the Missionary Call to the Church of Christ. If the
earlier form of the Message had made it clear, that all
pardoned souls were meant to be cleansed and kept and
consecrated ; if the next development of the Message
declared the power with which such souls were meant to
be filled, and so fitted for divine service ; then the natural
question arose, as to where this service was to be rendered.
Gradually the width of the divine Call to the Church
became more and more apparent in the Message of the
speakers. They began to see, and therefore to tell, what
the real issue of true cleansing and consecration, of real
filling and fitting, would be in the living Church. The

The Keswick Convention

latest form of the Message has declared, that such a
Church can look to no smaller end, can be content with no
narrower limits, and rest in no shorter attainment, than
" The Evangelization of the World in this Generation."

HUBERT BROOKE.

The Message: Its
Practical Application

CHAPTER VII

By the Rev. A, T, Pierson, D.D.

Keswick stands for Unity of Determined Purpose to learn the
utmost of God's possibilities for Personal Holiness as the one great
condition of true witness and full service. In outstanding Unity,
assured that God has made absolute Provision, the thousands come
to turn that assurance into more abiding experience, to the uttermost
of God's purpose. Nothing less can satisfy them, or satisfy Him. —
y, ^?. Macpkerson*

Nothing in my first contact with "Keswick" struck me more than
the way in which it was sought to arouse Christian people to a sense
of the importance of having the heart right with God if they were to
enjoy what He had prepared for them, or to fulfil the ends for which
they had been redeemed, and the wish to be of the highest
use to their Master, and to the world through which they were
passing ; and I think that whatever the changes of the years,
" Keswick " still rings that out as one of its chief notes. — Wm.
Houghton.

The Message: Its Practical Application

IT may be well now to amplify a little upon the
Keswick Message and its practical application to the
life of the believer.

As to the type of teaching, it is steadfastly
maintained that it embraces nothing new, as in the
matters of spiritual truth, according to the old adage,
there is nothing new that is true or true that is new.
Yet it is felt that some old truths need, from time to
time, restatement and new emphasis, and that for every
new period of history there is always a "present truth."
The teaching at Keswick is definite, however, and com
plete. It is also progressive ; usually, during the four or
five days of the annual convention, each day has its
peculiar class of topics, and the teaching as a whole has a
beginning, middle, and culmination. In other words,
some truth is taught as preparatory to what follows, and
all the teaching moves toward a definite result in sanctity
and service.

Without intimating or implying that there is any
mechanical and uniform order in human experience, or
that a human soul can be run, like an engine, along an
iron track, from station to station, there are six or seven
successive stages of experience through which believers
generally pass who enter into this higher life of faith,
victory, and blessing. We venture to indicate what in
such advance are

The Keswick Convention

THE MAIN STEPS :

(1) The prompt renunciation of whatever is known or even
suspected to be contrary to the will of God. Conscience
must first of all be clean and clear of conscious dis
obedience or neglect of duty. Hindrances to holy living
must be abandoned.

(2) The acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ not only
as Saviour but as Lord. A new surrender to the will of God
which practically enthrones Him as sovereign. The self-life
sacrificed with its self-indulgence and self-dependence.

(3) Obedience now becomes the watch-word of the soul.
The will of God being voluntarily enthroned, compliance
with it becomes habitual and natural, and service to God
the supreme end of one's being.

(4) This prepares for close and constant fellowship with
God. Communion ceases to be occasional and clouded,
and the great promise of John xiv. 23 becomes increas
ingly real in actual experience.

(5) The sense of Divine possession of one's entire being —
spirit, soul, and body — is the natural outcome of such
conditions. When there is no longer any conscious
reservation, because the whole being joyfully is yielded
up to Him, we become consciously His own.

(6) There is now a new joy and a peace which passeth
understanding, a new revelation of Christ as an indwell
ing presence, and a true infilling of the Holy Ghost.

(7) All this fits for the largest possible service to God and
man. God gives to all truly consecrated believers the
sceptre of holy influence. The Living Water which was
at first a draught to quench thirst, and then a well or
spring of life within, now becomes a stream, flowing out
and multiplying into rivers of blessing. This is the last
stage of the Victorious Life — the stage of triumphant
power over sin, prevailing power in prayer, and witness
ing power among men.

The Message : Its Practical Application

Whatever method there is in all this teaching has
been gradually and almost unconsciously developed. At
the basis of the whole lies the deep and irresistible con
viction that the average Christian life is lacking, not only
in real spiritual power, but in the spiritual mind, and is
essentially carnal. It is also confidently believed that it
is both the duty and privilege of every disciple, having
" received Christ Jesus the Lord," so to " walk in Him "
as to manifest the power of His resurrection in newness
of Life.

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

Hence, the first great definite step urged is the
immediate and final abandonment of every known sin and of
every weight that hinders advance. Nothing which is
revealed in the word of God to be evil in God's sight can
be indulged with impunity. Known sin is not only
damaging but destructive to all spiritual life and growth.
It is allied with death and not with life. It stops com
munion, makes peace impossible, and robs us of our
testimony. It is destructive of all true assurance of
salvation, not because salvation hangs on our merit, but
because disobedience clouds our vision of Divine things.
Obviously sin indulged blocks all true service to souls ;
for how can one lead others into a new life of purity,
peace, and power which he has not himself found, or
help a sinner to an assured sense of salvation when he
has lost his own assurance or never had any ?

MATTERS OF DOUBT.

It is felt also that whatever is doubtful as an indulgence
should be surrendered because of the doubt. In matters
open to question, God and not self should have the
advantage of the doubt. To continue in a questionable
employment, amusement, occupation, association, or
pleasure, brings condemnation, " for whatsoever is not of

The Keswick Convention

faith is sin." And because evil things are hurtful, they
must be unnecessary, otherwise there would be a fatality
about continuance in sin or in injurious habits. God's
commandment is His enablement. Whatever is believed or
suspected to be opposed to His will and to our well-being
should be, and can be, renounced, and abandoned at once
and for ever. Because it should be, it may be. This is
essentially Keswick teaching. It is an appeal to faith,
to claim victory in Christ ; and thousands have put such
teaching to the test, and found it true and God faithful.

The self-life is also studiously held up as needing constant
watchfulness in all its seven forms — self-trust, self-help,
self-pleasing, self-seeking, self-will, self-defence, and self-
glory. The only way successfully to overcome it is to
displace it, and have a new, practical, personal Centre,
about which all else is to revolve. We all need to learn
" the expulsive power of a new and mightier love," dis
placing the old.

The real difficulty with that large class of indulgences
which do not bear the brand of positive inherent sin lies in
their tendency to give undue prominence to self. To con
sult self-gratification and self-glorification is in itself an
unwholesome and an unholy habit. The lusts of ambi
tion, avarice, appetite, however refined their forms of
indulgence, all give self the supremacy. Ambition
grasps after place, power, position, and feeds the pride of
life and self-glory ; avarice seeks by heaping up treasure
to promote self-indulgence and self-display; appetite
makes the mere pleasure of eating and drinking an object,
an end rather than a means to a higher end, and so
ministers to self-pleasing and self-seeking. Many other
forms of self-life need guarding, few of which are more
subtle than the disposition to court human applause by
catering to carnal tastes in others, and to avoid separation
unto God by conformity to the world.

The Message: Its Practical Application

As to doubtful amusements, it may be safely contended
that it is not enough to settle the fact that they have no
necessary and inherent sinfulness. Moral tendency must
always enter into any candid weighing of such matters.
Several forms of popular amusement bear a distinctly
worldly stamp, such as the theatre and the opera, the
dance and the card-table, the wine-cup and the race
course. For some reason these are not found associated
with an advanced type of piety or of fruitful service. Some
churches have even made indulgence in them a ground
of discipline. Whatever may be said in defence of any or
all of them, this is unquestionably true : that, wherever
disciples find their way into the deeper experience of
Christ's presence and power, the abandonment of them
either precedes or follows such experience. In all our
attendances at Keswick we have seldom, if ever, heard
these matters directly mentioned ; the teaching deals with
great general principles rather than specific practices ; yet,
as a fact, from the very beginning until now, those who
have attended these gatherings, and have been candidly
open to the impressions of the truth taught, have found
themselves asking whether such things have not hindered
holiness and service.

Whatever is done primarily to please one's self puts at
risk pleasing God, and hence a high standard of holy
living always and in everything involves obedience to two
simple, practical rules :

(a) I will seek to please Christ as my Master and Lord,
the Sovereign of my life ;

(b) I will seek to please my neighbour for his good
unto edification.

Paul, led by the Spirit, has left, as to all things
" lawful " — that is all doubtful indulgences not distinctly
forbidden — three great modifying principles :

" All things are lawful for me," but

The Keswick Convention

(a) "all things edify not;"

(b) " all things are not expedient ; "

yet remain, therefore, three other questions to be answered,
namely : is this expedient for me ? is it edifying to others ?
has it a tendency to enslave me ? A heart set on pleasing
God will soon fence off all debatable ground on these
principles and thus get free of bondage to questionable
indulgences.

It is a noticeable fact that those who accept Keswick
teaching practically abandon tobacco, from an inward
sense of its being promotive of carnal self-indulgence.
Where it is used, not as a medicine but as a means of
gratification, it is felt to lift self into undue prominence ;
and, without any direct pressure being brought to bear by
the speakers, hundreds have voluntarily resigned the use
of this favourite narcotic. In the early Brighton Conven
tion a clergyman expressed his sense of bondage to the
tobacco habit, but declared that it would kill him to give
it up. The chairman then made this memorable utterance:
" It is not necessary for us to live, but it is necessary for us to
give up anything which enslaves ws or imperils our fellowship
with God." It is not necessary to add that this encum
bered servant of God, who in the strength of God aban
doned his enslaving habit, did not die, but lived to declare
the works of the Lord.

THE GREAT LAW OF LIFE.

The surrender of the will to God in habitual obedience
is, however, the radical law of all holy living. The Lord
Jesus Christ must to every believer become not only
Saviour, but Lord.t And no man can thus say that Jesus

* i Corinthians vi. 12; x. 23.

t Romans x. 9 (Revised Version).

The Message : Its Practical Application

is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.* It is a sad fact that so
many who claim to have taken Him as Saviour from sin,
have little or no real conception of the duty and delight
of practically enthroning Him as the actual Sovereign,
supreme over the daily life. To Laodicean disciples
He is still outside, standing at the door and knock
ing for admission. The keys of the house are not
in His hands. There is a definite act whereby the door
is opened and He is admitted to control. But so long
as one apartment is voluntarily reserved the transfer is
incomplete, for a reserved territory, however small, in
volves and implies also a reserved right of way to such
territory.

From the nature of the case God must have all or He
really has none. Every child of God should search his
own heart to see whether from any part of his being or
life the Lord Jesus is practically shut out ; for over that
part Satan has control, and he will use his opportunity to
tempt us continually by that way of approach. Such
Satanic approach God will not interpose to prevent, for
He respects even the devil's rights ; and whatever in our
being we reserve from God, constitutes Satan's territory,
and God will allow him the right of way to his own.
The only way to exclude him is by a full surrender to
God, which enables us, in our measure, to say, like our
Master, " The Prince of this World cometh, and hath
nothing in me"

When, under the surgeon's testing touch, any part of
the body shrinks, showing an abnormal sensitiveness, he
begins to suspect that in that part disease lurks. And
whenever we are especially sensitive to any point and
shrink from a candid application of Scripture to any par
ticular practice, it is easy to conclude that, just at that
point, there is a serious difficulty and danger. On the

* l Corinthians xii. 3.

The Keswick Convention

other hand, he who opens up the hidden recesses of the
whole heart and life to the Son of God will find that the
very chambers where previously the idols have been
hidden will become the audience-rooms of a Divine
communion and converse. The Idol-room often proves
afterward the Throne-room.

A. T. PIERSON.

Some Characteristics
of the Message

CHAPTER VIII

By the Rev. J. B. Figgis

What strikes me most at Keswick during Convention Week is the
manifestation of brotherly love, and the earnest desire to know the
will of God by those who in some measure love God and are
endeavouring to keep His Commandments. It is life seeking more
life.—/. Taylor Smith, Bishop, Chaplain General to the Forces.

Keswick's most striking feature, surely, is intense earnestness of
purpose. Why have these thousands come, but to seek from God a
fuller, deeper blessing ? Listen to the keen simplicity of the prayers,
the fervour of the singing, the directness of the addresses. Note
the solemn hush in the enormous tent. Come closer and observe the
tear of repentance or of joy stealing down the cheeks of some.
What does it all mean ? Inte?ise earnestness. Results ? Yes, thank
God ! -See them in the homes of rich and poor; in many a pulpit
now set on fire for God, and perhaps best of all, away in many a land
across the sea ! — S. A. Selwyn.

Doubting, fearing, stumbling, with little hope of anything better to
the end ; then a glimmering prospect of a brighter possibility ; then
a hearty surrender to Christ's claims, and an unwavering trust in
Him as a full Saviour; then the joyful cry, "I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me ! " That has been to
hundreds the happy history of a week at Keswick.— John Brash.

Some Characteristics of the Message

BOSSUET wrote a book on " The Variations of the
Protestant Churches." What would he have said
if he could have foreseen an assembly in which
most of those variations were found, but found blended in
sweetest harmony ? Yet such an assembly is the Keswick
Convention.

But though we are all " one in Christ Jesus," as the motto
of the tent proclaims, there are variations of the melody
which has been sounding there for two and thirty years.

This period may be divided roughly into certain stages,
the first might be headed Rest, the second Work, with it
came Testimony, and after it came Teaching.

First, Rest. He who built this ark for us was assuredly
" a man of rest." The topic of many tongues was " The
Rest of Faith.'5 One of the earliest and most winning
booklets of the movement was " How to enter into rest."
We heard much, but not too much, about " rest in the
day of trouble," rest in the hour of temptation, a favourite
text being " Stand still and see the Salvation of the
Lord " : Rest in moments of irritation — " Just name His
Name, say ' Jesus, Jesus,' and look to Him, and He will
calm you." And " there was a great calm," people might
call it Quietism. Call it what they would, it was very
real and very beautiful to see. With this great peace,
" there was great joy in that city" — my text I remember
on returning from the Oxford Convention of 1874. The
joy was just as great at Keswick.

The Keswick Convention

Speaking of meetings held elsewhere, someone remarked,
" You all seem so ' proper,' but at Keswick you are like
schoolboys let loose ! " Perhaps it is quite as well that
this exuberance has given place to a more strenuous piety.
To " run," and even to "walk," may be a stage beyond
"mounting up with wings," nor is the note of joy silent,
though some other notes may oftener be heard at the
present day. So recently as 1905 Dr. Pierson, speaking
from I Thess. v. 18, made joy his theme. He said, " this
is the only passage in which we have seven spiritual
frames put before us : —

' Rejoice evermore ' — the joyful frame ;

1 Pray without ceasing ' — the prayerful frame ;

* In everything give thanks ' — the thankful frame ;
' Quench not the Spirit ' — the watchful frame ;

* Despise not prophesyings ' — the teachable frame ;

' Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good ' —
the judicial frame ;

' Abstain from every form of evil ' — the hallowed frame.

But the thankful frame was the one he selected,
" Think and thank are from the same root. Wholesale
forgetfulness of God's former mercies branded a spot as
Massah and Meribah. The last thing we ever rejoice in
is sorrow, and it is the greatest triumph of grace to show
it. Joseph did when he said, ' Ye thought evil against
me, but God meant it unto good.' Ay, trouble is for
good. A naturalist, pitying an emperor-moth struggling
for an hour to get through the narrow neck of the cocoon,
took his lancet and slit down the cocoon. The moth
came out, but never developed its magnificent hues, and
soon drooped and died. You would cut down the cocoon
of your trials, but you would never have the beautiful
colours in your wings, and never know what it was to
soar Godward."

The greatest exponent of joy and rest (such heavenly

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Some Characteristics of the Message

joy, such hallowed rest !) was the loved and honoured
Charles A. Fox. To hear him night after night in the
tent, and year after year at St. John's, was as great a
blessing as it was a treat.

Peace and joy, characteristic of the childhood of the
Convention, were followed by WORK and enterprise, the
characteristics of its manhood.

It is said that the introduction of missionary subjects
had to struggle into existence (like that emperor-moth !),
but the struggle ended in a glorious victory. I don't
know how much of this is due to Mr. Eugene Stock, but
the impetus he gave in nurturing the love of missions
(and those of all societies) at Keswick, and in cherishing
the love of " Keswick " in the breasts of hundreds of
missionaries, has been of untold good to them and to us.

In connection with missionary work, the consecration
of property was often urged, and with much vigour, as by
Dr. Pierson, who piled up incident after incident to show
the inconsistency of Christians amassing large sums and
giving little.

Not a few self-denying gifts, some of them considerable,
might, we are quite sure, be dated from the tent at
Keswick, nor should it be forgotten that work at home
has received a stimulus there only second to work abroad.

Simultaneously with the deepening of the Spirit of
Christian enterprise, there came a deepening of the
stream of TESTIMONY. The charm of those spontaneous
utterances we can never forget. A well-known Scotch
evangelist confessed that he had found that work some
times took the place of Christ, but that henceforth he
wanted not His service, but Himself. On another occa
sion Hudson Taylor said in his gentle humble way " we
often sing * they who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly
true,' but I've sometimes found that they who don't
trust Him wholly, find HIM wholly true."

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A profound impression has been produced by testi
monies given by leaders of the Convention as to the way
in which they had been led into practical realisation of
the blessing which can be obtained by those who will
fully yield themselves to God. These were not given in
most cases without deep emotion, and these personal
experiences seem almost too sacred to commit to paper,
but some extracts from those which have already been
published may be reproduced as indicating how the varied
representation of the message has affected men of widely
different temperaments and attainments.

" Some years ago," said one well-known Convention
speaker, " I would not have been asked to go to Keswick,
and if I had been, I should certainly not have gone. But
I was staying as one of a house party, where I found,
after my arrival, there were to be consecration meetings."
He described how much he wished to be away at the
time, but how this could not be, without breaking the
courtesies of life. Words fro>m Haggai were God's
message to him, and during the after meeting, he says
" I felt it most difficult to stand, but, in the way God
had spoken to me, it was more difficult not to stand. The
calm and peace of God rilled me, and I returned home at
His absolute disposal. What of the nine years since ?
They have been on an absolutely different plane, both as
to Christian work, and as to the presence of Christ, there
has indeed been failure on my part ; but every failure
can now be seen to be one's own fault, and that which
need not have been."

The Rev. G. MacGregor stated that he heard of
Keswick as a place where sanctification was treated of,
and he came as a matter of purely intellectual interest ;
but he had not been in the place many minutes before he
found that the treatment was practical and new. Then
he felt very angry indeed, as a Scotchman, at being told

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anything new in theology by Englishmen ! Monday was
a terribly cold night, and Tuesday a burning day. Dr.
Moule brought him to the crisis, and the conflict was
narrowed down at last to one point. When that very
point, after others, was touched that night by Mr.
Hopkins, he felt so stung that he could have sprung to
his feet and left. But God led him to do a very different
thing — to commit himself wholly into the Lord's hands.
Mr. Meyer laid hold of him as he spoke of getting out
of the boat of self, and Mr. Hopkins followed with the
opportunity " Will you get out ? " It was to him indeed
like leaping out of a boat upon the waters. " How has
it been since ? " " In temper and worry, my weak
places, I have found deliverance ; not that the capacity
for either has gone, but Christ has His hands on
me now."

Then another Scotch minister told how the life of one
beside him drew him away from the critical view of the
subject, he would pardon him for naming him, and for
saying that he had known Dr. Elder Gumming once, and
he knew him again and it led him to silence. Then, at a
small Mission, God gave him a revelation of self, and of
sin after sin. " Then He took my self life and put it on
the Cross, and took me to be altogether His, He emptied
my house and shattered my health, but through it all I
never had such peace. Three years ago I came here and
sat at the back of the platform in calm joy, having known
the crushing and searching before ever I came to
Keswick, the cleansing and the filling too, before I heard
them spoken of here. You ask, Does it last ? I answer,
He lasts. You ask, Have you obtained holiness ? I
have no attainments, I have only an attitude, I am
surrendered on my side that is all ; and my prayer is
what Thou canst not consume do Thou cleanse ; what
Thou canst not cleanse consume ; and what Thou canst

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neither consume nor cleanse, that counteract by Thine
own presence."

These testimonies show in the clearest manner that it
is possible for men to be highly honoured, and used of
God as ministers of the Gospel, and even as successful
evangelists and religious leaders, and yet never truly to
have apprehended some secrets of peace and power which
every Christian may enjoy.

This was the case in the experience of the founder of
the Convention and of the others whose testimonies have
been quoted, but one other instance may be given in
which one, who held a position of remarkable influence
as a writer and speaker, was led into most definite
blessing.

Two addresses had been given on the subject of the
power of God as to character, the invitation to stand up
being given to all who wished to claim that power. In
spite of what it cost him, he was one to stand, but never
was a Jordan crossed without the promised land being
found, and he had found that his step was the last one of
the old way of failure and defeat. He described the
steps to him as being first : I and God, then God and I,
but now God and not I.

THE BIBLE READINGS entrusted to one or two chosen
teachers have been one of the most helpful features in the
Convention programme. Nothing is more striking than
the manner in which it has been shown that the Word of
God is filled from end to end with teaching as to the life
of faith which it is the purpose of the Convention to set
forth, and these expositions of Holy Scripture provide
the firm foundation upon which the rest of the teaching
is based. How this teaching is presented may best be
seen by some instances culled from the addresses of those
who are the recognised exponents of the Convention
message. A characteristic utterance of the Rev. Evan

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Hopkins may first be taken. Speaking on the text, " The
water that I shall give him shall become in him a well "
(St. John iv. 14, R.V.), he said: " Here we have a fresh
experience of an old gift. You have had the water, but
now it has become to you a spring overflowing, and the
friction and strain have been taken out of your life. You
say, I have no patience with that man, you need not say
that ; look at Col. i. 2, link ' all might ' with ' all patience,'
and you will find the power sufficient to meet the
requirement. But can I be patient always ? Certainly.
But must I not make a desperate effort ? No, let the
Lord possess you, and the impatient man becomes
gentle ; he has Divine provision to meet the Divine
requirement. But we cannot enter on these blessings
unless in right relationship to God. Have we handed
ourselves over to Him to be at His disposal ; or if we
have dropped this and the other sin, do we really
believe ? Many people have a faith that seeks, but not a
faith that rests. The Lord is here, rest on Him, believe
that He keeps you ; the responsibility of keeping you
belongs to Him, though the responsibility of trusting
Him to keep you belongs to you."

On faith Dr. Pierson gave a beautiful chain in that
same year (1897). Seven words describe the believer's
reception of blessing : —

" ' Look ' — that is receiving with the eyes.
' Hear ' — that is receiving with the ears.

* Take ' — receiving with the hands.
' Taste ' — with the mouth.

* Come ' — with the feet.

* Trust ' — with the heart.

* Choose ' — with the will.

There is a common impression that Jacob got the
blessing by wrestling, that is the way he did not get it.
Suppose you try to wrestle when you have a dislocated

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The Keswick Convention

thigh ! No, Jacob gave up his wrestling and took to
praying. ' I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me '
' and He blessed Him there: "

The Holy Spirit and His work always have been dwelt
upon with great fulness, and while there have been, and
must be, some who make more of a past Pentecost and
others more of a Pentecost present or now to come, the
desire for His baptism or rilling, has been ever cherished
as the deepest desire of all.

To give any adequate account of the teaching of the
Convention on THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT would need
not a chapter but a volume, but a sentence of George
Macgregor's may here be quoted : " ' Be filled with the
Spirit,' i.e., like an empty vessel plunged into a well, it is
in the water, and the water is in it, or like a sponge filled
at eve ry pore with the sea that surrounds it."

" KEEPING " was another frequent theme. " Keeping
is God's work," said the Bishop of Durham. " ' I do
keep it every moment.' It is for us, by the grace of
God, to commit, but not for us to keep ; for us to
commit our helplessness, for Him to take the helpless ;
for us to say, 'Oh ! Lord I cannot,' for Him to say, 'I
am able to do more than thou canst ask or think.'
Bring the impossibility to Him, the thoughts of evil that
have torn and poisoned you times without number.
Confess that you do give up the case, but do commit it
to Him. He will not disappoint your self despair.
Bring your impossibility to Him, your serpent-thought
shall die at the feet of Jesus, and He will keep those
sacred feet upon it. Make a great friend of Psalm cxxi. I
remember reading the Psalms after a declension and a
fall, but after a renewed discovery of God's power to
keep. I read them as if I could not stop."

Unless I have missed my point altogether, it will be
seen that while there is a beautiful harmony, the AIM is

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never lost sight of on any day of the feast, viz., to impart
the Keswick secret, what old Marshall called "The
Gospel mystery of Sanctification." It is an open secret
now, thanks be to God, through this movement — but
even now there, are multitudes for whom it is still " a
fountain sealed." Only last week, at the bedside of one
who has lived for seventy-seven years in an Evangelical
atmosphere, I found that while the truth that Christ
died for us was familiar, on the truth that Christ liveth
in us, the mind was a perfect blank. It is the business
of Keswick to fill up that blank with promises as practical
as they are plain.

Keswick has never sought to raise false hopes, it has
never given to any the promise of being sinless here.
The presence of sin in the believer deeply deplored and
lamented, is nevertheless acknowledged in all the words
spoken from that platform. This has been a settled
point from the first ; in fact, it is one of the Keswick
notes. As Theodore Monod said at Oxford, " We ought
not to sin, and we need not sin, but as a matter of fact,
we do sin."

Wherein then does the teaching differ from the view
that we are sinning every moment, in thought, word,
and deed ? Take two words of Preb. Webb-Peploe's
spoken in August, 1876, and giving perhaps the two sides
of the shield : — " You have not perfection in man, but
you have a perfect Saviour." "Never be afraid of draw
ing too near perfection, you may be sure there will
always be limitations in you," and, "remember that our
holiness, and that down here, is the purpose of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit."

There has been wonderful harmony about Christ and
His atoning work. Not a scintilla of doubt ever appeared
at Keswick as to the proper Deity of Christ, nor as to
the vicarious character of His sufferings.

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The Keswick Convention

GOD AND His WORD have ever had the deepest
reverence in all our assemblies ; His Word quite mar
vellously so, when we consider the storm of controversy
that has raged about it. On the top of the Buttermere
Coach a Clergyman, who spent much of his time in writing
for reviews, said to me, " I have been attending these
meetings for a whole week, and what amazes me is that,
for all I heard here, such a thing as the Higher Criticism
might have no existence."

It would be totally wrong to assume from this that the
speakers at the Convention are careless of current con
troversies with reference to the Scriptures. More than
one has written exhaustively on this subject, and the Life
of Faith, the organ of the Convention, has contained
many learned and thoughtful articles upon these great
questions of the day. These, however, are problems out
side the aim of Convention.

A few sentences from words spoken at Keswick by Dr.
Andrew Murray, whose books on the holy life are very
widely known, may suitably close this review of the
teaching of the Convention.

The first was on " But not utterly." " Listen to God's
five terrible words about Saul's sin — rebellion, witchcraft,
stubbornness, iniquity, idolatry, all this when a soul
disputes God's voice by doing nine-tenths and leaving
a tenth undone."

The next was on " Carnal and Spiritual." " People go
away from meetings saying how beautiful, but not helped
one step ; the carnal state rendering it impossible for a
man to see spiritual truth."

The third was on " The pathway to the higher life."
" Look at that splendid oak, where was it born ? In a
grave. The acorn was put in the ground, and in that grave
it sprouted, and sent up its bulbs. And was it only one day
it stood in the grave ? Every day for a hundred years it

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has stood there, and in that place of death it has found
its life. You can get the resurrection life nowhere but in
the grave of Jesus."

The last address was on the words " That God may be
all in all." Carved in cedar they have hung on my study
wall ever since. " The whole aim of Christ's coming,"
said Dr. Murray, " of His redemption of His work in our
hearts, is summed up here. If we do not know that this
is so, we cannot know what He expects of us ; but if we
do, we shall take this as our life-motto, and live it out.
Meditate on it — and on His coming — that we may all
have but one song, one hope,

' THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.' "

J. B. FIGGIS.

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of the Convention

CHAPTER IX

By Mr. Albert Head

The secret of the blessing given at the Keswick Convention lies
hidden in its motto, "ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS," for the closer
we draw to " The Head " the closer we shall be drawn to one
another. Where the King reigns, Self is dethroned, and where The
King reigns, there is Peace, Unity, and Power. — William .//. Wilson.

The unity and love of the brethren of the Convention platform
profoundly impress one. In no other sphere probably, is there such
accord in " endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace." The Spirit of the Master so evidently upon His servants
cannot but be fruitful in their witness and ministry. — S. A.
McCracken.

After attending the Keswick Convention for over 25 years I con
sider that its most striking feature is the marvellous oneness of spirit
which exists among all Christians. We meet in a realm above what
we might call earthly divisions and find ourselves one in Christ
Jesus. In my judgment it is the nearest answer to our Lord's Prayer
" That they all might be one."— Edw. F. Hamilton.

The Watchword of the Convention

EVER since our blessed Lord uttered the remarkable
and searching prayer contained in John xvii., there
has existed a yearning desire amongst His people
for a practical fulfilment of the plea, " That they all may
be one." Though His immediate followers had been
closely linked with Him in fellowship and in service
during the three years of His ministry, and had just then
reiterated their confidence in Him and His divine mission
in the words, " We believe that Thou earnest forth from
God," yet His reply is significant of the forecast that
eparation, division, and discussion awaited them. " Do
ye now believe?" said our Lord. "Behold, the hour
cometh, yea, is now come that ye shall be scattered, every
man to his own, and shall leave me alone : and yet
I am not alone, because the Father is with me." No
wonder, then, that in that unity with His Father thus
alluded to, He should entwine this very thought into His
prayer, " That they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us
that the world may believe," so that the close union
between the Father and the Son should become the ideal
of the union to exist between the disciples and their
Lord. The facts and features of this blessed union are
clearly brought out in the figures made use of by our
Lord and by the Apostle Paul, Branches "of the true
Vine," " Members of His Body, of His flesh, of His

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The Keswick Convention

bones," " Married to another, even to Him who is raised
from the dead." How lamentably short of the attain
ment of this standard of union the Church of Christ on
earth has come, is known only too well by her members,
at the same time there has never lacked the desire, and
in the many and varied stages of her history the objective
of unity has been apparent, and whilst uniformity seems
hopeless in this age and many would feel that it would
neither be salutary nor advantageous, yet the motto, " In
essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things
charity," seems in a certain measure to describe the basis
of present attainment.

Since the Convention held at Keswick came into being
some thirty years ago, the watchword, " All one in Christ
Jesus," has been pre-eminently kept to the fore and may
be said to have formed the foundation stone of the
harmony, the brotherly love, the fellowship, and the
manifestation of the essential truths of sanctification by
faith, as well as of the practical results to be found in
the way, the walk, and the work of the holy life.

Probably there never was a time in the history of the
Church when the unity of believers should be more
emphasized, and the practical side of this relationship
should be carried into abiding effect. These are
essentially days of conventions, congresses, conferences
and combines, in matters of common interest. Much
more in matters spiritual, in the essentials of truth which
indicate and treat of the separation "from" the carnal,
and the separation " unto " the spiritual, elements to
which the Apostle Paul alludes in 2 Corinthians vi. 14 to
vii. I, it becomes important that those who " profess and
call themselves Christians " should be aroused to appre
hend their "high calling of God in Christ Jesus," and
resting upon " those promises " should, in unity of heart
and assemblage, inquire as to and seek to know in ex-

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The Watchword of the Convention

perience the essential truths and practical characteristics
of "perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

The Keswick Convention has for years become a
channel, and is acknowledged to be a leading exponent of
this " blessing." In the early days of the movement,
when the first large gatherings were held in Oxford in
1874, and Brighton in 1875, it was a frequent question,
"Have you received the blessing!" By this inquiry it
was intended either to gain the assurance of a testimony
in the affirmative, or to give the opportunity for expression
of a desire to possess the experience in which so many
were rejoicing, or to tell of some hindrance or lack of
knowledge which might be removed or explained. The
unity of sentiment and fellowship which was apparent
then and the blessing coveted, has not ceased — nay, verily,
has been in continual force during these many years of
Conventions at Keswick, and therein lies the solid basis
and foundation of the unity which exists and is so con
sistently maintained.

What is this blessing ? it may be asked, which gives
entrance to the path of holiness and makes for the unity
in heart of those who are in the enjoyment of similar
experience ? Surely it is none other than the conscious
yielding of oneself to be " baptised into Jesus Christ "
that the self-life may be merged into " His death." That
being "buried with him" the disciple may in like manner
be " raised together " with Him from the death of the
natural man into the "newness of life" of the spiritual
man, even " by the glory of the Father." Romans vi.
3-5 ; Ephesians ii. 6. The testimony of the Apostle
Paul may thus become the testimony of the believer : —
" I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me : " (Galatians ii. 20), and
when this becomes consciously experienced, the
mystery hid from ages and from generations becomes

The Keswick Convention

now made manifest to the saint (or sanctified believer)
"Christ in you" (Col. i. 26-27). "Strengthened with might
by His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith." " That ye might be filled with all
the fulness of God" (whatever this highest of standards
may mean to the individual) becomes a present and
continual blessing, the fruits whereof are known,
cherished, and witnessed to by those members of the
Body of Christ to whom it is vouchsafed. This
glorious "high calling" is as much a gift, a provision, a
promise of God, as salvation itself or the bestowal of
the Holy Spirit. Those in this experience — whether at
Keswick or elsewhere — are brought into closest fellow
ship in the unity of the Spirit. If Heaven is to be the
realisation of perfect unity, why may there not be a fore
taste here below — and indeed in great measure it is a
fact. The marked sense of division and denominational-
ism here disappears. The platform is occupied by
representatives of many sections of the evangelical
Churches of our land, and such is the sense of unity
which prevails that the thought does not find expression,
" To what denomination does the Speaker belong ? " In
the lodging-houses wherein congregate men and women
from most sections of the Church, one characteristic is
patent to their minds in attending the Convention as a
common meeting ground, and that is, that sectional
divisions or preferences are laid aside and harmony and
unity invariably prevail. It may be mentioned here that
an understanding exists amongst the speakers that
nothing of a controversial character shall be introduced
into the addresses, that as the Convention is organised
for the setting forth of the truths of scriptural holiness,
it would be inexpedient, confusing and unedifying that
matter of this description should colour the substance of
any address. Besides this, it is obvious that any

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The Watchword of the Convention

approach to a strife of tongues would tend to disturb the
fellowship and unity which is of the utmost importance
and is such a leading feature of these annual gatherings.

" Does it work ? " may be asked. " Yes, indeed it
does," is the reply. The testimonies given and received
from all sections of the community are most hearty and
appreciative of the spirit and tone of the Conventions,
and many are struck with this very aspect of unity — the
blessing received becomes the blessing communicated,
and the love which binds together at Keswick becomes
the uniting factor in many a family and many a station
in heathen lands, besides many a mission and missionary
centre.

Undoubtedly there exists in the minds of some clergy,
ministers and workers, a prejudice against " Keswick."
Whatever may have been the origin of such a feeling or
sentiment, the testimony of those who have been subject
thereto and have attended a Convention and seen for
themselves, has invariably been that there is really no
ground for the objections held, and that they regret they
had not attended before and entered upon the experience
of the blessing set forth. It is not to be wondered at that
prejudice exists. Every movement that is set on foot to
bring increased light, liberty, deliverance from and
victory over sin to the children of God, must meet with
opposition sometimes from ignorance and prejudice, and
sometimes from lack of apprehension of the inward life
and teaching of the Word of God. This is a fitting
opportunity to extend an invitation to any readers, who
would know and see for themselves, to attend a Con
vention at Keswick, and there is little doubt that an
earnest seeking for blessing will result in a definite find
ing — that misconception will vanish and a new light will
dawn upon the soul revealing the " beauty of holiness "
as a bright reality.

The Keswick Convention

As the members of the Student Volunteer Missionary
Union have now before them the watchword adopted a
few years ago — " The evangelisation of the world in this
generation," so it behoves the Church of Christ to be up
and doing with renewed earnestness to attain a similar
objective. Victory and a successful issue to a campaign
can only result if there is unity amongst all ranks under
skilful leadership. The Psalmist indicated (Psalm
cxxxiii.) that the condition of high priestly blessing from
Jehovah Himself was " unity." The Apostle Paul
exhorts the Church at Ephesus to endeavour " to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," a message
that is of peculiar force and application in this our day
of problems and perplexities in the religious and educa
tional world, and after alluding to the various gifts of the
Spirit conferred upon members of the early Church, he
points out the pivot upon which the fabric of organisation
is to revolve, " the unity of faith " centering in the " Son
of God who is the head of the body, even Jesus Christ."
If believers would study the ideal standard set before
them in that message — Ephesians iv. 11-16 — there is
surely a marvellous opportunity in the present age of
attaining to some greater degree " the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ," setting aside and
shunning the " wind of doctrine," " the sleight of men,"
" the cunning craftiness," and in the place thereof seek
ing to speak " the truth in love " and " to grow up unto
Christ." Then would there be a prospect that there
might come forth from the Church of to-day a " body
fitly framed and knit together" making increase "unto
the building up of itself in love."

This is the " unity " at which Keswick aims — this is
the teaching which the leaders of the Convention held
there, seek to give, and this is the practical basis upon
which it is sought to blend hearts together with Christ

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and then with one another in His mystical Body — this is
in some measure the fulfilment now of the Pentecostal
conditions where we read, "they were all with one accord
in one place." It was on this occasion that the Holy
Spirit was outpoured upon the obedient company who
were waiting and watching for the fulfilment of the
"promise of the Father," and it was when He came and
"filled all the house" and filled them all, that the Fire
fell and the Holy Spirit in full possession, fused them
into the love which quickened their faith and gave them
the joy of having " all things common."

Finally, this occasion proved to be the answer to our
Lord's prayer for unity and for service — " I in them, and
Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and
that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and
hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." And if on the
day of Pentecost, why not in full measure at Keswick,
why not wherever believers are now to be found in our
beloved land, why not wherever the " new man " has
place, " where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circum
cision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free : but Christ is all, and in all ? "

ALBERT A. HEAD.

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Some of the Results

CHAPTER X

By the Rev. C G. Moore

The Message of the Keswick Convention and others, that Salvation
in its fulness means Service as the outcome, and the teaching that a
definite step must be taken, a simple and momentary trust exercised,
and that He is able to keep, and to enable for whatever He calls us
to, has been a blessing to thousands. — F. L. Tottenham, Capt.

The Keswick Convention reminds one of Gideon's army of 32,000
men, who, feeling strongly the oppression of the enemy and the
desire for deliverance, responded gladly to the leader's appeal. Yet
two out of every three went back at the first opportunity. The look
backward was a more longing one than the forward look. Many of
those who come to Keswick are not willing to go on with God.
They are willing to face sin ; to see their need but not willing to
die to sin and to crucify self. Others go further, as did Gideon's
remaining 10,000. But they follow nature more than grace; they
seek comfort more than Christ. And these also miss the joy of
victory, perhaps only for a time. The remnant, led by the Holy
Spirit, go on to victory. Their light shines out of a broken self;
their witness is for their God and Saviour, and with joy they conquer
as they stand. — F. W. Ainley,

Some of the Results

THE results of Keswick and its teaching, as I have
known them, arrange themselves into four groups,
viz., those (i) in my own personal Christian experi
ence ; (2) in the speakers at the Conventions ; (3) in the
hearers at the Conventions ; and (4) in the Church of God
at large.

FIRST. I would briefly speak, with deep gratitude to
God, of what I owe personally to Convention teaching.
It was my great privilege to attend the " Union Meeting
for the Promotion of Scriptural Holiness" held at
Oxford, August 29 to September 7, 1874, which is
generally regarded as the beginning of the movement. I
was at that time a very young minister in my first charge.
My dear father, the late Rev. John Moore, was an
intimate friend of President Finney, and my early
Christian life had been powerfully influenced by the
teaching of the great American preacher. What deep
and searching conviction I passed through ! How relent
lessly the whole claim of Christ was pressed upon my
conscience ! To those experiences, terrible at the time,
I am sure I owe some of the most precious elements of
my spiritual life. I cannot remember that my theo
logical training and environment had any special
influence upon me. It was my joy to spend myself in
Christ's service, and His blessing was not withheld from
my ministry ; but how much was lacking !

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The Keswick Convention

In the early summer of 1874 the late Mr. Pearsall
Smith — about whom I then knew almost nothing but that
he was an American gentleman — was holding some meet
ings for students at Cambridge. As I was not far away, I
determined to go to Cambridge and call upon him, in the
hope of getting the most recent news of Mr. Finney.
How well I remember him coming into the room where
I awaited him ! He was suffering from a prostrating
headache which must have made effort of any sort a
torture to him. Yet how kind, how gracious, how
courteous he was ! I knew nothing about his teaching,
and I felt no particular interest in his work ; and of these
facts he soon became aware. So after giving me the
information I sought about Mr. Finney, he did not
attempt to prolong the interview. But as I was leaving
he put into my hand a copy of Mrs. Smith's book,
"Frank: The Record of a Happy Life." It would be
impossible to report the revolution in my religious
thought and life effected by that book. No book I have
ever read since has had anything like the same effect.
I suspect that to-day I should find nothing in it of special
import ; but then it spoke with the voice of God to my
inmost condition. Moreover, it prepared me to go to the
Oxford Meeting a few months later.

Now, in this first contact with Keswick teaching, what
was imparted to me ? I will mention only three things :
(a) A clearer understanding of the New Testament
emphasis on faith as the means and instrument of that
fellowship with Christ which is the root of Christian
living, (b) A new spirit and atmosphere for Christian
life. I had never been in meetings where the Holy
Spirit had such power and liberty, and where His choice
fruits of love, joy, peace, meekness, gentleness were so
plentiful, (c) A vision of Christ in close, interested,
loving, helpful contact with the whole life of His

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Some of the Results

disciple. The distinction between the religious and the
common in Christian living vanished, and has never
reappeared.

I returned home from Oxford somewhat dazed by the
new glory that had burst upon my view, but exceeding
joyful, and fully purposed in God's strength to persevere
in my poor attempts to live my life by the faith of the
Son of God. From that hour to this He has been my
faithful, ever-present Lord, Saviour and Friend. Of
course I began at once to pass on to my people the good
things I had learned, and the fruits of that ministry abide
to this day.

SECOND. Let us glance at the results of this movement
in those who have been the speakers at the Conventions.
To these results, we venture to think, the greatest
importance attaches. If the speakers have influenced
the Conventions, the Conventions have powerfully reacted
upon the speakers.

First of all, in this work we have found some of the
truest and richest Christian fellowship we have ever
known. What holy, happy heart intercourse lives behind
a Convention ! How many hours filled with heaven's own
joy can we recall ! And as each speaker returns to his
own special sphere, in his character, his temper, his joy,
his influence, he becomes a power for lifting other lives
on to the level where he himself has been so enriched.

Again, the Conventions have tended to confirm the
speakers in balanced and Scriptural views of the truth.
A man who rarely hears any voice but his own is in great
peril, for fellowship is the law of both truth and safety.
But at the Conventions the year through it is a speaker's
privilege to listen again and again to his brethren each
presenting the truth in their own special way. Within
the recognised limits there are remarkable differences

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The Keswick Convention

amongst the speakers in their conception and presenta
tion of truth ; and their individuality, it need scarcely be
added, has complete liberty of expression. The conse
quence is that a speaker constantly listening to his
brethren finds his thinking checked and supplemented in
a way which powerfully tends to give balance and breadth
to his own views. He also learns profoundly to appre
ciate the diversity of the gifts of the one Spirit. He
many times sees, and rejoices to see, quite another line
of things than his own made effective in the hearts of the
hearers. The present writer has had the privilege of
listening to hundreds of addresses from fellow speakers,
and very few of these have failed in some way to enrich
and bless him. Moreover he has learned to listen to an
address which brings no message or benefit to himself,
and yet to expect to find that it is the very voice of God to
some other soul. What an education is found in all this !
And just here we get some understanding of how God
in His great mercy has preserved Keswick from the
extravagances, the eccentricities, and the catastrophies
which have so often developed in connection with " holiness
teaching." " The manifestation of the Spirit is given to
every man to profit withal " ; and none can say to another,
" I have no need of thee." Such fellowship as Keswick
fosters is God's provision for both sanity and safety.

We now come to our THIRD head — the results of the
Conventions in the hearers who attend them. And the
first thing to be said is this, that more conversions take
place in the meetings than many people imagine. We
have known of extraordinary cases ; and our own feeling
is that there are many men and women who are more
likely to turn to God in a Convention than in any other
place on earth. It was our privilege to be associated
with our dear friend the late J. Hudson Taylor, as the

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Some of the Results

first Keswick deputation to the Blankenburg Conference
in Germany. We took it for granted, in view of the
special character of that Convention, that all who
attended were Christians, and all the addresses we gave
were for believers. But we were told afterwards that a
number of unconverted persons had been present, and
that every one of these had yielded to Christ ! The
gracious influence of the Spirit, the heavenly atmosphere,
the joy and peace manifest in those assembled, all tend
to create a powerful motive in any heart at all open
towards God.

The next point is this, that the Conventions have
given multitudes an example and an experience of
Christian unity which have been most potent for good.
Denominational and sectional matters are for the time
being dismissed, and the great central themes dear to all
spiritual believers are alone in view. Yet we have never
once heard of a person being unsettled in their ecclesias
tical relations through attending a Convention. As a
rule, the larger fellowship invigorates and inspires, and
sends a worker back to his own post to be more efficient
in his own special duties and loyalties. We may be
mistaken, but we have long been of the conviction that in
our Conventions there is a realization of " All one in
Christ Jesus" — as personal experience — such as is to be
gained almost nowhere else. Then, who shall estimate
the happy issues of the Christian friendships between
members of different churches formed and fostered year
by year at Keswick, and in a lesser degree at other Con
ventions ? "The fellowship of the Holy Ghost" — the
Holy Spirit ever works towards fellowship ; and in our
Conventions does He not find some of His choicest
opportunities ? As a matter of fact there is to-day a
reality and largeness of sympathy amongst spiritual
Christians of all nations and churches of extraordinary

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The Keswick Convention

value and significance ; and that this is a result due in
measure to God's blessing upon the Keswick movement
there is ample evidence.

But to pass on. The Conventions have benefited
very many by showing them how to use the Bible for
spiritual purposes. Keswick does honour the Word of
God, and in that fact is found a chief secret of its
influence. It is almost impossible to imagine a speaker
standing up without a Bible in his hand. To many
hearers this unceasing appeal to the Scriptures is a new
experience : and the effect upon both their life and
service is most momentous. We have a friend who is
one of the most powerful preachers of the Word of God
to the multitude in all Britain ; and he gladly confesses
that it was at Keswick — especially from the ministry of
Mr. Hubert Brooke — that he learned how to use his
Bible. That the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God
one can scarcely fail to realize experimentally in any
Convention. The one weapon relied upon is the Word
spoken in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
Not, happily, that there are not many present who in
their own church or chapel are familiar with the might
and ministry of the quickened Word ; but there are
always those who, alas ! are not. The supreme glory
of the Scriptures is just this, that they are the means
and instrument, through the Spirit, of a present, con
scious, intelligent fellowship with the Father and with
His Son Jesus Christ, which is the essence of the
eternal life; and the Conventions render a vast service
by their special revelation of this fact.

Last of all, we come to the results wrought by the
teaching imparted to those who attend the Conventions.
The actual truth is that God has at a thousand points
met and blessed His people through the teaching. In
many cases the great truths concerning the offices of the

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Some of the Results

Holy Spirit, the all-sufficiency of Christ, and the function
of faith in the Christian life, have brought about a great
and critical new departure, which has had momentous
consequences. Take an illustration. There recently
died a gentleman it was our privilege to know who was
one of the most honoured and beloved laymen in the
great denomination to which he belonged. Up till
nearly sixty years of age he lived a Christian life which
had no unusual influence or ministry. Then he went to
a Keswick Convention, and God met him there in a way
which verily transformed him. He had a lovely home,
equipped with all that could minister lawful pleasure.
One day, after the great change, having taken us through
the grounds and the billiard room, and so on, in speech
utterly sincere and happy, he assured us that it was all
nothing to him now, and that God had given him far
sweeter joys. He was deeply interested in mission work
amongst the masses of our large towns. To this he
liberally devoted his strength and his wealth ; and his
example and influence right on through the years to the
end were a benediction to the whole of the great church
to which he belonged. Yes, in God's mercy, attendance
at a convention has been the gateway for very many into
a life filled with the presence and power of God.

But life is more than its great crises, and Divine grace
and light are as necessary for the long, patient journey as
at the dividing of the ways. It is impossible to give any
adequate idea of the manner in which God's help has
come to His people in all phases and vicissitudes of need
through the ministry of Keswick. Much intercourse with
individuals, and a large correspondence enable us to
speak here with assurance. To put it briefly, Keswick
and its teaching have been permitted a very real share in
the work of building up the New Testament Christianity
of our time.

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The Keswick Convention

FOURTH. A few words only about the results of the
Convention movement in the Church of God generally.

Keswick stands for absolute loyalty to the Bible as the
Word of God, for the great experiences of spiritual
religion, for large fellowship amongst all who love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and for unreserved
devotion to the Kingdom of God. Naturally, it has
found sympathetic friends in all lands and churches ; and
these, in their turn, have extended its influence, and
propagated its teaching. Without any design or inten
tion on the part of its leaders, but in the providence and
favour of God, Keswick has become a factor in the life of
the universal Church. By its literature and its deputa
tions, as well as through those who have come directly
under its influence, it is permitted a world-wide ministry.
God grant that the movement may be kept so lowly, so
sincere, so dependent, so trustful, so loyal that it may
continue to be made to multitudes a channel of living
water !

C, G, MOORE,

130

The Missionary Element

CHAPTER XI

By Mr. Eugene Stock

A cry, as of pain,
Again and again,

Is borne o'er the deserts and wide-spreading main :
A cry from the lands that in darkness are lying,
A cry from the hearts that in sorrow are sighing" ;
It comes unto me ;
It comes unto thee ;
Oh what — oh what shall the answer be ?

Oh ! hark to the call ;
It comes unto all

Whom Jesus hath rescued from sin's deadly thrall ;
" Come over and help us ! in bondage we languish ;
Come over and help us ! we die in our anguish ; "
It comes unto me ;
It comes unto thee ;
Oh what — oh what shall the answer be ?

It comes to the soul
That Christ hath made whole,
The heart that is longing His name to extol ;
It comes with a chorus of pitiful wailing ;
It comes with a plea which is strong and prevailing :
" For Christ's sake " to me ;
" For Christ's sake " to thee ;
Oh what — oh what shall the answer be ?

We come, Lord, to Thee,
Thy servants are we ;

Inspire Thou the answer, and true it shall be !
If here we should work, or afar Thou should'st send us,
O grant that Thy mercy may ever attend us,
That each one may be
A witness for Thee,
Till all the earth shall Thy glory see !

SARAH GERALDINA STOCK-

The Missionary Element.

call to entire dedication of body, soul, and spirit

Ito the service of the Lord, which has been an
essential part of the message of Keswick to the
Church of Christ, could not fail, in time, to send some
of those it influenced into the foreign mission field.
The question which many were asking from the bottom
of the heart, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
was sure in some cases to receive the answer, " Depart,
for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." If the
Lord's great commission to His Church is to proclaim
the glad tidings of Redemption to all mankind, it could
not, in the long run, be disregarded at Keswick.

It is not at all surprising that this was not so at first.
The early Conventions were charactised by the same
feature which had marked the Revival period of 1858-62,
the Parochial Missions of 1872 and following years, and
the Moody & Sankey campaigns of both 1874-75 and
1882-84. They one and all, at the time, had scarcely
any connexion with, or effect upon, the Foreign Mission
enterprise. Indirectly, and eventually, they have all
helped it greatly ; but some years had to elapse first.
Even at the Mildmay Conference, which did give a
definite place to Missions at its afternoon gatherings, the
majority of the agencies represented were Home Missions
of various kinds, and these proved by far the most
popular. All the time the large Missionary Societies

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The Keswick Convention

were at work, as they had been for three-quarters of a
century or more, but they moved on different lines and
appealed for the most part to different Christian circles.
No reflection ought to be cast upon Canon Harford-
Battersby, Mr. Bowker, and the other Keswick leaders,
because in the Convention they concentrated all their
influence upon one aim, the promotion of Practical
Holiness. If Practical Holiness resulted in individuals
going to the heart of Africa or the heart of China, they
were unfeignedly glad ; but their object was, so to speak,
to set the engine going and keep the fire burning ; they
were not pointsmen to turn the train on to this or that
line.

There were two men, however, whose minds and hearts
were more fully set upon the Evangelization of the
World. One was Hudson Taylor, the founder and
director of the China Inland Mission. He was, indeed,
only at the Convention now and then, when at home
from China; but when there he was a valued speaker,
and though he never pleaded for his own Mission, nor
indeed in any exceptional way for China, he did set forth
with fervent earnestness the claim of Christ to the
service of His people in making His name known to all
nations. The other was Reginald Radcliffe, the
Liverpool solicitor who had been so prominent a leader in
the Revival Movement of 1860, who had been the first to
hold a Gospel service in a London theatre, and who had
preached Christ all over the land and in many distant
parts of the world. He had only come to " see " foreign
Missions after many years of that work ; but when he
once did " see " them, when his eyes were opened to the
unique position which the Lord's great commission
occupies in the inspired records of His last instructions
to His disciples, Radcliffe made it the chief task of his
later years to arouse the Christian circles in which he

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The Missionary Element

had influence to a new sense of the paramount claims of
the non-Christian world. At two or three successive
Conventions he invited friends to his lodgings for daily
prayer on the subject; and he tried to persuade Mr.
Bowker, who presided after Canon Battersby's death, to
include in the programme a missionary meeting. But
the venerable chairman said No. " Missions meant
secretaries quarrelling for collections, and Keswick could
not stoop to that."

However, there were tokens from time to time of the
change that was presently coming. In 1885, for instance,
at a testimony meeting, three young clergymen stood up
together, and publicly dedicated themselves to the
mission field.* In 1886 and 1887 Mr. Radcliffe obtained
Mr. Bowker's permission to use the tent for a missionary
meeting on the Saturday, which day had always been
left free for excursions ; but Bowker closed the official
proceedings, notwithstanding, with the Praise Meeting
early on Saturday morning, and then " lent " the Tent
to Radcliffe for a distinct gathering " unconnected with
the Convention." In the latter year this meeting proved
to have great results. Bowker (who declined to be
present himself) had, earlier in the week, read out a letter
from the Rev. J. R. Longley Hall, a C.M.S. missionary
at Jerusalem, appealing for ladies of education and
private means to go and work (on their own account) in
Palestine ; and this letter was pointedly referred to by

* The sequel of this is interesting. One of the three, the Rev.
C. H. Gill, went out a year or two later. He, after nearly twenty
years' work in India, became Bishop of Travancore and Cochin.
All that time it was a rather sad reflection that neither of the other
two had gone to the mission field. But this year (1907) the Arch
bishop of Canterbury has appointed the Rev. Canon Lander, of
Liverpool, to be Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong, in succession to the
lamented Bishop Hoare, and he is another of the three.

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The Keswick Convention

one of the speakers at the Saturday meeting, among
whom were Radcliffe himself as chairman, Hudson
Taylor, Prebendary Webb-Peploe, James Johnson (a
Negro clergyman, now a bishop), and the present writer.
The result of the meeting was that more than thirty
persons, individually and separately, applied to one or
other of the speakers with a view to missionary service ;
and the next two days were occupied by long private
interviews with them. Many of these persons eventually
went out, and some are missionaries to this day.

Mr. Bowker was duly informed of so striking an
episode ; and before the next Convention came round he
had avowed his adhesion to the great principle that, as
he expressed it, " Consecration and the Evangelization of
the World ought to go together." The result was that
the official programme for 1888 included a missionary
meeting on the Saturday, which was attended by all the
leaders, and which was the first of that great series of
gatherings with which all are now familiar. " The
longest and the shortest," said a friend present, " of all
the Keswick meetings." The longest, for it was timed
to last three hours, from 10 to I o'clock ; the shortest,
because the large number of speakers, only allowed a few
minutes each, kept attention constantly alive, and pre
vented any feeling of weariness. In that same year
began the daily Missionary Prayer Meeting, held at first
in the Drill Hall and afterwards in the Pavilion, and
lasting 20 to 30 minutes squeezed in between the other
morning gatherings, which was for many years attended
daily by hundreds of people. Only last year (1906) was
it given a whole hour at 7 a.m., and a tent to itself.

An important incident in that first official Saturday
meeting of 1888 must now be mentioned. In the middle
of the proceedings an envelope was brought to the Chair
man, which contained a £10 note, with a slip of paper

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The Missionary: Element

stating that the donor offered it as " the nucleus of a fund
for sending out a Keswick missionary." There had been
no intention to have a collection at all, any possible
thank-offerings having their proper application, as on the
other days, to the expenses of the Convention. But the
little message on the slip of paper was naturally read out
to the meeting, and, to the astonishment of all, within
the next hour money and promises came up spontaneously
to the platform, amounting to about £150, the liveliest
interest being manifested as note after note kept coming
up from every part of the Tent. Before the end of the
year these contributions had reached the sum of £908
for the Keswick Mission Fund, besides £151 which was
earmarked for existing Missionary Societies. The donor,
then a Cambridge undergraduate, little thought what
his God-given thought (as it may surely be called) was
destined to produce.

The question at once arose, What was to be done
with the money ? On the one hand, it could • not be
rightly divided among the existing Missionary Societies,
or there might be a danger of Mr. Bowker's old fear being
realized. On the other hand, " Keswick " could not
rightly start a new Society. Eventually the consideration
prevailed that the Keswick message was not one for the
non-Christian world, but for the Christian Church ; and
it was determined to send out men qualified to deliver
that message to the Colonies and the Mission Field to call
Christian Churches to "practical holiness." The first
man to be sent was the Rev. George Grubb, who had
already been in India and Ceylon as one of a party sent
with a similar object by the Church Missionary Society.
The result was the remarkable series of Missions con
ducted by Mr. Grubb and a band of younger men in
Ceylon, South India, Australia, and New Zealand, which
were accompanied by much manifest blessing from on

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The Keswick Convention

high, and which afterwards issued in more important
fruits than were dreamed of at the time. Subsequently, the
Revs. Hubert Brooke, C. Inwood, and G. H. C. Macgregor
went to Canada on a similar errand ; and year by year
since then, other brethren have gone forth as " Keswick
missioncrs," not " missionaries," to China, South Africa,
South America, the West Indies, and various parts of
Europe. Mr. Inwood especially has done great service
by his visits to many parts of the world. Few movements
have been more manifestly blessed of God.

Year by year the offerings at the Saturday Missionary
Meeting, and at one held since 1889 on the Wednesday
afternoon in the interest definitely of this " Keswick
Mission " (the Saturday meeting always including
Missions generally), have sufficed, with other occasional
gifts, to provide the necessary funds. But from the
first there were some who felt that a part at least of
the contributions should go to Missions to the Heathen.
It was therefore eventually arranged to have Keswick
"missionaries" as well as " missioners." But not to
start a regular organization which would conduct its own
Missions with all their many ramifications and conse
quent responsibilities. The plan agreed upon was to
support individual missionaries — in all cases such as had
accepted the " Keswick message " in its fulness — who were
already on the staff of recognized Missionary Societies,
the money being paid direct to the different Societies for
their support respectively, and the brethren or sisters
themselves remaining members in each case of the
Society's staff and under its direction. The first so
adopted was Miss Amy Wilson-Carmichael, for whom a
special private subscription adequate for her support was
offered. She is, as is now well-known, working in South
India as an agent of the Church of England Zenana
Society, along with the Rev. T. Walker, of the C.M.S.,

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The Missionary Element

who is also now a " Keswick missionary " on the same
plan. Others are working in India, China, Japan, Cape
Colony, and other fields, in connection with the C.M.S.,
the China Inland Mission, the South Africa General
Mission, &c.; and one, a German clergyman, among the
Jews.

Such are some of the results of that memorable
anonymous gift of £10 at that first official missionary
meeting in 1888. Truly we may say, What hath God
wrought !

The Keswick Convention, in the past twenty years, has
had a powerful influence indeed upon the Missionary
Enterprise. In three distinct ways : —

1. By its sending forth of " missioners," and helping
the Societies to send forth " missionaries," as just
described. Let it be added that the visits of Mr. Grubb
to Australia and New Zealand — and of Mr. Hudson
Taylor also, previously, to Australia — had much influence
in preparing the minds and hearts of our Colonial
brethren for the Auxiliary Associations subsequently
established among them in connection with both the
China Inland Mission and the C.M.S. — which Associa
tions have sent out between them nearly a hundred
missionaries, to China, Japan, India, Africa, &c., and
provide the funds for their maintenance.

2. By calling forth offers of missionary service at the
Convention itself, or as the result of its solemn teaching.
All the Societies have gained recruits from Keswick. No
other single agency can compare with it in fruitfulness in
this respect. There is not a mission-field which is not
indebted to the influence of Keswick for one or more of
its labourers — in some cases for several of them. In this
connection it is worth recording that the first address in
this country of Mr. R. P. Wilder, when he came from
America to try to start the Student Volunteer Movement

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The Keswick Convention

in our midst, was given at the Saturday Missionary
Meeting of 1891 ; and that speech called forth one who
became a leader in the movement, and is now a
missionary of the Free Church of Scotland in Nyasaland.
3. By its influence upon the minds and hearts of
missionaries who have attended the Convention while on
furlough. For many years it has been the custom for
some of the Societies to engage, or authorize private
friends to engage, lodgings for parties of their missionary
brethren and sisters, in order that they may have, by
God's blessing, the quickening and the comfort — it may
be the needed correction — which the teaching is so often
used by the Holy Spirit to supply. Very many have
gone back to their fields of labour — sometimes to very
discouraging and trying fields — refreshed and strength
ened by the Keswick Convention. Some who have been
troubled with doubts have had them dissolved ; some who,
though clear in doctrine and sincere in motive, have been
lacking in fervour, or in patience, or in self-sacrifice, have
found a fresh enduement of the Holy Ghost, a " baptism"
as some would say, a " filling" as others would call it, a
definite blessing, at any rate — the particular phraseology
matters little. Actual cases could be named. Let one
illustration, which it is now permissible to give, suffice.
In 1890, a house for C.M.S. missionaries was arranged,
with Dr. Handley Moule (now Bishop of Durham) and
Mrs. Moule as host and hostess. Among the guests was
the Rev. J. C. Hoare, of Mid-China. Dr. Moule arranged
a little excursion on the Friday afternoon, during which,
in a field near Lodore, he asked the brethren present to
give their personal experience of the week. Mr. Hoare,
the last man to be affected by anything that could be
called a " gushing " influence, spoke in quiet and
restrained language of the blessing he had received.
Next day, at the great Saturday meeting, one of the slips

140

The Missionary Element

of paper sent up was from him, intimating that he and
his wife would thenceforth take no pecuniary allowances
from his Society. He afterwards became Bishop of
Victoria, Hong Kong, and was drowned in the typhoon
of September, 1906.

141

The Keswick
Mission Council

CHAPTER XH

By the Rev. J. Battersby Harford

The Master comes ! He calls for thee—
Go forth at His Almighty Word :

Obedient to His last command ;
And tell to those who never heard,

Who sit in deepest shades of night,

That Christ has come to give them light !

The Master calls ! Arise and go ;

How blest His messenger to be !
He who has given thee liberty,

Now bids thee set the captives free ;
Proclaim His mighty power to save,
Who for the world His life-blood gave.

The Master calls ! Shall not thy heart
In warm responsive love reply/

" Lord, here am I, send me, send me —
Thy willing slave— to live or die:

An instrument unfit indeed,

Yet Thou wilt give me what I need."

And if thou canst not go, yet bring

An offering of a willing heart ;
Then, though thou tarriest at home,

Thy God shall give thee too thy part.
The Messengers of peace upbear
In ceaseless and prevailing prayer.

Short is the time for service true,

For soon shall dawn that glorious day

When, all the harvest gathered in,

Each faithful heart shall hear Him say,

" My child, well done ! your toil is o'er —

Enter My joy for evermore ! "

E. MAY GRIMES.

The Keswick Mission Council*

MR. EUGENE STOCK has given an account of the
first beginnings of the missionary activities in
connection with the Keswick Convention. It is
my pleasant duty to carry the subject a stage further and
to tell how those beginnings have blossomed out into
organized work and service rendered by Missioners and
Missionaries in foreign lands under the auspices of the
Mission Council.

The first £10, given by an anonymous friend at the
missionary meeting held at the close of the Convention
on Saturday, July 28th, 1888, drew forth many similar
gifts, and by the end of the year £1,060 had been con
tributed for the development of missionary work, of
which £908 was specially earmarked for work in connec
tion with the Keswick Convention.

A. 1888 TO 1896.

For eight years the work grew steadily under the
presidency of Mr. Robert Wilson, the co-founder of the
Convention and for so many years its beloved Chairman.
Mr. Wilson gathered round him an informal Committee
to advise him from time to time in the management of
the Fund, but he was himself the heart and soul of the
new movement, and to him an immense debt was due for
the loving and whole-hearted devotion with which he
gave himself to the cause.

145 L

The Keswick Convention

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ACTION.

Mr. Wilson and his friends lost no time in getting to
work. At the early meetings the general lines on which
the work of administering the Keswick Convention
Mission Fund was to be carried on were discussed. The
Committee gradually felt their way towards the principles
of action, which were finally worked out at a meeting
held in August, 1902. A memorandum was drawn up by
the Rev. Hubert Brooke after the meeting, which was
never formally passed by the Committee, but which
actually formulates the conclusions arrived at. This
memorandum may be epitomised as follows : —

The Mission Fund is and shall be mainly employed
for the two distinct purposes given below.

1. The first use is to provide for Conventions or
Missions in other countries on the Keswick plan, with the
express purpose of addressing chiefly those who are
already Christians and stirring them up to whole-hearted
consecration and service.

2. The second main use of the Fund is that of
supporting missionaries for direct work among the
heathen, and in carrying out this purpose the Committee
mean to make full use of the organization of existing
Missionary Societies and in no sense to form themselves
into a new Society.

In employing the Fund for the second of these
purposes the following procedure shall be adopted.

(a). A Sub -Committee shall be formed to receive
applications and consider the fitness of candidates.

(b). The Sub-Committee, upon approval of the candi
date as a Keswick Missionary, shall decide with what
Missionary Society the candidate is to work.

(c). In each case the candidate shall then be proposed
for acceptance by the Society chosen and shall occupy
the same position, with regard to that Society, as any

146

The Keswick Mission Council

other worker in it. The pecuniary support alone will be
provided from the Keswick fund ; all supervision and
direction will be received from the Society.

In July, 1895, the following rider was added : —

If after being some time in the field and under
exceptional circumstances a Keswick missionary desires
some change of sphere or character of work, and the
matter cannot be arranged through the ordinary channels,
the missionary shall remain under the local direction of
the Society until the matter can be referred home to the
Committees of the Society and of the Keswick Mission
Fund ; and the decision of the Keswick Committee, acting
in conjunction with the Society, shall be final ?

In accordance with these principles the Committee
of the Keswick Mission Fund took action in both
directions, i.e., in sending out (I.) Missioners, (II.)
Missionaries, and (III.) in certain other ways.

I. As we should naturally expect, it was much easier
to find Missioners ready to go forth at once than
Missionaries. The latter required to be carefully selected
and in many cases trained before they could go to the
Mission Field.

We will therefore look first at the remarkable series of
Missions which were held in the first eight years. The
Rev. G. C. Grubb and Mr. E. C. Millard visited in 1889-
1890 Ceylon, South India, Australia, New Zealand, in
1890-1891 the Cape and South Africa, in 1893 South
America. On the first of these missions they were
accompanied by Mr. Walter R. Campbell and Mr. W. A.
Richardson.

Many will remember reading the story of these
missions, as it was told by Mr. Millard in " What God
hath wrought " and " The Neglected Continent." They
were more thrilling than any novel and full of inspiration
to faith and love.

147

The Keswick Convention

The Rev. Wm. Haslam and Mr. W. R. Campbell went
out to India in the autumn of 1890 for six months mission
work.

The Revs. Hubert Brooke, G. H. C. MacGregor, and
C. Inwood visited Canada in the same year in which
Mr. Grubb went to South America.

In 1894 the Rev. J. Gelson Gregson, an ex-Indian
Army Chaplain, left England once more to visit South
Africa, Ceylon, and India, and in the following year the
Rev. G. C. Grubb went to Egypt and Smyrna, while
Mrs. Constantine, of Smyrna, sailed for India and Miss
M. Gollock and Miss Van Sommer for Egypt for special
work amongst women. The good done through these
various missions, in which the teaching of a full salvation
was preached in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in
many parts of the world, can never be fully known on
earth ! The day will declare it ! But that it was very
remarkable those who know best will be the first to
declare. One testimony may be quoted. Mr. Eugene
Stock, writing from Sydney in June, 1892, to Mr.
Robert Wilson, said : " I want to tell you what a joy it
is to come out here and follow in the track of George
Grubb and the others of his party. . . . You may
be glad of my independent testimony to the greatness of
the work done. Whenever I find myself in parishes
where Grubb and the others laboured, there I am sure
to find many who are rejoicing in the Lord and proving
His power to use them in His service. . . . Although
the direct work has been mainly among English
Colonists, yet indirectly a mighty missionary work has
been done for the heathen world, for the candidates, now
coming forward in numbers for missionary service, are
many of them the fruit of Grubb's mission."

II. The concluding words of this testimony lead us
by a natural transition to the second of the two lines of

148

The Keswick Mission Council

work in which the Committee engaged, viz., the sending
of Missionaries to the Heathen and Mohammedan world.

The same meeting, held at the Church Room, Eaton
Chapel, under the presidency of the beloved Incumbent,
the Rev. C. A. Fox, at which Mr. Grubb and his party
were commended to God for their Mission to India and
Australia, saw also the commending to God of the first
Keswick Missionary, Miss Louisa Townsend, who was
going out at her own charges to take up missionary work
at Shefa Amr, in Galilee.

Miss Townsend was followed to the mission field in
1893 by Miss Amy Wilson Carmichael, who sailed in
March to join the Rev. Barclay F. Buxton's mission party
at Matsuye, in Japan. She was the first missionary to go
out at the charges of the Keswick Mission Committee.
Miss Ruth Brook and Miss Mary Hodgson went out to
China in the autumn under the China Inland Mission,
and Miss Fugill went out in October of the same year to
join Miss Carmichael, and Miss Mitchell to join Miss
Townsend as a medical missionary. Mr. and Mrs. Cyril
Green sailed in 1894 for South Africa to work in connec
tion with the Cape General Mission, and Miss Barry
began work in Dublin among Roman Catholics, and
Miss Kathleen Barthorp went out under the C.E.Z.M.S.
to the Punjab. The next year saw Miss Jacob join
Miss Barthorp at Khutrain, near Amritsar, and in 1896
Miss Aileen M. White was quartered at Alexandria, and
Miss Eva Carmichael went out to Natal.

Thus by the year 1896 thirteen missionaries were at
work in the mission field in connection with the Keswick
Mission Fund.

III. Certain subsidiary branches of the work may be
briefly mentioned, each of which has been of service in
making known the same great truth.

Conventions were held in 1891 and 1892 at certain

149

The Keswick Convention

centres on the Continent, such as Paris, San Remo,
Mentone, and Rome by the Revs. E. H. Hopkins, E. W.
Moore, and C. G. Moore.

In 1892 the printing press was called in to aid the work.
Copies of "The Story of Keswick" were sent to 1,773
missionaries. In 1894 the committee began to send out
monthly copies of the Life of Faith to some 650 mission
stations.

B. FROM 1896 TO THE PRESENT DAY.

The present writer will not readily forget the visit
which he paid to Mr. Robert Wilson at Broughton
Grange in March, 1896. The work had grown to large
dimensions, but the worker was no longer the strong
vigorous man of earlier days. In his infirm condition
Mr. Wilson felt that he could no longer bear the burden
practically alone. The work required constant attention
and considerable correspondence, while the informal
committee of speakers and friends could only be called
together (except at Keswick in July) on those infrequent
occasions in which Mr. Wilson found himself in the
South.

Therefore this true-hearted man bravely faced the
facts. The work could no longer be done from distant
Cumberland, nor by him who lived there. A Mission
Council must be formally constituted with its Chairman,
Treasurer, and Secretary, and with headquarters in
London. Having thoroughly discussed the whole matter,
we parted. The following month saw a large gathering
of Convention speakers and friends of the mission move
ment at the Church Room, Eaton Chapel.

The Rev. Charles Fox took the chair.

A letter from Mr. Robert Wilson was read by his son
Mr. George Wilson, who attended the meeting as his
father's representative.

The Keswick Mission Council

The present writer gave an account of his interview
with Mr. Wilson, and proposed a resolution that a com
mittee should be formally appointed to undertake the
management of the Keswick Convention Missionary
Furid. This was duly seconded and carried unani
mously. A further series of resolutions, proposing
that the Council should consist of (i) The trustees
ex-officio ; (2) Twenty-one elected members, of whom six
shall be appointed in the first instance by the trustees ;
the latter to retire one-third annually, but to be eligible
for re-election.

At a subsequent meeting held in June the formal
document constituting the Council, signed by the trustees,
was presented, and the officers elected unanimously,
The first Council was constituted as follows : Chairman,
General Hatt-Noble;* Treasurer, Mr. Albert A. Head ;*t
Secretary, Rev. John Harford-Battersby ;* J Council,
Mr. Robert Wilson,* Mr. G. S. Wilson,* Revs. E. H.
Hopkins,* Prebendary Webb-Peploe, Hubert Brooke,
Elder Gumming, D.D., C. A. Fox, G. H. C. MacGregor,
F. B. Meyer, E. W. Moore, C. G. Moore, J. Hudson
Taylor, Capt. Tottenham, Mr. Eugene Stock, Mr. Walter
Sloan, § Dr. C. F. Harford-Battersby,** Mrs. Bannister,
Miss Bradshaw, Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Hatt Noble, Miss
Nugent, Mrs. Tottenham.

The Council, thus constituted took up the work and
built upon the foundations already so well and strongly
laid. There was no change of policy. The work pro
ceeded on the lines which had been prayerfully adopted
in the early years.

•Trustees.

tBecame Chairman in 1903 on the death of General Noble.

jNow BattersbyHarford.

§Became Secretary on the resignation of the Rev. T. Battersby
Harford.
**Now C. F. Harford.

The Keswick Convention

The Council has met once every quarter in London
and once (or twice) at Keswick at the time of the Con
vention. The sub-Committees have met in the interims
as often as current business required.*

The work which they have done in the last ten years
may be summed up under the same three heads as before.

I. Missions.

At the first Council meeting held at Keswick an
" Agreement " for speakers at home and missioners abroad
was handed to the Council, on which they have acted
ever since. It ran as follows: "It is understood and
hereby declared that all speakers at the Keswick Conven
tion and at all Conventions carried on in connection
therewith, and all missioners sent forth at the instance of
the Keswick Convention consider themselves pledged (so
far as possible) not to teach during the course of such
Convention or such mission any doctrines or opinions but
those upon which there is general agreement among the
promoters of such Conventions." This statement was
rendered necessary by the fact that in certain cases
doctrines not generally held had been taught by those
who were in other respects accredited teachers of the
Keswick platform, and misunderstanding and distress
had thereby been caused to not a few. It lost us the
services of one or two of our most valued missioners, but
there was nothing else to be done. Only on such lines
can men of different views, but one on fundamental
questions, meet on a common platform.

Under the auspices of the newly constituted Council,
CANADA was visited in 1897 by the Revs. C. Inwood,
John Sloan, and F. S. Webster, and in 1902 by the Revs.
John Brash, W. D. Moffat, and F. S. Webster.

* A revised list of the members of the Council is published each
year in the " Life of Faith" Almanac.

152

The Keswick Mission Council

The REV. CHARLES INWOOD, in 1897, was led to
resign his charge in Ireland and to give himself entirely
to the work of Convention-missions. He remained for
some time in Canada after his colleagues left and then
crossed into the United States and undertook Conven
tions in various parts. In the spring of the next year
he was in Sweden and Germany, and the following
autumn he and his wife went out to China and held Con
ventions in various centres, including one at Chungking,
in Si-chuan. The next cold weather found him in India,
where he spent four months, and on his way home he
did some work in Egypt and Palestine.

The REV. F. B. MEYER, as a representative of Keswick,
though not as a rule seeking any support from the Keswick
Fund, visited America early in 1897, India (in connection
with the Student Volunteer Movement) in 1899, and
Jamaica in 1903.

The Rev. F. Paynter went, at his own charges, to
India in 1900, and almost every year has visited the
Riviera or Clarens, Lausanne, with a party of friends to
hold Conventions.

The Rev. H. B. Macartney went to Jamaica with Mr.
Meyer in 1903 and to South America with Mr. Inwood
in 1904.

Dr. C. F. Harford took short Conventions on the Niger
in 1897.

A remarkable series of four Conventions was held by
the Rev. J. Stuart Holden and Mr. Walter B. Sloan at
the four principal sanatoria in China. They were
attended by about 1,000 missionaries and friends.
Striking testimony was received by the Council to the
extent and reality of the work of grace in all hearts. The
gratitude of those present took the practical form of
thank offerings amounting to £221 towards the good
work. Last year (1906) saw a series of most inter-

153

The Keswick Convention

esting Conventions held in South Africa by a strong
deputation.

II. The following have been added to the list of
missionaries since 1896 : —

Dr. A. C. Hall (1896 Egypt and Soudan. Died 1903).

Dr. G. Whitfield Guinness (1896, China, mercifully
delivered in Boxer rising, 1901).

Miss Evelyn Luce (Honorary, 1897, India).

Rev. T. and Mrs. Walker (C.M.S. Missionaries in
Tinnevelly. Added to List, 1901).

Miss Mary Styles (1903, India, C.E. Zenana
Missionary Society).

Rev. D. H. Dolman (London Society's Missionary to
the Jews at Hamburg. Added 1905).

Miss Victoria Froste (1905, S.A.G.M.).

Mr. A. K. Macpherson, China (1906).

Mr. John Logan, Egypt (1906).

Miss Dorothy Hunnybun, China (1906).

III. Under the head of subsidiary branches of work may
be mentioned the Conventions held annually at Blanken-
berg, Wandsbek, and elsewhere, at which speakers from
Keswick have been warmly welcomed, the annual Con
vention at Clarens, conducted entirely by Keswick friends,
and the remarkable Convention-missions held by the
Rev. T. Walker amongst the Syrian Christians in
Travancore, as well as in Ceylon, Tinnevelly, and N. India.
The Rev. Barclay F. Buxton did much to promote the
movement in Japan.

The Literature sub-Committee have sought to spread
the good news still further by the regular distribution
each week of some 400 to 500 copies of the Life of Faith.

This somewhat dry summary of facts will, I trust,
convey to the reader, who has imagination and can clothe
the skeleton with flesh and blood, some idea of the large
extent of the operations of the Mission Council. Invita-

The Keswick Mission Council

tions come in from all parts of the world. If only we
had a sufficient number of speakers, who could be free
to undertake the work, much more might be done.
There has never been a scarcity of money support. As
it has been needed it has been given. And we are
persuaded that as long as we continue to work in the
line of God's will, and under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, the money will continue to come in.

JOHN BATTERSBY HARFORD.

155

In Other Lands

CHAPTER XIII

(A) By the Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A.

(B) By the Rev. C. Inwood

Now the Lord our souls has fed,
With Himself, the Living Bread ;
Fed us, sitting at His feet,
With the finest of the wheat.

We have endless treasure found ;
We have all things and abound ;
Rich abundance and to spare ;
Shall we not the blessing share ?

For, while we are feasting here,
Starving millions, far and near,
Call us with the bitter cry :
Come and help us, or we die !

In this day of full increase,
Shall we, can we, hold our peace ?
Staying here we do not well ;
Now then, let us go and tell —

Tell how He hath set us free,
How He leads triumphantly ;
How He satisfies our need ;
How His rest is rest indeed.

Speak, for we, Thy servants, hear ;
Thou hast taught us not to fear ;
And whate'er Thy word shall be,
We can do it, Lord, in Thee.

ANNIE W. MARSTON.

In Other Lands*

IT was my happy privilege to attend the now historical
meetings at Oxford in 1874, at Broadlands, and at
Brighton ; and my life has never lost, and I trust will
never lose, the impulse it received from those memorable
gatherings, in which the soul learnt to accept Christ as
the absolute Master of the yielded will, to abide in Him
as the Keeper and Sanctifier. You can never repeat
the exquisite beauty of the morning, the dew on the
grass, the fragrance of the flowers, the song of the bird,
but the light of the dawn grows continually to the perfect
day.

The results of that great movement were much wider
than most people realise. When Mrs. Booth was dying,
she remarked that it had been one of the principal means
of establishing the Salvation Army ; because of the com
pleted consecration and full faith into which many rich
and influential people were brought. On the continent
the results were very wide-spreading. Indeed, a German
theological professor is said to have affirmed that Sancti-
fication by Faith had become largely accepted as a
doctrine of their foremost theologians. Throughout the
world the Oxford-Brighton meetings gave a great impulse
to missionary interprise. This awakened interest made
it as imperative as it was congenial to carry afield to
other lands the blessed tidings of full salvation through
the risen Lord.

159

The Keswick Convention

By Divine guiding I was led to be among the first, if
not the first, to carry the message of Keswick to the
United States. Mr. Moody, when still comparatively
unknown in Great Britain, had held his earliest mission
in 1872, at my church in York. We had come to know
one another intimately — how could it be otherwise when
he, Mr. Sankey, and I had waited together in my little
vestry for hours of intercessory prayer for his great
campaign ? When, therefore, with the proceeds of the
hymn-book and the help of friends, he began to erect that
remarkable block of buildings at Northfield, and when
the idea of the now famous Conferences came to his
mind and heart, he bethought himself of me, and asked
me to come over and help him ; and there, in that sweet
new England village, I unfolded the blessed message of
deliverance from the power of known sin.

Before that time there had been a large amount of
uneasiness among earnest Christians about any teaching
that savoured of sinless perfection. I remember being
cautioned, before my first visit to the States, not to use
the word Holiness, if I desired to commend myself to the
Christian Church, as the word stood for those who, whilst
professing high doctrine, fell notoriously beneath it in
their practice. Several rather terrible cases had occurred
which gave urgency and point to that nervous dread of
anything, which savoured of salvation from sin as dis
tinguished from salvation from punishment. I cannot
forget the antagonism on the one hand of the Perfec
tionists of the old school and the welcome by believers on
the other, as I showed that it was possible to be kept
from known sin ; that, in the best and holiest, there must,
by reason of their ignorance, be many things in which
they came short of the glory of God, and therefore
needed the daily cleansing of John xiii., yet, as they con
tinued in abiding fellowship, they were delivered from

160

In Other Lands

the fear of known sin, and walked with Him in Holiness
and Righteousness all the days of their life.

In all this, Dr. Gordon, of Boston, one of the most
child-like and massive men that I have ever known, was
my faithful friend and ally. He had drunk deeply into
the literature of our movement, and was a most able
exponent of its secrets. We had long and profound
talks on these themes, and it was delightful to have
access to the treasures of his richly-furnished intellect.
Thus the system of truth, for which Keswick stands,
became introduced to an ever-widening circle of ministers
and others, who not only received it for themselves, but
became its exponents to their congregations. Year after
year I have returned to visit the greater centres of
population, on tours arranged by Mr. Moody, and, since
his death, by his son.

Two of the most memorable of these meetings occur to
me as I write, the one of a great crowd of ministers
gathered in a large auditorium one Monday morning,
when the Spirit of God descended upon us, whilst I was
speaking of the Power and Anointing of the Holy Ghost.
The other was in a glade of an old Indian forest in the
Far West, where 150 Presbyterian ministers, after
satisfying themselves as to the orthodoxy of our main
position, yielded themselves for God to work through
them as He willed. But I must forbear, or I could fill
these pages with accounts of wonderful scenes which I
have witnessed, among other places, in Philadelphia,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and New York. The
point in each case being that into a yielded life there
comes not only the keeping power of the exalted Saviour,
but the mighty energy of the Holy Spirit, who works in
us and through us for the glory of Christ and the salvation
of men.

161

The Keswick Convention

It was also my happy lot to be invited by my beloved
friend, Fraulein von Welling, to be the first Englishman
to visit the Blankenburg Convention, held in a lovely
village among the pine-covered hills of Thuringia,
Germany. Those who crowd the beautiful new hall on
the slope of the hill can hardly imagine the simplicity of
the early beginnings, when the meetings were held in the
school-house, just beneath the level of the Terrace. The
dear lady herself was my interpreter, and it was a perfect
luxury to address the pious German folk through her
lips ; indeed, with her beside me, translation rather added
to the force of the message, for in the mouth of two wit
nesses every word was established. These addresses
were subsequently published and widely circulated,
carrying far and wide the message of Full Salvation, and
led afterwards to my holding a series of Conferences in
German cities, culminating in some glorious meetings in
Berlin, arranged by our friend Count Bernstorff, now
with God.

In many of these I have had the fellowship of my
beloved friend, Pastor Stockmayer, who was one of the
German Pastors at the early meetings in England. Few
can speak more forcibly about that crucifixion with
Christ, which is the very heart and essence of our teach
ing ; and it seems to me that of all men living, he most
perfectly exemplifies the strength and nobility of a life
hidden with Christ in God.

# # #

One of the most memorable expeditions of my life was
to Jamaica, at the invitation of the leaders of the
Holiness Convention, held annually in that Island.
Shall I ever forget those meetings ? My wife, grandson,
and I were welcomed on arrival by the Archbishop to
his palace. With such a greeting from such a man the
way was opened to the Rev. H. B. Macartney and my-

162

In Other Lands

self through the whole island, and godly clergymen
allowed us both to speak in their churches. Mr.
Macartney was able to ascend the pulpits, but I spoke
from the lecterns, and everything was done to assure us
of the welcome of all branches of the one church. The
outstanding feature of that Mission was the remarkable
series of men's meetings, which I addressed in each
place. Crowds came to them from all parts, and were
profoundly impressed, because they were not merely
reminded of the shame and selfishness of immorality, but
were shown the true method of salvation from the love
and power of sin through faith in Christ. There are no
occasions when the teaching associated with Keswick is
so opportune and welcome as those where large meetings
of men are swept by a storm of remorse, and revived by
the tidings that in the Risen Saviour there is not only
forgiveness but power unto salvation. Let me not forget
the Convention at Mandeville, — i.e., in the Episcopal
Church there — one of the sweetest of my experience.
They say that the fragrance lingers still.

•* •* •*

Through the northern countries of Europe, Denmark,
Russia, Norway, and Sweden, I have been also honoured
to carry the same good tidings of great joy. In Copen
hagen, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Christiania, and
Helsingfors, to say nothing of smaller towns, I have seen
marvellous effects accrue. For instance, one Sunday
morning, as I was preaching in a crowded church, in a
country district in Norway, I felt that my translator was
making but a poor reproduction of the message, and
threw my whole weight on the co-operation of the Holy
Spirit, when suddenly there was poured out on the people
such a spirit of uncontrollable emotion that I could not
proceed, and had to conclude by a season of silent prayer,
in which I quoted Scripture passages on the Forgiving

The Keswick Convention

Grace and Sanctifying Power of God. It was on one of
these visits that I was honoured by an interview with her
Majesty the Queen of Sweden, who is a devout student
of the books which are current among the attendants at
our Conventions.

* •& #•

At the invitation of the Student Volunteers I spent
several months in India travelling from Bombay, through
the Punjab, Benares, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Calcutta
to Burmah, thence through Madras and Tinnevelly to
Ceylon. The leading feature in that journey \vas the
welcome given to this teaching by the more educated
native Christians. Apparently very few of them had
heard, at that time at least, of the subjective aspects of
Christianity, and they were amazed when they heard
of the reckoning ourselves dead unto sin. They used to
compare this with the teachings of Hinduism, which
insist on, I think, seven different aspects of death to
sin ; but the fatal lack of their system, as I repeatedly
pointed out to them, was in the absence of power.
They needed to recognise the Power of the Holy Spirit.

* * *

Thus I have tried this teaching under different skies,
and to different types of men. I have never found the
word of the Cross fail ; and in the eagerness with
which it has been received, I have received fresh proof
that in the subject-matter of this teaching we are using
the wisdom and the power of God.

F. B. MEYER.

164

FIFTEEN years ago I was returning from England.
In the train God drew near and flung over my soul
a spell which isolated me as completely as if there
were no other person near. Waves of grace broke over
me and thrilled me with holy joy. Then came a stillness
in which a secret was whispered in my ear. It was that
God meant me to proclaim full salvation to the ends of
the earth. It was all so clear and calm and real that
doubt was impossible. From a human point of view
nothing was less likely. I had never been to Keswick,
but I knew that He who called would open the door at
the right time and in the right way. What was prophecy
then is history now.

CANADA.

Eight months later I was asked to visit Canada in com
pany with the Revs. Hubert Brooke and G. H. C.
Macgregor. We reached New York in April, and went to
Northfield to see Mr. Moody, and at his request ad
dressed the students at Northfield and Mount Hermon.
Our first Convention was at Montreal, where much mis
conception prevailed as to our status and teaching. The
first report in the daily papers was headed " Keswick
Brethren," and many thought this was a new sect or
branch of the Plymouth Brethren. From the first we
had large congregations, two of our most sympathetic
auditors being Bishop Bond, late Metropolitan of Canada,
and blind Dr. Douglas, the most distinguished preacher
in the Dominion. Day by day the interest and power
grew : hunger for this deeper life was discovered every
where, and on the last day many received the Fulness of

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the Spirit. In Hamilton we had a hard fight. We were
quite ignorant of local conditions, but He who knew sent
a burning message to the opening meeting. It aroused
fierce antagonism but we learned afterwards that God
had used it to free the very men who most resented it at
first. The Toronto Convention was held in the Y.M.C.A.
Hall which seats 2,000 and was crowded each night. The
illness of Mr. Brooke was a trial to Macgregor and my
self, for we were leaning upon the experience and teaching
gift of our colleague, but we cast ourselves upon God who
met all our need. The vast congregations were swept by
the Spirit into a new zone of life. From this we went to
Chicago Bible Institute. Our work was chiefly amongst
the students, and they were very responsive. Mr.
Alexander — Dr. Torrey's colleague — was then a student
there, and told me recently of the great help he received.
I have met other students in foreign lands who spoke of
the spiritual uplift received then.

ANOTHER CALL

from God came four years later in the quiet of my study
in Belfast. There were many difficulties, and my action
was much misunderstood, but the call was clear and at all
costs to be obeyed. Three years leave of absence was
granted. I revisited Canada with Revs. John Sloan and
F. S. Webster. Conventions were held in the chief
centres and with much blessing : we reaped most where
seed had been sown four years before. After my
colleagues left I visited other centres in Canada, and then
joined Dr. Pierson at Boston and Brooklyn. One
incident may be recalled. A letter affecting my plans was
overdue, so I went to Ottawa to await its arrival. There
I met Moody who was holding a mission. He recognised
me in the service and said : — " What are you doing
here ? " I told him, and he said " God has sent that letter

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In Other Lands

astray." After his address he said he must leave next
day, and that I would carry on the mission. Protest
was useless, so I went forward, and the grace which
rested upon us proved that this ordering was of God.

EUROPE.

I began to preach through interpretation in Stockholm.
How strange that first attempt seemed, the short sentence,
the pause, the strange voice and stranger words, the rapid
mental action, the seeming folly of hoping to impart con
nected teaching under such conditions. But life is a
continual reversal of preconceived ideas and that method
which seemed so useless has been attended by the
mightiest displays of the Spirit's power I have known.
Oh how the spirit brooded over those gatherings ! The
hunger created was intense, the stillness at times was
almost more than one could bear. Before me as I write
are protraits of Prince and Princess Bernadotte with a
text and a date which recall one night when they and many
more claimed the promised gift. Nor were the meetings
in Germany less fruitful.

CHINA.

At the request of the Keswick Council I agreed to
visit China in 1898. No other year was so full of
needs and tests, and none other was so transfigured
with grace. The word "China" wears an aureole of
glory ever since. Crossing the Pacific my wife was
seized with alarming illness, and one night appeared to be
dying. A little before midnight I went up on deck for
prayer. The night was dark and the sound of the waves
lent an added loneliness to the situation. I told God that
I did not believe He had brought us there to slay my
loved one. The logic of Manoah's wife took hold of me,
and became mine. " If the Lord were pleased to kill us
He would not have accepted our burnt offering." Then

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came the assurance that she would not die, and from that
hour she began to recover.

My first work was in North China. During the service
in the native Church in Tungchou the impression was borne
in upon me that some of the Christians present would
have to lay down their lives for the Lord and I told them
so, and dwelt much on the power by which they could
glorify God as martyrs. A solemn awe fell upon us. The
scene passed from my memory till June, 1900. One
morning my paper contained the news of the massacre of
the Christians at Tungchou and like a flash of lightning
that service came back to me with its message and its awe.
In Pekin, meetings for native Christians were held each
afternoon, and each night a quiet hour for the mission
aries. The afternoon meetings began in the London
Mission Church, but the large numbers compelled us to
move to the Methodist Episcopal Church which seated
1, 600 where a real work of grace was wrought in
many hearts. A united Communion service was held on
Saturday, and for the first time in Pekin 1,100 native
Christians sat down at the Lord's table, and He whom
they loved drew very near to all. None of us then knew
that many of them would prove the reality of their love by
laying down their lives for Him.

Our second tour was to the extreme west of China,
1, 600 miles up the Yangtse. En route we held meetings
at Hankou where we met the veteran Griffith John,
The native Christians showed intense interest and came
long distances to the meetings. Each Church was
crowded, and the spirit in which the Word was received
touched us deeply. In a meeting of native pastors and
workers the Spirit wrought mightily, and the prayers
which followed trembled with broken-hearted confession
and longing for holier service. The Ichang steamer leaves
Hankou every ten days. When we applied for tickets

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In Other Lands

we learned that Lord Charles Beresford had chartered
the steamer for himself and suite. We were bound for
the Conference in Chungking and could not reach in time
by a later steamer, so we had special prayer. The steamer
was to leave on Monday afternoon. That morning a note
came to say that Lord Charles had changed his plan
and would not go farther west and that the cabins were at
our disposal. The steamer had been painted and
decorated and beautifully polished for him, but, as my
wife told the Captain, the Lord meant it for us. From
Ichang we travelled in a Chinese junk in company with
Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Taylor. The distance is only four
hundred miles, but we were five weeks on the way. We
passed through gorges, where the mountains rise sheer up
from the river 1,000 feet, then through rapids where
more than once our boat was in great peril. Upwards of
seventy missionaries met in Chungking including Bishop
Cassels. The UMantze rebellion was raging. Fleming,
the first missionary to the Miao had just been murdered.
Thirty missionaries were absent through the disturbed
condition of the West. One who came was attacked on
his way home and narrowly escaped death. We often
heard the ominous cry : " Kill the foreigner." But in the
conference there was no bitterness — no fear — nothing but
faith, hope, and love, and a resolute purpose to do and
dare that the heathen might know the Saviour. " Great
grace rested on us." Then two months were given to
South China. Here we found the same desire to know
the truth. A native pastor in Swatow took copious notes
of the addresses, and issued them in a booklet which was
widely circulated. In Foochow we had a daily attend
ance of 1,000 Chinese, including the teachers and students
from a heathen college. These meetings were swept with
the tides of the spirit. The native Christians ac
companied us to the boat, and as we sailed, sang in

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Chinese, " God be with you till we meet again." The
closing Mission was in Shanghai. The largest native
Churches were crowded, and many were wondrously
blessed. At the last English service the veteran, Dr.
Muirhead arose, and with tears streaming down his face
thanked God for what he had seen. He said he had
wronged the native Christians in supposing they were not
ready for these deeper truths.

INDIA.

In November of the same year I sailed to India, My
itinerary formed a triangle with Bombay and Calcutta as
its base and Amritsar as its apex. In three months,
Missions were held in thirteeen centres. The conditions
of life in India differ widely from China. The climate,
the centuries of oppression, the system of caste and the
heathen religions have robbed the natives of that imperial
strength of character which marks the Chinese. Then
the missionary belongs to the governing race, and is
looked upon as a representative of the ruling power. All
this helps to make India the hardest mission field in the
world. I did not find as keen hunger here. There were
hungry souls in every place. There were hungry congre
gations in some places and " there the Lord commanded
the blessing." It was also a joy to help the over
worked missionaries who are toiling under such onerous
conditions. These conditions weigh heavily upon them
and strengthen their claim upon our prayers.

EGYPT.

A few weeks were given to Egypt on my way home. I
saw in Assiout a Missionary College with seven hundred
students, and a native church capable of holding 1,500
persons. I can hardly say which moved me most — the
eager students with all that their future might mean

170

In Other" Lands

much for the regeneration of Egypt and the Sudan, or the
eager crowds of native Christians who gathered day by
day to hear of their inheritance of Jesus Christ.

SOUTH AMERICA.

The Rev. H. B. Macartney and I went in 1904 to what
is rightly called the " Neglected Continent." Nominally
Christian its degradation equals that of any heathen land.
Much of our work lay amongst the English speaking
churches, but in each place some meetings were held for
the native Christians. Outside the missionaries few
Europeans were eager for personal holiness. The pursuit
of pleasure and gain is so keen that all higher things are
persistently pushed aside. This was not true of the
native Churches. Here we found real appreciation, and
a devout receptiveness to the truth.

SOUTH AFRICA.

My colleagues were Revs. Harrington Lees and E. L.
Hamilton and J. S. Holden, whose health broke down,
and compelled him to return home. We did not touch
native work, nor much that was exclusively Dutch. Life
in South Africa is very strenuous. Racial prejudice is
strong, economic conditions are perplexing, the late war
has left much human wreckage, and spiritual religion has
to struggle for existence in many Churches. But the
truth we preached found an entrance into many hearts,
and to-day there are men and women following trans
figured ideals as the result of the Spirit's work in our
midst. From many we heard this testimony : — " The
thirst of years has been satisfied at last."

CONCLUSION.

The Keswick message both in spirit and form appeals to
the devout in all churches and all lands. That message,

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uttered in love, and the sympathy which love creates, is
the supreme need everywhere, and in every land the best
hail it. Race, language, backward civilisations are no
barriers to the Spirit. May God send a world-wide
Pentecost.

C. INWOOD.

172

The Effect on the Individual
Ministry

CHAPTER XIV

By the Rev. Harrington C, Lees, M.A.

My glorious Victor, Prince Divine,
Clasp these surrendered hands in Thine ;
At length my will is all Thine own,
Glad vassal of a Saviour's throne.

My Master, lead me to Thy door ;
Pierce this now willing ear once more :
Thy bonds are freedom ; let me stay
With Thee, to toil, endure, obey.

Yes, ear and hand, and thought and will,
Use all in Thy dear slav'ry still !
Self s weary liberties I cast
Beneath Thy feet ; there keep them fast.

Tread them still down ; and then I know,
These hands shall with Thy gifts o'erflow ;
And pierced ears shall hear the tone
Which tells me Thou and I are one.

H. C. G. MOULE, D.D.,

Bishop of Durham.

The Effect on the Individual Ministry

IT is difficult for one who owes much to a movement
to write dispassionately about it. But attachment
is not necessarily a disqualification. Detachment
has its gains, it has also its losses. The astronomer in
writing of the nature and movement of the planets has
the advantage of being an outside observer. He notes
their orbits, perhaps their eccentricities ; he marks their
waxing or waning brilliance. But much is lost to him
through distance, and sometimes whole tracts are never
seen by him at all. The travelled geographer, on the
other hand, writes of our earth, not as an outsider, it is
true, but with a vital acquaintance with its features. He
has bathed in its rivers, revelled in its sunshine, refreshed
himself with its fruits, gained inspiration from its vistas.
And so, if he, who pens these lines, writes with the bias
of filial relationship, yet he has thereby one qualification
for a true description and appreciation of the movement
which others have not, who, in some sense, have been out
siders to what is conveniently termed the Keswick School.
If, however, the keenest critics of" Keswick" have been
found in the ranks of the ministry, it is also happily true
that the most grateful testimonies to its helpfulness have
come from the same quarter. " These people have found
a way of linking Pentecost with the Sermon on the

The Keswick Convention

Mount." The witness comes from the north of the
Tweed, and from the lips of a theologian, who differs con
siderably in religious standpoint from the views associated
with the Keswick platform. " Keswick stands for what
is most spiritual in the religious life of to-day." The
words are taken not from the " Life of Faith," but from
one of the best known organs of the High Anglican
Party a few years ago. Indeed the effects produced by
the Convention movement upon the life of the Christian
Church at large will scarcely be challenged by any thinker,
who has seriously studied the religious currents of the
past three decades. Perhaps two main positions may be
instanced, one social, one theological.

First, amid the clash of creeds and strife of sects
it has been found possible, under the banner whose tran-
quilising motto is " All one in Christ Jesus," for men to
forget their religious differences in their spiritual union,
and to demonstrate to the world that the " Unity of the
Spirit" is a practical fact. It has been the unhappy fate
of some religious movements, while aiming at a new bond
of union, to throw down a fresh apple of discord, and to
add one more to the already over-numerous sub-divisions
in the army of the Great King. Keswick has founded
no new denomination, nor has it weakened any of the
old ones. It has to a singular extent been kept free of the
fanaticism that makes for secessions from one church to
another. It has sought to pour oil upon the hearth-stones
of all the churches and cold water on none. Its aim has
been to send back Church members, who have been
brought into touch with new possibilities, to impart new
vitality to their old circles.

Secondly, Keswick has stood not only for' the primary
evangelical truth of justification by faith as its founda
tion, but also for a resolute witness to the possibility of a
life of holiness, entered and maintained by faith in a living

The Effect on the Individual Ministry

Christ, through the power of an indwelling Holy Spirit.
And indeed, the Church and the ministry have need of
such a satisfying witness. There is no heart hunger like
that of the unsatisfied minister of Christ. If he be con
scious of failure in the inner walk of his personal life, or
awakened to a realisation of spiritual powerlessness in
public ministry, he is still obliged by the exigencies of his
clerical routine to go on, hungry or not. There are
scores of such unwritten agonies known only to God ; the
dull, dogged performance of duty by diligent men, con
scious all the time that they have missed the true secret
of the truths they preach, and often envying the humble
souls, who, from time to time, receive blessing from their
ministrations. It is the old story of the slaves in the
book of Job — " Being an-hungred they carry the sheaves ;
they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst " (Job xxiv.
10, n, R.V.), pining for hunger with bread in their arms,
and fainting for thirst with invigorating streams beneath
their feet.

We sometimes forget that upon the minister of Christ
are concentrated some of the deadliest temptations in the
arsenal of Satan. If, in our recent war, the wily foe
picked off the officers in order to demoralise the ranks,
can we doubt that the subtle tempter will see that the
leaders in the spiritual war are exposed to a deadly fire ?

The temptation to put ambition in place of zeal for
God, or even to admit self-advancement as a parallel
motive with the expansion of Christ's Kingdom — the
temptation to attempt mere brilliance of rhetoric in place
of a divine message prayerfully sought and plainly
delivered, " Half an hour in which to raise the dead,"
as Ruskin says — the temptation to secularize our high
and holy calling by useless travesties of the methods of
the music-hall, or more common still, to mentalise the
spiritual, letting the concert outweigh the Bible-class, or

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The Keswick Convention

the lecture oust the prayer-meeting, in relative import
ance — to look merely at numerical triumphs in attend
ance at meetings, forgetting that with God quality stands
first, and quantity second — to work for schedules and
reports to the neglect of that quiet unreported dealing
with souls which defies tabulation, on this side Heaven's
gate at least — to get full pews and send hearers away
with their deepest needs unsatisfied, perhaps unawakened
— to live practically on the lines of the programme once
shamelessly unfolded before a minister of Christ by a
Church officer: " A clergyman's business is to please his
people, and to make the place pay" — to permit private,
personal laxity in duty, and even moral rectitude, as a
kind of self-fixed compensation for a life wholly spent in
public religious work — to let the harass of life's onward
rush drown holy, yet familiar intercourse with the Lord
— as one busy religious leader said of the holy life his
cause professed : " I cannot live it myself, I am too busy,
but my family do " — to wander after the latest will-o'-the-
wisps in theoretic theology, until the supernatural is
almost entirely eliminated from the spiritual horizon —
the bare enumeration of these possibilities is enough to
startle many a man, who in candid honesty before God,
commences to cast up his spiritual accounts to see how
he stands, recalling, as he must, how often the points
indicated have been not only battle-grounds, but places
of defeat.

And here, one of the first aims of " Keswick " provides
a real message for the seeker after soul-health, urging
each one to be frank before God in admitting spiritual
lack of condition. It cannot be denied that for many
a fairly successful clergyman or minister, the first result
of the Keswick message has been " a horror of great
darkness," " not peace, but a sword." Yet who that has
gone through such an experience would dare to have been

The Effect on the Individual Ministry

without it ? Admitting that the standard stated was
high, was it more than Christ has always demanded ? If
the shock of realising how far below it we had fallen was
terrible, were we not bound to rise to the standard, rather
than attempt to lower it to our experimental level? If
we cried " Woe is me," were we not able also to say,
" I saw the Lord." Better face the "eyes of His glory "
now and let Him deal with the defects, than come
ashamed before His presence in the great and inevitable
Day.

Unquestionably, " Keswick " has been an untold help
to many a minister in leading him to "get right with
God." The very atmosphere helps. To be apart
before God for several days, in which all else is laid aside
save thinking and learning of the conditions of fellowship
with the unseen Master, is a pathway of blessing to the
over-driven worker. There is no parade of oratory, but
deep in the heart of the speaker calls to deep in the heart
of the hearer, and awakes a responsive echo. The Spirit
of God broods in blessing here, where men come to
surrender what parts them from their God, and separates
them from their neighbour ; and similar spiritual results
are seen, wherever like conditions are reproduced. Bible
ideals begin to appear as divine possibilities, — Alps to be
attempted, not stars to be admired. God's promises are
seen to be cheques which have been cashed by others
before, and can be cashed by us to-day. And this again
is a distinctive truth which has helped many, — the possi
bility of a present entrance into a life of blessing. The
student becomes aware of the spiritual significance of the
aorist tense in the programme of holiness. He has
perhaps been living rather aimlessly in the progressive
present, hoping sometime and somehow to emerge into a
new experience of quickened spirituality ; and possibly
Seton Merriman's epigram has been applicable in his

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The Keswick Convention

case : — " The world can find no fault, but God can find
no fruit." Now his attention is suddenly called to divine
finger-posts, which claim a present decision and an
instant choice. If "ye were justified" (i Cor. vi. n), is
a phrase which conveys a restful assurance to the soul as
marking a definite transition from guilt to acquittal ;
then also " Ye were sanctified " indicates a no less
definite step, to be taken now, if never before, and
enjoyed henceforward. Such phrases as " Yield your
selves," " yield your members," " present your bodies,"
" sanctify you wholly" (Rom. vi. 13, 19, xii. i ; i Thess.
v. 23) are seen to be not only incentives to a process of
sanctification, but if tenses mean anything, the words
mark " a crisis with a view to a process," — to borrow the
Bishop of Durham's happy definition. It is absolutely
imperative that spiritual dislocations should be adjusted
before there can be growrth and progress (cf. KaropnVet
i Pet. v. 10)

The doctrinal standpoint of " Keswick " lies outside the
scope of this chapter, but a few lines of special helpfulness
in its teaching are in place here.

(i) The Keswick message promises victory in the life. Few
things are so deadening to the inner life of a minister of
Christ as the consciousness of periodic defeat. Repeated
failure in the face of temptation is apt to bring about an
almost sullen resignedness to what is falsely said to be in
evitable. So " Keswick " insists upon the reliability of
God's promises of conquest, and the possibilities of
cleansing in heart and thought, of a keeping power by
which Christ transforms the will and transfigures the life.
Faith lays hold of the risen Saviour and triumphs in
Him — not vauntingly indeed, but in the spirit of St. Paul:
" I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby
justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord" (i Cor.
iv. 4) — humbly conscious of a real freedom from former

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The Effect on the Individual Ministry

bondage, yet also sure that God's holy eyes still find
much to alter.

(2) The Keswick message promises rest in the heart. Its
" quietism " is not a gospel of quiescence. The harassed
worker learns not to work less but to trust more ; he
transfers his burden and learns that worry is among the
forbidden things (Psa. xxxvii., Matt, vi., Phil, iv.) He
casts his anxiety upon Christ once for all (i Pet. v. 7,
note the aorist), and finds, as Dean Alford truly says,
" None need arise if the transference has been properly
made." Christ does not remove the stress of work, but
He does relieve the strain of worry.

(3) The Keswick message promises power for service. The
filling of the Holy Spirit is shown to be a possibility for
the weakest. He is the agent, we are His tools, with the
added joy that we are conscious and willing instruments.
His power is humbly claimed, His voice obeyed, His
presence enjoyed. Again and again, in the sacred record
of spiritual experience at Keswick have men of proved
ability and worth in the Church of God, admitted the
access of power which has come to their life and ministry
through a personal experience of the filling of the Holy
Ghost.

Now when the honest seeker after these blessings comes
to recognise that the first conditions of enjoying them are
a definite surrender of all known sin, or doubtful habit,
denial of self in its many subtle forms, and an absolute
pledge of obedience to the will of Christ, he often finds an
amazing unwillingness to take the steps. He is aston
ished, perhaps shocked, at the revelation of self, but it is
there facing him. The thought of Christ as Sovereign is
not new, but the actual application is startingly practical ;
and while some resent, others shrink, from the logical
consequences of the discovery. Said a clergyman to the
present writer a few years ago : " I have come up to the

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The Keswick Convention

brink again and again, and have shrunk back, saying,
* the waters are too deep.' ' Deep they are, thank God,
bat waters to swim, not drown in, waters in which self is
carried off its feet and supported by a power not its own
while yet free to act as a willing agent.

And for those who will bend to this Divine claim there
is a real benediction. " The fellowship of the Holy
Ghost " is a phrase which acquires new meaning in a life
yielded in consecration and maintained by faith. " The
Lord has been here to-night," I said to a brother minister
at a Convention held in a Colonial capital not many
months ago. " Yes," was the reply, " and He has been
here before, but this time I think He has come to stay."

It is not claimed that these are new doctrines — still
less that " Keswick" holds any monopoly in light. They
are New Testament truths, and universal lights, and
wherever acted upon have been harbingers of blessing.

But God has been pleased in these gatherings to seal
with His blessing the emphasising of truths too often
forgotten. And from the hallowed atmosphere of the
tent in that little lake-side town, men have gone forth,
who were wearied, and are now at peace, who were
defeated, and now triumph in the Lord, who were power
less, and now see God's might manifested in their work.
Their churches have gained a new minister, faulty still,
fallible ever, but one who humbly substitutes for the old
" I cannot," the triumphant "I can do all things in Him

that strengtheneth me."

HARRINGTON C. LEES.

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Clergy and Ministers
at Keswick

CHAPTER 2 XV

By the Rev. Canon A. E. Barnes"
Lawrence, M.A.

Let me come closer to Thee, Jesus ;

Oh, closer day by day !
Let me lean harder on Thee, Jesus,

Yes, harder all the way.

Let me show forth Thy beauty, Jesus,

Like sunshine on the hills ;
Oh, let my lips pour forth Thy sweetness

In joyous, sparkling rills !

Yes, like a fountain, precious Jesus,

Make me and let me be ;
Keep me and use me daily, Jesus,

For Thee, for only Thee.

In all my heart and will, O Jesus,

Be altogether King !
Make me a loyal subject, Jesus,

To Thee in everything.

Thirsting and hungering for Thee, Jesus,

With blessed hunger here,
Longing for home on Zion's mountain —

No thirst, no hunger there.

From "LLANTHONY ABBEY HYMNS.'

Clergy and Ministers at Keswicfc

IT was inevitable from the outset that a sober and
thoughtful movement for the promotion of practical
holiness should attract the special attention of
ministers generally. The Convention at Keswick was,
to start with, a clerical foundation ; it was the direct out
come, as an earlier chapter has shown, of the deep
spiritual impression made by the Oxford gathering of
1874 upon the Vicar of St. John's, Keswick. The message
from God that had illuminated his own soul and trans
formed his ministry was one that he naturally felt con
strained to pass on. No one could have anticipated the
result of the first little conference in 1875, but for thirty-
two years there has been an ever-increasing number of
ordained men coming to Keswick.

It is a matter for regret that the Keswick Convention
has never succeeded in claiming from English Non
conformity quite the same regard that it has certainly
won from Evangelical Churchmen. This has certainly
not been due to any fault of the Management. Some of
the most valued speakers year by year have been Free
Churchmen. The motto, "All one in Christ Jesus,"
which faces all who enter the Tents has been joyously
observed both in the spirit and the letter, and the
brotherly intercourse both of the platform and of the
visitors has been an invariable feature of each Conven
tion. From Scotland, and particularly from the Scotch

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The Keswick Convention

ministers, the response to the Trustees' invitation has
been increasingly cordial. Theology, a duty in England,
has always been a passion in Scotland. It was well
nigh incredible to a well-equipped Presbyterian divine
that he could learn anything of the Sacred Science south
of the Tweed. But the early adhesion and support of
the Rev. Dr. Elder Cumming, of Glasgow, a man of
recognised authority in the Councils of the Established
Church, and later, that of two Free Churchmen, the Rev.
Geo. H. C. Macgregor, the widely-known young minister
of the East Church, Aberdeen, and the Rev. Dr. John
Smith, of Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh, a scholar
of established reputation, removed prejudice ; and year
by year the number of Scotch ministers crossing the
Border has steadily increased. To these must be added
representatives of the Reformed Churches on the
Continent, of whom Pasteur Theodore Monod, of Paris,
and Pasteur Stockmayer, of Switzerland, were probably
the best known. From the United States came at
different times Mr. Moody, whose evangelistic labours had
stirred England and Scotland about the time of the founda
tion of the Keswick Convention, Dr. Torrey, Dr. Pierson,
and others. Indeed, it is nothing more than truth to say
that from every part of the world where there is a
Protestant Church or missionary work, ordained men have
travelled to our shores for the express purpose of attend
ing a Convention. What if curiosity has sometimes
been the dominant motive ? The ministerial mind is
nothing if it is not critical; a quick scent for heresy is
surely part of a complete clerical equipment, and to " spy
out the land " a primary duty of orthodoxy ? We are
free to admit that from the Keswick platform have been
heard at times statements not true to the sacred balance
of Holy Scripture. The presentation of one glorious
side of truth may easily lend itself to exaggeration, nay, to

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Clergy and Ministers at Keswick

positive error. Principles must be judged by practice,
and these have not always been counterparts. But this
is true not only of Keswick. To condemn a great
spiritual movement because of occasional lapses would be
to condemn every Church and indeed every Christian.
Much more wonderful, we venture to think, than such
errors, which after all are " accidental," not essential, to
Keswick, is the way in which the Convention has been
guarded and kept through a whole generation on lines that
are at once sober and Scriptural. At no time have its
leaders laid special claim to inerrancy, and, as men
desirous above all things to be taught of God, they have
ever welcomed candid brotherly criticism, basing itself
upon any legitimate interpretation of Scripture.

But there is another class of visitor to Keswick ; men
who go there far removed from any disposition to
criticise, but with a great thirst at their hearts and eager
to learn. " I spent a long time," said one of these to the
present writer, " in preaching the simple Gospel to a
large artisan congregation ; God blessed the message to
the conversion of many, but I then found myself without
any further message ; I had nothing to say to them, and
I went to Keswick with honest heart that I might be
taught what to say and how to say it."

We are free to confess to some degree of envy of the
clerical brother who greets us at the familiar crowded
station platform at Keswick with the information that it
is his first visit to a Convention. The recollection of our
own first visit has not faded with the course of years, and
it is pleasant to think of that blessed experience as
repeating itself again in the new-comer. He has come
probably from some noisy crowded parish, where heart
and brain have been overtaxed, into one of the fairest spots
on earth, whose quietness and beauty steal into his being
almost as a spiritual, rather than physical, refreshment.

The Keswick Convention

It is a fact, pregnant with significance, that from the
very dawn of history matter has ministered to the
religious development of spirit. Long before the imma
nence of God in nature was discussed it was realised.
That an occasional Lucretius is unconscious of such an
influence merely conduces to prove the rule. Who can
forget standing, it may be on the evening of arrival, near
the resting-place of Canon and Mrs. Harford-Battersby
in St. John's Churchyard and gazing upon Derwent-
water, its islands, its wooded borders climbing up into
green hills, the whole fair scene bathed in the glory of
the setting sun ? Or who, as the dew of the summer
night fell and the stars began to move along the edges of
the hills, has strolled forth into the silence alone but has
heard the voice of the everlasting hills speaking peace to
his soul ? Amongst the ministries of matter, its service
to religion is pre-eminently the chiefest, and it is part of
our Heavenly Father's goodness that the message of the
Keswick platform is so supplemented and confirmed by
the message of the place itself.

Let us follow then in thought a cleric of devout
mind who for the first time has come to Keswick,
prepared to find fault, but for the moment is withholding
his judgment. It is 7 a.m., and he finds himself within one
of the great Tents at the first of the early Prayer-
meetings. He will probably confess that the experience
is totally new to him. At that early hour, and on
perhaps a wet morning, he was not prepared to find at
least two thousand worshippers gathered to seek God's
blessing on the day. He cannot fail to be struck by the
quiet tone, the subdued fervency, the heartfelt Amen that
marks the close of the prayers, praise and thanksgivings
that are led from the platform. Our friend is " convinced
of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his
heart made manifest, and so he will worship God and report

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Clergy and Ministers at Keswkk

that God is in you of a truth." On leaving he will notice
streams of people coming from the other Tent, and he
will learn with surprise that another Prayer-meeting as
largely attended as his own has been held with special
reference to the Mission field. If we are not greatly mis
taken, it is these early Prayer-meetings through the week
that break down prejudice and prepare the way for days
of blessing.

We cannot attempt to follow in detail the rest of an
average Keswick day. The Bible Readings will probably
strike our visitor most ; the flood of melody as the hymn
is taken up by the great assembly is impressive enough,
but more so the sudden hush and expectant quietness
that falls upon the Tent as the speaker rises to expound
some familiar Scripture. It is a new experience to our
cleric to notice thousands of intelligent listeners, many ot
them skilled teachers, following with open Bibles and
notebooks a simple exposition enforced by homely
pointed illustration. He will notice that there is nothing
of "platform eloquence," it would be out of place;
nothing of laboured argument, it would be destructive.
The truth is that the speaker facing this vast expectant
throng is chiefly conscious of his impotence; the careful
preparation, the previous prayer, and even previous
usefulness in the same place do not suffice the need. It
is not the messenger who counts here, but the message ;
the speaker knows it, and for that message he is simply cast
back upon God. Now the visitor, if a cleric such
as we have in view, soon gets in touch with the speaker,
he enters as no ordinary layman can into the secrets of
his soul ; he is en rapport, he is sympathetic. And
that is a great gain, for sympathy sometimes passes
into introspection : " Why cannot I preach like that
at home ? Why do my best sermons awake so languid an
interest ? Why are my people not keen like these ? " He

The Keswick Convention

entered the tent prepared to criticize the speaker, he
leaves it criticizing himself.

It is in some such way as this that many a minister of
Christ at Keswick has become conscious of his own lack :
" It was not the address, certainly not ; there was really
nothing new in it, and I should have treated that last
point quite differently myself; but there was something,
an undefinable power, that seemed to probe the verv
heart of us, and leave us naked under the eyes of God."
Such a testimony is not unfrequent, and it carries its own
imprimatur.

One of the special features of the Conventions for
years past have been the Ministers' Meetings. These
are informal gatherings in a small Hall; a hymn is
followed by prayer, and then the speaker rises at once.
The address is simple, pointed, homely ; it presses home
the fact that to yield to any evil tendency of our nature,
however deep-rooted, is sin, that sin means separation
from God, that separation from God means ministerial
failure. A minister speaking to his brethren gathered
for the purpose is wont to lay bare his own soul, to tell
his own spiritual experience. Perhaps on no occasion is
the presence of the Spirit of God more manifest than in
these unpretentious gatherings. The secrets of hearts
are disclosed ; sins of temper, of ministerial unfaithful
ness, of pulpit pride, of worldly ambition cloaked by the
garb of devotion, are seen in the light of God's coun
tenance. Men are broken down under the sense of
personal sin and of ministerial failure. One wrote: "I
have been searched through and through, and bared and
exposed and scorched by God's searching Spirit.* Such
a process is of course preliminary only. Keswick stands
for a positive message, and that message is the reality of the

*Life of Geot H. C. Macgregor.

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Clergy and Ministers at Keswick

mystical union between Christ and the believing soul, and
the cleansing, keeping, enabling power of the Spirit of
God. With that we need not deal here ; we will merely
record the simple fact that hundreds of ministerial lives
have been transformed in influence and power through
the reception of that message.

The Ministers' Communion Service, which is held in
St. John's Church on the Thursday morning of the
Convention at 7 a.m., was initiated by the late Rev.
J. N. Hoare, when Vicar of St. John's, and has been
continued by the kind invitation of his successors ;
ministers of all denominations are invited, and thus the
true unity of believers is demonstrated in a special
manner, and much blessing has resulted from this solemn
service.

We cannot close this chapter without some reference
to the brotherliness that characterises the too brief inter
course of clergy and ministers during the Keswick week.
High Churchmen and Low Churchmen, Churchmen and
Nonconformists, find, if spiritual men, that the things on
which they honestly differ are as nothing compared to
that living Unity in Christ which there asserts its pre
eminence. Spiritual affinities are felt to be stronger
than denominational divergencies. The chief reason
why we find it so difficult to define ' the Church ' is
because we are all politicians ; in Keswick we have no
difficulty about it because we are all Christians. If the
day comes when Home Reunion is an established fact
and Church and Dissent join hands in the work of the
Gospel, we are convinced that it will be on no lower
platform than that which, in the goodness of God, has
been laid down at Keswick. May it please the Holy
Spirit to hasten that day.

A. E. BARNES-LAWRENCE.

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Women at Keswick

CHAPTER XVI

By Miss Nugent

Jesus ! I am resting, resting

In the joy of what Thou art,
I am finding out the greatness

Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,

And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For, by Thy transforming power,

Thou hast made me whole.
CJio- Jesus ! I am resting, resting

In the joy of what Thou art ;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

Oh, how great Thy loving kindness,

Vaster, broader than the sea !
Oh, how marvellous Thy goodness,

Lavished all on me !
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved,

Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,

And have made it mine.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,

I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless

Satisfies my heart ;
Satisfies its deepest longings,

Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings :

Thine is love indeed !

Ever lift Thy face upon me,

As I work and wait for Thee ;
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,

Earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory,

Sunshine of my Father's Face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,

Fill me with Thy grace.

JEAN SOPHIA PIGOTT.

Women at Keswick

IT is always a deeply interesting thing to trace great
movements back to their source. The origin often
seems so inadequate, and yet, when God is in it,
the acorn is enough for an oak, and a soft swamp high
in the hills, is enough for a mighty river. A stirring of
need in one heart, which could not be stifled until it had
found its satisfying in personal contact with God, led to
the Reformation on the Continent, with its undying and
illimitable issues.

In the great movement called by the name of Keswick
it was the satisfying of the need of one heart and its
insight into the unclaimed promises of God, from which
the whole Convention sprang, including the women's
meetings, which were an integral part of the Convention
from its first year.

In that year, 1875, women's work for God's service
had not the universal and recognised position it holds
now. It was but a few then who had dared to accept
the Risen Lord's earliest commission to Mary in the way
of giving His message so openly as it is given to-day,
even though grand personal work had sprung up through
the previous twenty years. But when the first Conven
tion took place, that most beloved and far-sighted servant
of her Lord, Mrs. Harford-Battersby, arranged that ladies'
meetings should be held. Was this the result of a deep,
unspoken longing on her part to realise to the full all

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The Keswick Convention

that was meant by " the rest of faith " which the saintly
founder had entered upon, with its result of desire that
others should share it ?

It may be so, for we may draw this much of a veil aside
and mention that after one of the ladies' meetings of that
first year, the friend who led them had the joy of hearing
that now she also understood, and had entered upon the
Land of Promise, with its satisfying rest and victory.

That first Convention was carried through in spite of
the storm clouds which then existed round it. How
little those who opposed the movement realised the deep
sense of unworthiness and of self-despair which had been
aroused in those who originated and led it, and that it
was because of that sense awakened by a new and clearer
vision of God, leading to the cry of " Woe is me," that
they were enabled to abandon hope of themselves and
cast themselves upon His promises yielding themselves
to His power to work in them.

At the first meeting of the Convention, in the unboarded
tent, rustic and simple, Canon Harford-Battersby's earliest
words made this clear. His opening address was on
Hosea xiv., and in it he struck the keynote of the whole
movement, as well as of that Convention, showing
that God must bring us low before He could lift us up.
"He taught us," one writes who was present, "what
were God's thoughts about the declines and backslidings
of His people Israel in the past, and of His own Church
to-day, and how we needed deep humiliation of soul
before Him and confession of our sin, in order to obtain
fuller blessing."

This was the keynote which pervaded the ladies' meet
ings, and Mrs. Battersby's thought in founding them was
that in them the great hopes and high standards held up
in the tent as possible, might be brought into the most
close and practical application to home life, and how

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Women at Keswick

the great purchase of Calvary, and its securing by the
Resurrection, might be applied to the smallest details.
Not only to see that He died for me, as my Substitute,
but that I, who accept Him, died with Him there to the
guilt and the power of sin, was what she desired, and thus
that the " reckoning ourselves to have died indeed unto
sin " bore upon home life, smoothing frictions, ennobling
its duties, and lifting all its details into harmony with
His risen and victorious life.

These meetings were always meant to be an adjunct
to the tent, a kind of " after-meeting " where the great
principles could be applied to details. " After-meetings "
were then familiar and largely blessed in connection with
the many fruitful missions which were such a marked
feature of God's work in those days. But they were new
in connection with gatherings of God's people, and for the
searchlight to be turned upon " my life as a Christian "
was startling. "You accept the promises of deliverance,
victory, indwelling — are you claiming them?" "You
believe in His delivering power — are you applying it ? "

The meetings were first held in the little schoolroom,
and the number present was small, just about in propor
tion to the few hundreds gathered in the tent. They
were times of deep heart-searching, and they led to lives
metamorphosed. One of the first fruits was a lady of
Keswick, who yielded strong will and high intellect to
her Master, and was used for the blessing of many others
all the rest of her life.

The first meetings were to have been under the leading
of Mrs. Pearsall Smith, but when she was unable to
come, Mrs. Michael Baxter was invited to take charge.
She also was hindered coming after having accepted,
and the opening meetings came to the care of Mrs.
Compton, well known then in conducting missions with
great blessing. It is of interest to record that the first

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The Keswick Convention

address was on the four things which are little upon the
earth and yet exceeding wise (Prov. xxx. 24-28). It was
typical of the principle of these meetings, that out of
exceeding weakness might spring satisfying, safety, unity,
dignity, when that weakness was used as a claim on God.
Another who took special part was Miss Harford-Battersby,
sister of the founder, whose strong faith and courage
were greatly instrumental in the Convention being held
that year.

Mrs. Battersby did not herself take part in the speaking,
but always shared in prayer. Many others also did so,
for this was another feature ever prominent, that they
were shared meetings, to which each one might contri
bute. The second year Mrs. Michael Baxter was able to
take charge, and she did so, to the blessing of many, until
1883. In 1884 we met for the first time without the
beloved founder or Mrs. Battersby, but their work
remained, for the life of God was in the movement. In
this year the ladies' meetings were still held, but were
conducted daily by one or other speakers from the tent,
One of these was Pasteur Theodore Monod, who took
little part himself, but who drew from many present that
the Holy Spirit had taught them to see what
"Keswick" meant, in despair of self, and expectation
from the Lord alone.

In 1885 the Chairman who succeeded Canon Battersby
— Mr. H. F. Bowker — committed the care of the meet
ings to Mrs. Bannister and to the writer of this chapter,
at the suggestion of Mrs. Battersby. This sacred
charge was accepted in the spirit which underlay
the whole teaching, that " Without Me, ye can
do nothing," yet, " I can do all things in Christ which
strengtheneth me," and in hearty adhesion to the early
principle that the greatest gain in unity and blessing
was that the meetings should closely follow the line

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Women at Keswick

of the teaching set forth in the tent. They were the
opportunity for applying in detail what was presented
there of the Master's rights in us, and claims upon us,
and of the power to keep that which we commit to Him.
All realized that we gained in clearness and definiteness
of result by beginning with confession, followed by
surrender of self, and consecration, and the yielding to
the possession of God the Holy Ghost.

Year by year the gatherings increased in number, in
proportion to the increase of the whole Convention, and
far outgrew the Lecture Hall which had become a sacred
place of meeting with God. How many a secret con
troversy with Him had ended there, when long and strong
resistance to His Will ceased at the foot of the Cross,
and captives to sin's power became His

" Captives, glorying in their Conqueror's praise ! "

During those years, many others, — besides Mrs. Baxter,
when possible — were associated either in prayer or speak
ing. Many beloved names come to mind : Mrs. Hatt
Noble, Mrs. Albert Head among those called Home ; and
Miss Lilias Trotter, witnessing now among the heathen
to the power of His Resurrection. In 1897, Mrs. Penn
Lewis shared in prayer, and in 1898 gave her first address
there.

It was in 1899 that the Lecture Hall had to be left, with
much regret, as the meetings in a larger place could not
keep the character of a " family gathering " with its
freedom for prayer and testimony audible to all, and there
fore shared in by all.

The record of the Ladies' Meetings is a record of the
Lord's abundant grace, and of marvel at His use of weak
instruments. Few of those who attend can at all
realize the sense of profound weakness and of utter in
adequacy of supply with which they are entered upon

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The Keswick Convention

by those in charge. May it be always so, so that
nothing may hinder all being " of Him, and from Him."
"A friend of mine in his journey has come .... and I
have nothing to set before him " — yes, indeed, nothing of
mine, therefore all must be Thine, freshly given by
new and direct contact with Thee !

May we call to very earnest prayer that it may be
always true that each who attends shall meet face to face
with their Lord, and that to the beloved Leader, Mrs.
Evan Hopkins (given to these meetings from the Girls'
meetings), "His grace may be ever exceeding abundant
with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."

One marked feature cannot be left out in looking back
over these years.

When the Convention commenced, the Missionary
impetus throughout the whole Church of God was very
weak. Appeals on the claims of God on behalf of the
heathen and Mohammedan world were not urged at
Keswick at once, for the messengers were not ready.
But the very root principle of missions was there from
the beginning, namely, whole-hearted surrender to the
Divine Lord as Master and willingness to be at His
absolute disposal. The direct contact with the Risen
Lord, which was "the blessing" to so many, brought
into distinct hearing and swift response His Resurrec
tion commission of " Go tell," showing that the
missionary principle had lain in Keswick as the blossom
is in the plant, only waiting for God's moment to touch
it into life. Thus when a memorable missionary meeting
of 1886 was held, bringing into focus many incidental
allusions to the great Commission, and a still more
memorable one of 1887 followed, it was as the breath of
spring and the touch of rain upon the waiting blossoms.
To this call, women were the first to respond, and
an appeal for ten ladies for Palestine found a deep

200

Women at Keswick

welcome, and, before long, the ten were ready. Since
then the " women which publish the tidings have
become a great host" (Psa. Ixviii. n R.V.), and
over the whole Church of God — now greatly penetrated
with the call of surrender which Keswick gave — the
glorious trust and the call to carry it out has been heard.
Dr. Hudson Taylor gave as his reckoning that two-thirds
of those of the China Inland Mission were " among the
heathen " as the result of Keswick. It was the conviction
of the Missionary call heard at Keswick, following on the
inspiring ministry of the Rev. C. A. Fox, which led to
"The Olives" being opened as a sphere of preparation
for missionary work, from which some two hundred have
gone forth to the " Regions beyond," to all of whom the
teaching of Keswick has been a penetrating influence.
It is the inevitable result of the foundation principle,
" Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, it
abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
Dying to self, and risen in Christ, then the seed must
fructify and be propagated.

What has been the result of " Keswick " to women ?

Two illustrations may close this brief retrospect.

Look into one English home, and see there a fettered
and suffering life : a young girl helpless to move herself
and entirely dependent on others. What could " Keswick"
do for her ? She herself answers in writing to a friend.
" This Convention has made me able to say what I never
could say before, ' WTe thank Thee for our creation.'"
And till the day she was called Home, many could thank
Him for her creation ! If she could not " go," she would
help others to go, and, with feeble hands, she wrote the
account for others of the first tent missionary meeting as
her last service.

Look into another home, far away among the heathen,
and see one the centre to-day of a large household who

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The Keswick Convention

are being prepared as a crown for her Lord, and being
trained to be witnesses among their own people in their
turn. What was her inspiration to go forth, but what
" Keswick " brought to her of the boundless love which
sacrificed, rose, and ascended to give the Holy Spirit to
indwell and empower to serve and to win those most out
of reach.

Thank God afresh for the teaching which sends to His
feet in deep humiliation, and then in the abandonment
of self and all trust in it, sends to His Throne to receive the
indwelling which is the only power to live His love before
others. In the words of one who is more than any
other the woman poet of Keswick — Jean Sophia Pigott —
whose brief life was only long enough to pour out her
new-found joy :—

" Make my life a bright outshining

Of Thy life, that all may see
Thine own resurrection power

Mightily put forth in me ;
Ever let my heart become
Yet more consciously Thy home."

May the Master seek and find many another Mary in
the tent and its vestibules, either for home or the far
field ; and may He say of these weakest in themselves, " I
have commanded My sanctified (consecrated) ones ; I have
called My mighty ones, even them that rejoice in My
highness," or as the still more emphatic R.V. margin —
"them that exult in My majesty ! " (Isa. xiii. 3.)

SOPHIA M. NUGENT.

Mrs. Bannister, my dear colleague of so many years in this service,
is so entirely one with all I have sought to say, that she desires to be
included in it rather than to add words of testimony of her own.
They would but emphasize the ever-deepening sense of privilege in
being allowed to share in it all for so many years. As my own
recollections only go back to 1879, ^ne facts of the previous years
have been kindly supplied by those then present. S, M. N,

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Young Men at Keswick

CHAPTER XVII

By the Rev. J. Stttart-Holden, M.A.

Precious Saviour, Thou hast saved me ;

Thine, and only Thine, I am :
Oh, the cleansing blood hath reached me !

Glory, glory to the Lamb !
Cho. Glory, glory, hallelujah !

Glory, glory to the Lamb !
Oh, the cleansing blood has reached me !
Glory, glory to the Lamb !

Long my yearning heart was striving

To obtain this precious rest ;
But, when all my struggles ended,

Simply trusting^ I was blest.

Trusting, trusting every moment ;

Feeling now the blood applied ;
Lying in the cleansing fountain,

Dwelling in my Saviour's side.

Consecrated to Thy service,

I will live and die to Thee ;
I will witness to Thy glory

Of salvation, full and free.

Yes, Iwill stand up for Jesus ;

He has sweetly saved my soul,
Cleansed my soul from sin's corruption.
Sanctified, and made me whole.

Glory to the Lord who bought me,

Glory for His saving power ;
Glory to the Lord who keeps me,

Glory, glory evermore !

LOUISE M. ROUSE.

Young Men at Keswick

THE distinctive message of Keswick has from the
earliest days been of forceful and fruitful appeal to
young men. The assurance of complete and con
tinual victory in Christ, the imperious claim of His love
for the possession of the whole being, the unfolding of
the vast potentialities of a so-yielded life, and the simple
faith which converts these conceivable possibilities into
indubitable realities, are notes which combine to form a
Divine harmony which, as rung out at Keswick, has
always exercised powerful fascination over young men.
The opportunity which the Convention affords to them
of facing life's outlook from the high plateau of Truth
and in the clear atmosphere of fellowship with the Lord,
has long been one of the distinctive features of the work,
and its outcome is perhaps in the nature of the case easier
to recognise than some of the results in other directions.
For the influence which Keswick has had upon the lives
of young men is rightly to be looked for in the ranks of
Christian service, where are to be found in missionary fields,
in the home ministry, and among the army of men labouring
for the extension of the Kingdom both within and with
out the churches, numbers who as young men, received at
Keswick that spiritual impulse which carried them for
ward into definite life-work in the Vineyard. Recog
nising that youth has its peculiar difficulties, intellectual
as well as moral and spiritual, and that the satisfactory

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The Keswick Convention

dealing with these is part of the effectiveness of the
movement, special provision has always been made at
Keswick with this object. As a supplement to the general
meetings of the Convention, special gatherings for young
men only afford the opportunity of making clear what is
the significance of the Convention message to young lives.
Sometimes such gatherings take the form of " question
and answer," the speaker (most often himself still a young
man) taking up the points of difficulty which have pre
viously been sent in by those desirous of their elucida
tion. More often however, such meetings are largely
given to prayer, and thus give the young men a chance
of " praying through " into the experience of fulness of
life which is being proclaimed day by day in the larger
and more general meetings. No one who has ever been
privileged to take part in such seasons can ever forget
some of the experiences which those hours (often verging
on midnight) have held. The joy of seeing young fellows
broken down under a sense of the defilement and bond
age of sin entering into that present assurance of Christ's
deliverance which carries with it the certain promise of
future liberation from old enslavement, is wonderful
indeed, and is only equalled by the delight of hearing the
testimonies of those who in previous years have found
the liberty wherewith Christ sets free, and who return
now to give Him praise for the proven reality of the
blessing during the intervening days. Yes ! the young
men's meetings at Keswick furnish a rich store of
evidence to " the exceeding greatness of His power to
usward who believe."

From all parts of the world and from all ranks and
grades of life there come to the Convention year by year
a small army of young men, an army indeed whose
numbers if aggregated for the last few years — since the
Convention has become such an established feature of

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Young Men at Keswick

the religious life of our land — would be " a great host
like unto the host of God." Young business men enjoy
ing their annual respite from ledgers and balance-sheets,
sturdy sons of the soil from the fields and the farm,
bright young 'Varsity men, forgetting alike the pleasures
of laboratory and campus, and factory -workers from the
great industrial mills of our manufacturing centres, all
unite at Keswick in one holy purpose, and all find the
Divine adaptability of the promises of the Gospel to the
varied needs of their so-varied spheres of life. It is an
inspiring experience to watch them gathering day by day,
to hear them singing with full hearts, to join them in
prayer, and sometimes to have the privilege of speaking
the Word of Life to them — the most attentive and
appreciative audience that man ever addressed ! But to
me the most moving sight of all is to see the dispersal of
this band of young men at the close of the Convention.
Vows have been solemnly taken, idols have been willingly
renounced, friendships have been made for eternity, new
tides of grace have set in to surrendered hearts, and now
back they go to office, college, and factory with faces set
" toward the sun-rising," and to " work out " what Christ
hath wrought in them. Truly to these young men
Keswick is like its own mountains, a place where streams
have their source, and from whence they flow to fructify
many a desert place.

In writing of this special branch of the Convention it
is opportune to point out one result of its Divine effluence
in connection with the Student Volunteer Missionary
Union and its allied organisations for work amongst the
University men and women of our country. Some of the
most prominent of the early leaders of that movement
which has now attained to such large proportions and
influence, who in a large degree shaped its policy and
determined its character, were themselves influenced to

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The Keswick Convention

the supreme choice at Keswick, and owed to the Conven
tion the discovery of those resources in Christ which
made their lives what they were, and are. In a recent
address Mr. John R. Mott said : " One day there stood
outside a tent at Keswick a young man who heard God
speak through a human voice and was obedient. And as
a result there came a great advance in the Student Move
ment of the British Isles, one of the most spiritual and
fruitful in the world."

For several years in its infancy and early youth, what
is now generally known as the Student Movement was to
a large extent closely bound up with the Convention.
Its annual gathering of students was usually held at
Keswick either immediately before or immediately after
the Convention itself, so that the young men who then
came together to study the problems of Christian work
in their Colleges and Universities were brought also into
personal touch with the spiritual realities andenduements
to which the Convention witnesses, and many of them
received a fulness of blessing which has powerfully
influenced the whole Student Christian organisation to
this day.

To the regret however of not a few, both amongst the
students and amongst those also who are immediately
concerned in the work of the Convention, the close out
ward connection of the two organisations has not been
maintained in more recent years. The removal of the
Student Conference to other centres, and the clashing
of dates, have combined to withdraw from the young
men's meetings at Keswick the large number of 'Varsity
men which in former years was a feature and a force,—
with a possible loss common to both.

Keswick's influence, however, upon the present life of
the Universities is happily maintained through other
channels. For some few years small house-parties of

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Young Men at Keswick

men from Oxford and Cambridge have been gathered
together by interested friends who recognize the strategic
importance of winning such for the fullest possible
Christian life and service, and this work has now become
one of the outstanding characteristics of the Convention.
Living together in the happy comradeship of under
graduate life and under the wise oversight of those who
being themselves thoroughly in touch with young life
are able as need arises to talk out perplexities with
them and to help those who are seeking blessing, many
men have been most brightly brought out into the life
of full surrender to Christ and full enduement by Him.
These returning to their Colleges to live out the life
before the keen eyes of their fellows, have exercised
and are now exercising influence for Christ which in
some cases has been quite wonderful.

This same plan of community houses is also proving
itself of the utmost value amongst other classes of
young men at the Convention. A large camp of some
sixty or seventy, mostly factory-workers, clerks, and
artizans, a party of young Irishmen, a houseful of
Scotch theological students, another of intending
missionary candidates, and yet another of young business
men are amongst the many which are now establishing
for themselves a new and strong place in the life of the
Convention. As a rule some of of the speakers gladly
embrace the opportunity always gladly accorded, of
visiting these various houses in a social manner at the
morning or evening meal, and of thus coming into a
personal contact with the men which could hardly be
gained otherwise. The value of such intercourse cannot
be overstated, affording as it does opportunity for the
removal of misconceptions, the interpretation of terms,
the application of the Convention message to the
difficulties of a young man's life, and for that quiet

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The Keswick Convention

fellowship in prayerful quest of the fulfilment of Divine
promise which is such a help to weak and timid souls.
Some of the most fruitful work of the Convention is
done in this way, and will continue to be so done.

That the present days are full of danger to young men
is obvious to the most casual observer, and in the midst
of all the siren-voices with which the air is vibrant, it is
increasingly incumbent upon Keswick to have a message
strong in the strength of God, and to sound it forth
with a voice strong in its true echo of His voice.

The young men of to-day are the leaders of to-morrow,
and hence the importance of the special place given to
work amongst them on the part of those who know
that until a young man has learned to call Christ
" Master," his life is but pre-determined failure and

loss.

J. STUART HOLDEN.

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Keswick Hymns

CHAPTER XVIII

By the Rev, F. S, Webster, M.A,

Like a river, glorious

Is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious

In its bright increase ;
Perfect, yet it floweth
Fuller every day —
Perfect, yet it groweth
Deeper all the way.
Cho- Stayed upon Jehovah,

Hearts are fully blest ;

Finding, as He promised,

Perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow

Of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow,

Never traitor stand ;
Not a surge of worry,

Not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry,

Touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial

Falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial

By the Sun of Love.
We may trust Him fully

All for us to do ;
They who trust Him wholly

Find Him wholly true.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.

Keswicfc Hymns

BUT are there any distinctively Keswick Hymns ?
The Church of Christ with all her divisions is one
body in the offering of the sacrifice of praise.
Bonar's hymn was sung at Pusey's funeral, and Newman's
hymn was in constant use during the Welsh Revival.
Surely those who meet at Keswick might be content with
the hymns that delight the whole Church of Christ. And
so they are, and such old hymns as " Our Blest
Redeemer," " Come, Holy Spirit, come," " How sweet
the name of Jesus sounds," are seldom sung more fervently
than in the Keswick Tent. Indeed, the great majority
of the hymns in the Convention hymn book, " Hymns of
Consecration and Faith " (which, by-the-by, has under
gone two revisions during the last few years), are such
as are found in all modern hymn books. Yet if there
is anything distinctive about the Keswick movement, if
the multiplication of similar Conventions in almost all
parts of the world which is certainly not the result of any
formal propaganda, is due to any real blessings — to any
distinctive spirit or life — this spirit will reveal itself in the
special hymns of the movement.

We all dislike party labels. The founders of the
Keswick Convention (I was first present in 1880, when
Canon Battersby presided and Mr. Robert Wilson was
his chief helper) had no thought either of forming a
party or of manufacturing a party " label." No party

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The Keswick Convention

has been formed, and yet the label exists and is
frequently applied, though without their consent, to
certain speakers and writers. It is convenient, but it
may easily become misleading. For a label which is
supposed to be the proof of genuineness (as in the well-
known advertisement, " insist on seeing the label") may
be fraudulently used or it may continue to adhere to
that which has long since deteriorated or lost its
distinctive vitality.

The Keswick meetings have been marked by a certain
distinctive vitality. It has been understood from the
first, and the rule still obtains, that those who take part
in the meetings speak not as advocates but as witnesses.
They are there because they have personally and
individually experienced the power of the teaching they
inculcate. If any speaker forgets this, if at any time
he seems to rely upon natural gifts of eloquence, or
debating power, or exegetical skill instead of the present
illumination and anointing of the Holy Spirit, the tone
of the meeting changes and its distinctive quality is lost.
Not all the addresses given, not all the meetings held at
the Keswick Convention are distinctively " Keswick."
The distinctive vitality, the special note is more apparent
in some than in others.

What is this distinctive vitality ? What does the label
"Keswick" denote when rightly used? What is the
distinctive " Keswick " note ?

We turn to the hymns for our answer. They are
gloriously optimistic. Most familiar of all is that hymn
of Miss Havergal's with its noble refrain : —

Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest.

That one word " finding " gives the keynote of the

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Keswick HymnS

Keswick spirit. While no well-taught disciple ever ceases
to be a "seeker," the testimony at Keswick is clear and
definite, ' we have found,' 'we are finding,' 'the promises
are being graciously fulfilled, unworthy as we are, in our
hearts and lives.'

So another equally familiar and favourite hymn.

Jesus I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art,
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.

There the word " finding " is equally prominent. These
hymns abound in the "comfort of the Holy Ghost."
They are the glad outpourings of satisfied hearts. In its
orphan state the Church of Christ is always inclined to
regard " the joy of the Lord " as an unwarranted luxury
and deems it the highest proof of devotion to be content
to seek and not find, but when " filled with the Spirit "
and " walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost " they
are filled with "all joy and peace in believing," and the
joy overflows in songs of triumph. " When the Lord
turned again the captivity of Zion . . . then was
our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with
singing."

So it is a very real experience of blessing which lies
behind these hymns. When we sing

I have found, I have found the way
Which leads to heavenly rest,
I have found, I have found the peace
Which filled my Saviour's breast —

something more is meant than the peace of forgiveness.
The joy that rings through these hymns is the joy of a
fresh discovery made, it may be, long after the period of
the soul's conversion to God, of the fulness of the bless
ing which is ours in Christ. Sometimes the unsatis-

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The Keswick Convention

factory character of the experience preceding this
discovery is plainly alluded to : —

Long, alas, in the gloom I fought,
Midst stress of wind and waves,
Jesus seemed only this to me,
A Saviour who sometimes saves.

Then follows the triumphant contrast : —

But sweet are the light and calm
That fill my happy days,
Since now I fully trust
The Saviour who saves always.

But the unsatisfactory experience is not that of utter
strangers to the love of Christ, but of those who, though
they have not lost the peace of forgiveness, find that
the note of triumph and fulness of rest and satisfaction is
lacking in their lives.

Now this discovery of what Christ can really be to us
in daily life is made in many ways. It comes along the
line of a perpetual keeping. " Jesus saves me now,'' is
the refrain of more than one peculiarly " Keswick " hymn.
As when we sing :

Satan may tempt but he never shall reign,

That Christ will never allow-
Doubts I have buried and this is my strain,
Jesus saves me now.

Or again,

Before the battle lines are spread,

Jesus saves me now.

Before the boasting foe is dead,

Jesus saves me now.

I win the fight though not begun,

I'll trust and shout, still marching on

Jesus saves me now.

This immediate and personal appropriation of the
practical salvation which Jesus lives to effect in the lives
of His own believing people was one of the earliest key-

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Keswick Hymns

notes of the movement. The advance from seeking
faith to resting faith in the matter of present deliverance
and supply is the blessing which thousands of believers
have learnt to associate with the Keswick Convention,
the somewhat daring verse :

Oh when shall my soul find her rest,
My smugglings and wrestlings be o'er,

My heart by my Saviour possessed,
Be fearing and sinning no more ?

gives utterance to a feeling which is more or less clamorous
in every honest heart. And the " Keswick " answer, while
avoiding the error of present sinlessness, gives a clear
and encouraging reply.

Thou canst keep my feet from falling,

Even my poor wayward feet,
Thou who dost present me faultless

In Thy righteousness complete.
Jesus, Lord, in knowing Thee,

Oh what strength and victory.

It is the answer of the psalmist who cried, " Mine eyes
are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet
out of the net." " The Lord is thy keeper." " He will
not suffer thy foot to be moved." It is the glad assurance

Moment by moment I'm kept in His love,
Moment by moment I've life from above.

But this clear vision of an ever-present, all-sufficient
Saviour belongs only to a cleansed heart. So the dis
covery is often made along the line of immediate and
full cleansing. Thus the key-note is given in such lines
as these :

Oh the cleansing blood has reached me,

Glory, glory to the Lamb,

and with realism which seems almost repugnant and yet
is not contrary either to Scripture or to the deep sense

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The Keswick Convention

of need of a soul awakened to its own inherent unclean-
ness.

Trusting, trusting every moment,
Feeling now the blood applied,
Lying in the cleansing fountain,
Dwelling in my Saviour's side.

These hymns are not in such constant use now as they
were fifteen or twenty years ago ; but during a time of great
revival in Holy Trinity, Richmond, about the year 1881,
the refrain that was helpful above all others was one
somewhat bald in its repetition, but intensely simple and
real (the hymn was omitted at the last revision) :

The cleansing stream I see, I see,
I plunge and oh it cleanseth me.
Oh praise the Lord it cleanseth me,
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me.

This aspect of truth is too precious to be surrendered.
It has perhaps sometimes been exaggerated and mis
understood, but it is of the essence of the blessed
" secret of the Lord." Over against the secret of per
sonal and conscious uncleanness, we must learn to put
continually the secret of the blood which cleanseth from
all sin. When Naarnan was cleansed from his leprosy
God became so clear and manifest to him that there was
no room left for the old gods of Syria. God will never
be so real and clear to us as to fill our whole area of
vision until we can say,

Oh Saviour, I dare to believe,
Thy blood for my cleansing I see,

And asking in faith I receive

Salvation, full, present and free.

But the real agent in all abiding blessing is God the
Holy Ghost. The distinguishing feature of the great
Convention at Pentecost was this, " they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost." " Fulness," therefore is one of
the key-notes of Keswick. And while it is acknowledged

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Keswicfc Hymns

everywhere that it is a great privilege to be "filled with the
Spirit," it is lovingly and earnestly proclaimed at
Keswick that it is a great sin not to be filled, with the
Spirit. The classic hymn (ascribed to St. Ambrose and
inserted in our English ordinal since the nth century)
" Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire " is but seldom
used, for it is almost too massive and certainly too
archaic (how few know that soiled means assoiled or
cleansed in the famous line " anoint and cheer our
soiled face ") for general use, but the same yearning for
the Spirit's blessed unction, " for comfort, life, and fire
of love," is expressed in many stirring hymns in simpler
language. Thus we are taught to sing :

My all is on the altar,
I'm waiting for the Fire,
and again

Hungering for the sacred Fire,
Seeking Thee with strong desire
For a power to lift me higher,
Lord, I come,
and again

Oh Spirit of Faith and Love,

Work in our midst, we pray,
And purify each waiting heart,
Baptise us with power to-day.

But this yearning for the fulness of the Spirit is not
allowed to evaporate in mere emotion. The precious
truth of the living ever-present all-sufficient Saviour
remains the foundation of all. At the Wandsbek Con
vention of 1906 the chorus :

"Oh, Lord, send the power just now,"

was changed to " Make the Saviour plain just now "
(verklare den Heiland jetz) ; the Diolch Iddo of the Welsh
Revival was set to the words :

Bend me lower
Jesus only let me see.
2IQ

The Keswick Convention

and recently in London the Glory Song chorus has been
sung thus :

Oh this is now Fulness for me,

Now that by grace I can see His dear face,

This is the fulness, the fulness for me.

The Keswick hymns bear witness, the witness seems to
become clearer and stronger every year, for God is always
giving His people new songs, that the blessing sought
and found at Keswick, which has brought into the lives
of so many of God's people a new depth, a new broken-
ness of soul, and a more abiding experience of strength
and victory and gladness is simply the living Christ
revealed by the Holy Ghost, appropriated by faith, and
reverently made use of in the daily life.

But let no one think that Keswick tends towards a
spurious and unpractical spirituality. The Missionary
note pervades the whole teaching, and so does ' the
blessed hope ' of our Lord's return. Fifty hymns,
including some of the newest and most beautiful in the
whole book, are found in the two sections dealing with
the Second Advent and the Church's Missionary enter
prise. Emphasis is rightly laid on the present glorious
possibilities of faith in the life of each individual Christian,
but it is not pretended that faith is better than sight or
that the Church can ever enter upon the full fruition of
holiness and universal dominion 'until the Lord come.'

F. S. WEBSTER.

220

The Literature of Keswick

CHAPTER XIX

By the Rev.W. H. Griffith Thomas, D.D.

Make me a captive, Lord,

And then I shall be free ;
Force me to render up my sword,

And I shall conq'ror be.
I sink in life's alarms

When by myself I stand ;
Imprison me within Thine arms,

And strong shall be my hand.

My heart is weak and poor

Until it master find :
It has no spring of action sure —

It varies with the wind :
It cannot freely move

Till Thou hast wrought its chain ;
Enslave it with Thy matchless love,

And deathless it shall reign.

My power is faint and low

Till I have learned to serve :
It wants the needed fire to glow,

It wants the breeze to nerve ;
It cannot drive the world

Until itself be driven;
Its flag can only be unfurled

When Thou shalt breathe from heaven.

My will is not my own

Till Thou hast made it Thine ;
If it would reach the monarch's throne

It must its crown resign :
It only stands unbent

Amid the clashing strife,
When on Thy bosom it has leant,

And found in Thee its life.

G. MATHESON.

The Literature of Keswick

IT is impossible for any modern movement to exercise a
wide or lasting influence without expressing itself in
literary form by means of books, magazines, and
papers. These media of communication are essential to
true progress. This has been illustrated by the Keswick
movement, and the purpose of this chapter is to bring
under review some of the ways in which the teaching
associated with Keswick has been promulgated in written
forms.

To do this we must go back earlier than the first
Keswick Convention of 1875. The initial impulse of the
Movement came directly and immediately from America,
though the roots of the distinctive teaching can easily be
traced in the writings of Walter Marshall, William Law,
John Wesley, Fletcher of Madeley, Thomas a Kempis,
Brother Lawrence, Madame Guyon, the letters of Samuel
Rutherford, and the Memoir of McCheyne. It is hardly
too much to say that in Marshall's great work, " The
Gospel Mystery of Sanctification," which was published
in the seventeenth century, the essential theology of the
Keswick Movement is clearly seen ; but for the most part
it was the practice rather than the doctrine of holiness
that was set forth in the writings above-mentioned. The
special teaching of what holiness means and how it is to
be obtained, was reserved for these latter days in close
association with the Movement which resulted in the
Keswick Convention.

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The Keswick Convention

The American friends introduced the subject in their
own country about the year 1856 with various books,
one of which was a remarkably suggestive, careful, and
most able work now well known as, " The Principles of
the Interior, or Hidden Life," by Professor T. C. Upham.
From that date onwards a large amount of literature
appeared on the subject in America in a series called the
" Penuel Library," some volumes of which were re-
published in this country. In the beginning of the
seventies a striking little book appeared, " Frank ; the
Record of a Happy Life," telling the story of a boy who
died at the age of eighteen. It was written by his
mother, Mrs. R. Pearsall Smith, with a prefatory note by
Miss Catherine Marsh, still happily with us, who called
attention to the striking teaching of the book on " the
life of faith." The same author followed with " The
Christian's Secret of a Happy Life," about which it may
be confidently said that its teaching has never been
superseded by anything which has appeared since. This
book has had a remarkable influence in connection with
the Holiness Movement. Shortly afterwards, in 1873,
Mr. R. Pearsall Smith wrote certain letters to " The
Christian " on the subject of Holiness, which resulted in a
keen discussion in letters to the same paper. Then followed
in rapid succession a series of meetings in London, in
which the truths put forth in these letters were advocated.
Much blessing was the outcome of these gatherings.

In February, 1874, there appeared a monthly periodical,
entitled " The Christian's Pathway of Power," which was
described by its Editor in the first article as " A periodical
devoted to the subject of personal Consecration and Power
for Service." It then went on to state what the Editor
conceived to be the practical possibilities of faith : —

"We believe the Word of God teaches that the normal Christian
life is one of sustained victory over known sin. . . WTe believe

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The Literature of Keswick

that the Cross of Christ which has effectually separated us from the
penalty or consequence of our sins is also the means by which we
become separated from their power ; and that the only true way of
overcoming the evil within us is by recognising our position as those
that have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts ; that the
reckoning of ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin is the great duty
of faith, and the secret of a life of abiding communion with God."

The keynote thus struck is continued all through the
number, which contains articles by several whose names
have since become very familiar in connection with the
Keswick Movement. Thus the first article was on " Why
we fail to behold Christ's Glory," by the Rev. Evan H.
Hopkins. Other names in that number are S. A. Black-
wood (afterwards Sir Arthur Blackwood), the Rev. E.
W. Moore, Miss Marsh, the Rev. W. E. Boardman, and
"H. W. S."

In July, 1874, a week was spent at Broadlands Park,
Romsey, where a few friends attended chiefly as guests
at the house. Among these was M. Theodore Monod,
who during that week wrote the exquisite and now well-
known hymn, " All of self and none of Thee." These
meetings were followed in the month of September by the
well-known Oxford Conference, which was practically the
parent of the Keswick Movement, and in the first volume
of " The Christian's Pathway of Power" there appears an
account of this ever-memorable gathering.

It is deeply interesting to scan the pages giving an
account of this truly epoch-making meeting, and to
observe the long list of honoured names connected with
it, many of whom are now in the presence of their Lord
above, while some " remain to this present."

The second volume of "The Christian's Pathway of
Power " strikes the same high keynote as the first by point
ing out that the real question is, " Does the Scripture
present to us any available means of deliverance from the
bondage and act of conscious trespass against the law ? "

225 g

The Keswick Convention

All through that year accounts are given of the influence
of the Oxford Conference on many parts of Great Britain
and the Continent of Europe. It is in this volume that
reference is made to the great Brighton Convention which
arose out of the meeting at Oxford ; and not the least
interesting article is one by Mrs. Charles, the author of
"The Chronicles of the Schonberg Cotta Family," on
"Impressions" of the Brighton Gathering. We are
tempted to dwell upon several articles by well-known
names as they appear in these pages, but it must suffice
to say that the indications of the progress of the special
teaching are many, and betoken the widespread interest
elicited on all sides.

It is only in Volume III. that the first notice ot
Keswick appears with notes of addresses delivered at the
first Conference. These occupy but two pages of small
print in the first number. In the third number, that for
March, 1876, an article appears by the Founder of the
Keswick Convention, Canon Harford-Battersby, on
" Divine Guidance "; and thenceforward month by month
the teaching associated with the Holiness Movement
represented by the Oxford, Brighton, and Keswick
meetings is taught in the pages of this magazine, indeed
gives it its raison d'etre. It is deeply interesting to see
the gradual and successive appearance of names that are
now well-known and honoured in the Movement. Dr.
(now Bishop) Moule, Dr. Elder Gumming, the Rev. F. B.
Meyer, and a host of others, contribute from time to time
articles and Bible studies.

In 1879 the title of the magazine was changed to " The
Life of Faith" as more fully expressive of the central
truth of the teaching, but its character remained un
altered, and it continued to put forth articles and Bible
Studies of deep interest to all who longed to "possess
their possessions " in Christ.

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The Literature of Keswick

Those who, like the present writer, have a complete, or
practically complete, set of these annual volumes would
not willingly part with them. They contain much material
of permanent value, and undoubtedly exercised a great
and powerful influence in bringing before the minds of
Christian people the essential principles of the Movement.
There is not a little teaching representing these earliest
years which would well bear reprinting for the guidance
and instruction of those who have come into the Movement
during more recent days. It is only too possible to
overlook the fact that the younger generation is not so
conversant with the elementary principles of Holiness
teaching as Christians were in the years immediately
following the Conferences above referred to. All the
more necessary therefore, to repeat the teaching of the
" fundamentals " for the sake of those who desire from
time to time to become acquainted with the essential
position of the Movement.

In 1892, owing to the great developments of the
Keswick Convention, it was felt necessary to change the
monthly magazine into a weekly paper with the same
title. This made a great change in the nature of
the periodical, which lost its distinctive character as
solely a repository of teaching, and became, as well, a
record of the progress of the Movement, and also a
religious journal that should make its appeal to the
Christian public with special reference to the teaching
connected with Keswick. From 1892 the paper has been
a great strength to the Movement, and though not
technically its official organ, in the sense that it belongs to
the Keswick Trustees or Council, it is in such close and
constant touch with the Movement through its editor,
proprietors, and publishers, that it is to all intents and
purposes an official organ, and is practically recognised as
such. Under its present wise and able editorial super-

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The Keswick Convention

vision, it has done not a little to advance the interests of
the Kingdom of God. It has necessarily gone beyond
the strict limits of the Keswick teaching on Holiness, for
the simple reason that Keswick itself stands for that one
great truth only, while a weekly paper like The Life of
Faith has to state and deal with the various implications
and applications of Holiness as they bear upon the
Christian life and service at home and abroad.

Thus, besides the regular publication of sermons and
addresses by weil-known Keswick speakers, and reports
of the Keswick and other similar Conventions held in
different parts of the country, The Life of Faith has
materially helped the Movement by giving much
prominence to the subject of Bible study by means
of its Expositors', Greek, and Hebrew Classes. Then
it has recently made prominent the subject of Biblical
Criticism, fully realising that on our attitude to Scripture
will depend not only our view of Holiness, but our
view of the entire Gospel of the grace of God. It is
a satisfaction to remember that the late Dr. John Smith's
" Integrity of Scripture " appeared first in the columns
of The Life of Faith ; and both in its serial issue and in
book form the work has done and is doing efficient and
eminent service for the cause of truth. The more
recent papers by Professor Orr on " The Bible under
Trial" have worthily maintained a feature of the
paper, which cannot be over-estimated in relation to
the young life now happily so prominent and welcome
at Keswick.

Nor has the paper been behind in its attitude to
various forms of Christian service as seen in the Churches
at home and the Mission Field abroad. It has
endeavoured to look at current events in the light of the
great principles for which Keswick stands, and it has also
bidden God-speed to every enterprise put forth by

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The Literature of Keswick

the Evangelical Churches of our land. All this has been
done in strict accordance and in close connection with
the distinctive doctrines of Christian Holiness promul
gated at Keswick, and it is probably true to say that
The Life of Faith was never a greater power than it is
to-day as a centre of light and leading for all who are in
the slightest degree in sympathy with Christian holiness,
evangelistic enterprise, and pastoral work at home and
abroad.

From magazine and weekly paper we turn to the
pamphlets and books published by those who have been
exponents of the Keswick Movement. While the output
has not been large, there have been several noteworthy
contributions to what may be called the theology of
Christian holiness. It is well-known that the Keswick
Convention sprang from the visit of Canon Harford-
Battersby, then Vicar of Keswick, to the Oxford Confer
ence. In September, 1874, a paper by him was read at a
Conference of Evangelical clergy and laity at Kendal,
in which he gave a deeply interesting account of the
Conference at Oxford, and bore personal testimony to the
blessing he had received. The address was afterwards
circulated in pamphlet form, and contributed not a little
to make the teaching known. The new movement had
to run the gauntlet of a great deal of severe criticism, and
in particular the Evangelical Churchmen associated with
the Movement were ' suspect ' in those early days as the
pages of The Christian Observer and the Record clearly
showed. It was incumbent therefore on the leaders of
the Movement that their Evangelical position should be
very plainly stated, and in 1878 a series of twelve
pamphlets was published. The first was by the late Mr.
H. F. Bowker, afterwards Chairman of the Convention,
and was entitled " Sanctification : a Statement and a
Defence," Canon Harford-Battersby contributed one to

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The Keswick Convention

this series on " Bondage or Liberty " which consisted of
a sketch of St. Paul's teaching in Romans vi.-viii. It is
one of the clearest presentations we have ever seen of the
much debated subject of Romans vii. Other pamphlets
in this series were by Mr. S. A. Blackwood, the Rev. W.
H. M. Hay Aitken, the Rev. Evan Hopkins, the Rev.
E. W. Moore, and Pastor Theodore Monod. The series
constitute a really valuable contribution to the teaching on
Christian holiness, and we are not surprised to find that
they exercised great influence in bringing before Evangeli
cal Christians of all the Churches the real meaning of the
new Holiness Movement. The book which in those early
days was most definitely explanatory and vindicative of
Keswick is " The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life,"
by the Rev. E. H. Hopkins. It is scarcely too much to
say that this volume did more than anything else to
explain the Movement to those of the Evangelical
School, in the Church of England, who were at first
inclined to look askance at it. In a series of chapters
marked by all the author's characteristic clearness of
statement, accuracy of presentation, acuteness of analysis,
and aptness of illustration, the main elements of the
Keswick doctrine are presented, and there is little doubt
that the book did much in the first years of the Move
ment to define the situation and to inform the Christian
public what holiness by faith meant.

The definite adherence to the Keswick platform of Dr.
(now Bishop) Moule, then Principal of Ridley Hall,
Cambridge, was a great accession of strength, for it
brought into the Movement one who had long been known
and honoured as a trusted Evangelical scholar and
theologian. Dr. Moule's books, though necessarily
appealing to a far wider sphere than that represented by
Keswick, have done effective service to the specific Move
ment associated with Keswick. His devotional works?

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The Literature of Keswick

such as " Thoughts on Christian Sanctity," and
" Thoughts on Union with Christ," have had a large
circulation, and have helped forward the cause of Christian
holiness in many quarters. One. of the most prominent
and best-known of High Churchmen in Oxford some
years ago said that " Thoughts on Christian Sanctity "
was a book always to have at hand on one's table. Dr.
Moule's " Veni Creator," too, has been specially welcome
as a presentation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit from
the standpoint of an Evangelical theology suffused with
the glow of a warm personal experience. Nor must we
omit a mention of the largest, and, in some respects, the
most valuable of the many works put forth by Dr. Moule,
his volume in the " Expositor's Bible" on "The Epistle
to the Romans." In this will be found, a statement of
the doctrine of Sanctification as seen in Romans vi.-viii.,
which contains the essential principles of holiness associ
ated with Keswick, put forth with all the scholarship and
spirituality characteristic of the author. As long as that
book is studied the theology of holiness as set forth
at Keswick cannot fail to receive due attention.

Early in the Eighties a work appeared entitled "Abide
in Christ " which was written by a then unknown author,
the Rev. Andrew Murray. It quickly came into general
notice and was seen to be in exact accord with the teach
ing of Keswick, though at that time the author was not
identified with the Movement. Indeed he could not well
be so, seeing that he lived in South Africa, and that the
book represented his ordinary ministry there. The
teaching of " Abide in Christ " was thus an independent
and striking testimony to the essential scripturalness of
the Keswick position. The book was followed by others
of the same character, such as "Holy in Christ," " The
Spirit of Christ," and " With Christ in the School of
Prayer," in all of which the essential principles of the

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The Keswick Convention

Keswick Movement are emphasised. In 1896, Mr. (now
Dr.) Andrew Murray visited this country and took part
in the Keswick Convention. His addresses made that a
very memorable occasion, and they have since been
published in his book entitled " Absolute Surrender."
Dr. Andrew Murray's work on the Epistle to the Hebrews,
"The Holiest of All," is another volume of first-rate
importance for Christian Holiness, and we doubt not
that his long expected book on Romans will be a further
addition of no small value to the teaching associated
with Keswick.

One of the earliest and most valued of the Keswick
speakers was the Rev. Hubert Brooke, then Incumbent
of St. Bride's, Liverpool, whose Bible Readings have so
often given a character to the whole of one Keswick
Convention. The term " Bible Reading " has become
quite definitely associated with Mr. Brooke's part in the
Keswrick Convention, and has introduced to the Christian
public an aspect and method of Christian teaching which
has been as welcome as it has been important. Those who
have heard Mr. Brooke know well the essential difference
between a Bible Reading and an address, a difference
which has not always been recognised by those who have
undertaken the work of Bible Readings. Mr. Brooke's
earliest Readings appeared in two volumes, " The Vision
of the Candlestick," and " The Temple of His Body," and
all who wish to study the scriptural basis and warrant for
the holiness teaching given at Keswick should consult
these volumes. They represent some of Mr. Brooke's
finest work, and as materials for study and models for
teachers they can hardly be surpassed. Mr. Brooke's
literary output has not been large, but his contributions
have been uniformly valuable and very characteristic of
the Keswick position.

In the realm of Bible Study proper the Keswick

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The Literature of Keswick

Movement owes not a little to Dr. Elder Cumming's
work, " Through the Eternal Spirit," which gives a full
and valuable conspectus of the teaching of Scripture con
cerning the Holy Spirit. While necessarily brief and
summarised by reason of the wide field it covers, the book
provides a useful opportunity for studying the theology ot
holiness, and for viewing in one great whole the Biblical
foundations of the Keswick Movement. The companion
volume, " After the Spirit," is not so well known, but
provides a valuable sequel to the larger work.

Of more purely devotional, as distinct from theological,
works which have emanated from writers associated with
Keswick must be mentioned a series of volumes known as
" The Keswick Library," which after doing service in
their original form have been re-issued at a very low
price. The best known of these is " A Holy Life," by the
Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor, whose early death has left a
gap on the Keswick platform which has never been filled
up. Mr. Macgregor combined in a remarkable degree a
knowledge and love of theology with the devotional and
practical insight and experience of a true pastor, and this
little book of his will remain a classic on this subject be
cause of its simple, clear, warm, and careful presentation
of the essential features of the holy life. The volume in
the same series by the Rev. F. B. Meyer, " From Calvary
to Pentecost," has always seemed to us one of the very
best of his voluminous works, and one into which he has
put some of his most characteristic teaching. This is
the place to call attention to the great value of Mr.
Meyer's contributions to the Keswick Movement. His
position among the Nonconformist Churches has enabled
him to represent English Nonconformity at Keswick as
no one else has done, or perhaps could do, and though
his literary work has naturally covered a far wider sphere
than that of the Keswick Movement, his books uniformly

The Keswick Convention

strike the Keswick keynote with clearness and strength.
His biographical series of Scripture characters is
particularly valuable in showing how holiness teaching
applies to the thousand and one details of daily life. No
one can read Mr. Meyer's volumes on Abraham, Jacob,
and Elijah without being brought face to face with that
Keswick teaching which we believe to be nothing less
than the New Testament teaching on holiness. The
other volumes of this series, thirteen in all, necessarily
vary in value, but in one way or another they all
represent the more devotional and practical sides of the
Keswick message.

One small book of great value, which has had a great
circulation and has exercised a wide and strong influence,
is "The Spirit-filled Life," by the Australian Evangelist,
Rev. John McNeil. Circumstances never permitted his
appearing on the Keswick platform, but the book sounds
the Keswick note with strength and clearness, and its
author did valiant service for Christain holiness in
Australia during his strenuous but all too short life.
The experimental and practical applications of the
doctrine of the Holy Spirit, find fresh and forceful
expression in this little book. It remains to-day one of
the best of small manuals on a great subject.

There remains to be considered in connection with the
literature of Keswick the works of the late Rev. C. A.
Fox, whose death, like that of the late Mr. Macgregor,
created a void which it is impossible to fill. Poet, pastor,
theologian, saint, Mr. Fox had a wonderful combination
of qualities, and perhaps no one in the early days of the
movement was a greater power than he. His literary
output was only slight, but what there is is very precious.
We single out for special mention the truly remarkable
series of New Year's Booklets, which were beyond
question among the most potent influences on behalf of

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The Literature of Keswick

Keswick during the years of their publication. To some
of us the reading of " Ankle Deep, or The River of
Pentecostal Power," marked a crisis in spiritual experi
ence, and there are other booklets scarcely less noteworthy
and influential. Mr. Fox also contributed indirectly, but
very definitely, to the Keswick Movement by the publica
tion of his valuable little book, " The Spiritual Grasp of
the Epistles," in which he attempted to outline the
Epistles of St. Paul for his congregation, by taking one
Epistle each Sunday, — a truly gigantic task. As a
specimen of Biblical exegesis, at once scholarly and
spiritual, this little book is truly valuable, and we make
bold to say that its treatment of Romans is a much more
helpful guide to the study of this great and difficult
Epistle than can be found in many of the large
commentaries.

Mr. Fox's works, few though they are, will abide
among the choicest memorials of the early days of
Keswick, and his influence is further perpetuated by
the publication of " Memorials of Charles A. Fox,"
which was edited by his friend and disciple, Miss S. M.
Nugent. In this connection it ought to be said that
Miss Nugent's annual booklets have been only second in
value and influence to those of Mr. Fox. Very many
have been led to look forward to her yearly contributions
with prayerful interest and expectation, and they have not
been disappointed with the messages provided. Miss
Nugent's little books are in their way quite representative
of the teaching of the Keswick Movement.

It is time, however, to think of the present and future
in regard to Keswick literature. The main literary
influence will doubtless continue to be exercised through
The Life of Faith, and under its present management
we may be sure it will continue to serve the Movement
in every possible way. There are, however, three great

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The Keswick Convention

and pressing needs which may be commended to the
attention of those whom they concern.

It is, first of all, essential that the Keswick Movement
should be constantly reinforced by means of a thoroughly
intellectual and spiritual knowledge of the Bible.
Holiness must be fed by knowledge if it is to be
preserved strong and true. For this purpose Bible study
is essential, and for study we must have manuals. The
series known as " Our Bible Hour," published from the
office of The Life of Faith, and issued in close connection
with Keswick, shows what is needed, and what can be
done in this connection, while the Devotional Com
mentary now being published by the Religious Tract
Society affords another way of studying the Bible which
will minister to spiritual intelligence, vigour, and zeal.
The more the Bible is studied in all its parts and aspects,
the more clearly will the essential truths associated with
the Keswick Movement stand out as the very spring of
Christian life, Christian holiness, and Christian service.

Another great need of the Movement is more theological
works. Each generation has its own way of viewing
truth, and the books of even a decade ago necessarily
cease to be the power they once were. They need sup
plementing, and often supplanting, by reason of the
fresh sources of theological knowledge based on spiritual
experience. In view therefore of the various theological
systems in vogue at the present day, it is incumbent on
the leaders of the Keswick Movement to find men who
will provide the necessary theological expression of the
cardinal tenets of the teaching.

Not least of all the Keswick Movement needs a careful
and competent supply of literature dealing with the
practical applications of Christian holiness to the life of
to-day. There are the great missionary problems which
are taxing the thought and energies of all our Societies ;

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The Literature of Keswick

and as the revival of missionary zeal owes much
to the Keswick Convention it is natural to expect that we
shall be shown from Keswick how the great fundamental
principles of New Testament evangelization can be
brought to bear upon the work waiting to be done in
Africa, China, India, Japan, and elsewhere. Then there
are the great social problems of our own country, in which
the young men and women who are now flocking to
Keswick are becoming more and more keenly interested.
The drink question, the gambling evil, the proper use of
wealth, and many another social and economic problem
press for attention ; and as the whole of human life is to
be " Holiness to the Lord " it must necessarily follow that
the exponents of Christian holiness should bring their
great principles to bear on all the national and social ills
of our day.

If it be said that all this is outside the province of
Keswick, and that the Movement represented by the
Convention stands only for one segment of truth, and
cannot be expected to deal with the whole area of
thought and life, we would reply that Keswick stands for
the centre, the core, the heart of Christian holiness, and
this being the case it must necessarily show how that
central point is intended to influence every part of the
circle of life until the entire circumference is reached. To
the holiness represented by Keswick no truth is alien, for
there is no interest outside its sphere.

W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS.

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A Last Word

CHAPTER XX

By the Editor

Praise Him ! praise Him ! Jesus our blessed Redeemer ;

Sing, O earth ! His wonderful love proclaim !

Hail him ! hail Him 1 highest archangels in glory ;

Strength and honour give to His holy name.

Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,

In His arms He carries them all day long ;

O ye saints that dwell in the mountains of Zion,

Praise Him ! praise Him ! ever in joyful song.

Praise Him ! praise Him ! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer ;

For our sins He suffered and bled and died ;

He, our rock, our hope of eternal salvation,

Hail Him ! hail Him ! Jesus the Crucified : —

Loving Saviour, meekly enduring sorrow,

Crowned with thorns that cruelly pierced His brow ;

Once for us rejected, despised, and forsaken,

Prince of Glory, ever triumphant now.

Praise Him ! Praise Him ! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer,

Heavenly Portals, loud with hosannahs ring !

Jesus, Saviour, reigneth for ever and ever ;

Crown Him ! crown Him ! Prophet and Priest and King !

Death is vanquished ! Tell it with joy, ye faithful,

Where is now thy victory, boasting grave ?

Jesus lives ! No longer thy portals are cheerless ;

Jesus lives, the mighty and strong to save.

FANNY CROSBY.

A Last Word

WHAT is to be the future of the Keswick Conven
tion? This is the question which will naturally
suggest itself to the readers of the preceding
chapters. The answer rests largely with those who
have been graciously permitted by God to be associated
with this Convention in the past, not only as leaders
but as the rank and file who have received great
blessings through the Convention, and who have
therefore the responsibility of passing these on to
others. We propose, however, to attempt to give an
answer to this question, and in doing so to indicate some
of the dangers which may arise and which need to be
recognised in order that they may be avoided. Much
has already been said concerning the remarkable unity
which prevails at Keswick, and of the brotherly spirit
which is manifested and the absence of party spirit, but
it must be distinctly understood that this is rather the
result of the practical teaching concerning holiness of
life than the deliberate aim of the meetings. It is indeed
the natural result of the working of the Divine Spirit, and
it is only by His holy inspiration that this end has been
achieved and not by any mere human devices to obtain
reunion of the Churches.

It is important to bear this in mind, for there is always
the risk lest desires for unity should lead to the selection
of speakers because they were representative of one or

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The Keswick Convention

another denomination, than because they are called of
God to give the distinctive message of the Convention. It
is happily true that most of the Christian Churches are
well represented both on the platform and in the congre
gation, but only because there are men and women in
these bodies who have been called of God to the
work.

It has already been pointed out that the chief qualifica
tion necessary for speakers at the Convention is that
they have experienced the blessings of which they speak,
and are evidently called of God to lead others into holi
ness of life. Definiteness, as many have said, is one of
the great distinctive features of the Convention, and any
thing which might render the teaching colourless and
indefinite would involve a serious loss to the Church of
Christ. This is often misunderstood by those who have
not been to Keswick. They think that the great leaders
of religious thought in the country should be invited to
Keswick to take part in the meetings, and at any rate
that those who have a reputation as evangelists or
evangelical leaders should ipso facto take their place as
teachers at the Convention. Because this is not done it
is thought that the leaders of the Convention are
exclusive, and it is even hinted that they set themselves
up as superior to others, and that they have the spirit of
those who would say " I am holier than thou." If such
views are held by any readers of this volume we only hope
that they will come to the Convention, and see for them
selves. Nothing can be further from the spirit of the
platform, and any whom God has called to deliver the
same message will want no other introduction to those
who preside over the meetings.

Many of those who knew the early Conventions, and
who have been connected with the movement up to the
present time, have felt that there is already rather less

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A Last Word

definiteness in the delivery of the message than there was
in the earlier days. May we not hope that the recital by
so many witnesses in this book of the rise of the Conven
tion may lead us afresh to consider the foundation prin
ciples upon which the teaching is based, so that the
same and even greater results may be found as in the
earlier days.

If it is the fact that there has been a tendency to
more indefiniteness in the presentation of the message,
there is certainly a risk of indefiniteness in the hearers.
The Keswick Convention is too popular. It has been
compared sometimes to a great Spiritual picnic, and
many have gone rather with the idea of meeting with a
number of pleasant Christian people than with the pur
pose of meeting with God ; and then there are other
reasons which bring people to Keswick. Some go to
further the interests of some branch of Christian enterprise,
it may be some foreign missionary society. Many of us
may plead guilty to somewhat mixed motives in this
respect, but the question is, are we not face to face with
a serious danger ? The founders and earlier leaders of
the Convention foresaw this difficulty, and though keenly
interested in the missionary enterprise, they were greatly
afraid lest missionary meetings should mean the putting
forth of the claims of missionary societies each competing
for popular support. It was due to such men as Mr.
Hudson Taylor and Mr. Reginald Radcliffe, as Mr. Stock
has pointed out, but perhaps more than all to Mr. Eugene
Stock himself, that it has been possible to hold missionary
meetings to plead for the evangelisation of the world,
quite irrespective of the interests or claims of societies as
such. But none know better than those who have had
responsibility for the organisation of these meetings the
difficulty they have had to contend with. Over and over
again people have gone to Keswick not for the holy

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The Keswick Convention

purposes of the Convention but to advocate their
own " cause."

By God's mercy the great missionary meetings have
been inspired by the same Spirit whose influence is
manifestly felt throughout the Convention, and few
meetings have been more blessed in leading to true con
secration of life and substance to the Lord's service.
There remains, however, an increasing danger of the
main purpose of the Convention being distracted from its
true aim. The display of flags or banners bearing the
devices of different missions which are sometimes found
outside lodging houses, in which members of the
particular mission are staying, may be of use in drawing
together friends of different societies present at Keswick,
but after all the object of the Convention is to bring
individuals face to face with Christ and His claims, and
the demonstration of these various agencies may be a
hindrance rather than a help to the primary work of the
Convention. These words are written with feelings of
sincere sympathy with those who are burdened with great
responsibilities, and with a keen sense of personal short
comings along these very lines in the past.

What, then, is to be the connection of the Convention
with the missionary cause ? This has been most clearly
answered by Mr. Stock, but it may be summarised here.

The whole teaching of the Convention must lead if it
is effectual to the whole-hearted consecration of each
individual to the Lord and Master of our lives to be used
as He will, whether at home or abroad, in His service.
This would solve all the difficulties of want of suitable
workers, and if the message is rightly received, the lack
of funds also. What is the meaning of the lack of
support of foreign missions at the present time but want
of consecration on the part of Christians of this land ? As
it has been said at Keswick personal consecration is

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A Last Word

indeed a reality when it includes " purse and all." This,
however, is to be achieved not so much by the rehearsal
of missionary facts as by bringing the believer face to face
with Christ's claims.

But perhaps nothing has been a more happy feature of
recent Conventions than the number of missionaries who
have been brought together, sometimes through their own
societies or through the help of friends, and none have
more valued the blessings of the Convention than those
who have been labouring in non-Christian lands amid
surroundings which are often depressing physically,
socially, morally, and spiritually.

Great stress has been laid, in previous pages, upon the
necessity for a Scriptural basis for the teaching of the
Convention, and it is of the highest importance that this
should be maintained. Extravagances in the teaching of
Holiness have wrecked many lives which would otherwise
have been fruitful, and where the experience of men is
followed rather than the teaching of the Word of God
disaster is imminent. None know this more truly than
those who have watched the development of what may
be called " Holiness teaching " during the past thirty
years, and though by the goodness of God the teaching of
the Convention has been kept on sober Scriptural lines
there have been tendencies at times working in other
directions which it has been necessary to resist with the
utmost firmness. We do not dispute that many who
have differed in expression from the teaching of the Con
vention have often been found to live lives of true
holiness and devotion. This, however, is not the only
test, nor even the safest test, to apply to doctrinal teach
ing, many people are better than their creed, and it is
certain that many use expressions of which they do not
understand the meaning. Some think that practice and
not doctrine is the one thing needful, but unless doctrine

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The Keswick Convention

and practice go together we are building a house on an
insecure foundation, and the fall of that house is certain.
This is a matter which depends upon the leaders of the
Convention, and it may not seem to concern the hearers,
but there is a call to each attendant to pray that the truth
of God may be presented not only in all its fulness but in
all its purity and truth.

We have been considering the possibility of distraction
from the central thought of the Convention, and have
alluded to the risk of indefmiteness ; there is another
danger of an entirely different kind which we may describe
as over-definiteness. The great fact that the believer
may enter upon a life of holiness by a definite act of
faith, has led some to believe that the Christian life may
be a series of new starts. Such people come to the Con
vention year after year expecting to get an impulse which
will carry them through their work only for another
twelve months, when they will need a new stimulant, as
it were, to enable them to cope with the work in which
they are engaged. Some are continually attending after-
meetings, expecting to gain some new blessing, and
perhaps rising in their places in the hope that such an
act may bring to them new power.

This is surely an unhealthy state of mind, and quite
opposed to the teaching of the Convention. Those who
have received the great blessing which is set forth at
Keswick have learnt the secret of peace and purity and
power which comes from the indwelling of the Divine
Spirit, and if this is so there should not be an endless
series of backslidings needing fresh consecration to God,
but a steady growth in grace. Thus, though much help
may be gained from Conventions by those who have
already been definitely helped through them, they may
become a hindrance instead of a help if they are looked
upon as the only means of spiritual blessing.

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A Last Word

Once more there may be a danger lest human excite
ment should be mistaken for the working of the Spirit of
God. Hitherto the meetings have been marked by a
spirit of outward quietness which has helped in no small
degree to their effect. Yet some have thought that
certain manifestations which have been associated with
many revival movements are a necessary accompaniment
of a work of the Spirit of God.

The leaders of the Convention would certainly desire
above all things that no action of theirs should interfere
with the working of the Spirit of God, and they truly
seek to know the will of God in the conduct of the
meetings, but it is a matter of the highest importance
that the control of the meetings should remain in the
trusted hands of those who are the recognised leaders,
and should not be entrusted to the guidance of others,
who may be ignorant of the great objects of the Con
vention.

The Keswick Convention is deeply concerned with the
desire for world-wide revival, and the prayer circles
formed several years ago to pray for this result have
surely helped in no small degree in bringing about the
spiritual awakenings which have taken place in Wales,
India, and other parts of the world. It is the earnest
prayer of all connected with the Keswick Convention
that the same blessings may come upon England,
Scotland, Ireland, and other lands. We do not believe
that the leaders of the Keswick Convention will inter
pose any barriers, which might hinder the Spirit of God
from working through this Convention.

In conclusion, it may not be out of place for one whose
professional position gives him responsibility for the body
to urge the importance of not forgetting the needs of the
body and the danger of overstrain in such Conventions
as those at Keswick. A holy self-denial in the matter of

247

The Keswick Convention

attending meetings is most necessary, and it can rarely
be profitable to attend more than three meetings in one
day, especially for those who come as missionaries from
abroad. As the late Rev. C. A. Fox once said at
Keswick, when speaking of the subject, " it is necessary
to practice holy fasting." He knew well what this
meant for himself as his bodily infirmities did not permit
him to attend a large number of meetings. Common-
sense, if sanctified in this as in all other concerns, should
guide us to a right use of our opportunities, and if with
the meetings time is taken for the quiet enjoyment of fresh
air on mountain or lake the spiritual blessing may be all
the more definite. In this connection reference may be
made to the desire which has been expressed on various
sides that what are known as "half nights of prayer"
should be arranged. This is entirely opposed to the
suggestions of the founders of the Convention, who put in
the forefront of their programme the recommendation to
retire to rest early. Their view was that with a long day
of meetings it was important that there should be time
for proper physical rest, and also time for secret com
munion with God. If individuals, whether speakers or
hearers, find it helpful to retire alone to the mountain, as
did our Lord, and continue all night in prayer to God,
especially if they have been hindered during the day in
securing seasons of undisturbed communion, this is an
entirely different matter, but to spend the greater part of
the night at a prayer meeting, and that of an unusually
intense character, after a day spent in attending meetings,
is a practice which is, in the writer's opinion, fraught
with serious danger to the physical, mental, and spiritual
well-being of the individual.

If each reader will prayerfully consider these sugges
tions we may hope that the Convention will enter upon a
new era of blessing which may have deep and lasting

248 "

A Last Word

effects in our own land, and contribute in no small degree
to that great end for which we look, "the evangelisation
of the world in this generation," and the coming of our
Lord.

249

The

Keswick

Library.

6D T-

EACH, NET. BY POST

Bound in strong Cloth Cover,
Lettered on side,

The Fifteen Volumes sent

Post Free for

Is. 6d.

" THE HOLY LIFE " ... Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor

"THE SECRET OP HOLINESS" .« Rev. F. S.Webster
"NEED AND FULNESS"... _ Dr. Handley Moule

"JOHN THE BAPTIST" ... ... Dr. Elder Gumming

"I FOLLOW AFTER" ... Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe

"HIDDEN, YET POSSESSED" ... Rev. Evan H. Hopkins

"FROM CALVARY TO PENTECOST" Rev. F. B. Meyer
» THEY MIGHT BE " ... ... Rev. Hubert Brooke

" THE LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP " _ Rev. E. W. Moore
"REALITY" .„ ... ... Rev. J. T. Wrenford

" LIFTED LOADS "... .„ ... Miss Lucy Bennett

"THE SECRET OF POWER FOR DAILY LIYING"

Rev. W. Houghton
"INSTEAD" ... ... Miss Nugent

"VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME" Rev. C. A. Fox

"THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN"

Rev. C. G. Moore

The Record, speaking of the Keswick Library, says : — " We very cordially
recommend, as being distinctly Scriptural and spiritual in tone and practically
helpful to Christians in daily work."

The Christian says : — " Helpful in daily life, stimulating of holy longings,
fragrant with the sweetness of Christ, and faithful in presentation of His grace
and fulness.'

Word and Work says : " Gracious, helpful, stimulating, and full of Gospel
power."

LONDON : MARSHALL BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
KESWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER Row, E.G.

THE BIBLE UNDER
TRIAL:

APOLOGETIC PAPERS IN VIEW OF PRESENT-DAY
ASSAULTS ON HOLY SCRIPTURE.

BY THE

Rev. JAMES ORR, D.D.,

Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology in the United Free
Church College, Glasgow.

SECOND EDITION. PRICE 6s.

The Papers composing this volume were prepared in
response to urgent request as a popular apologetic series in
defence of the Bible from the attacks made on it from different
quarters. They are now published in the hope that they may do
something to steady the minds of those who are in perplexity
owing to the multitude and confusion of the opinions that
prevail in these times regarding the Sacred Book. The Papers
are written from the standpoint of faith in the Bible as the
inspired and authoritative record for us of God's revealed will.
The author has no sympathy with the view which depreciates
the authority of Scripture in order to exalt over against it the
authority of Christ. He does not acknowledge that there is any
collision between the two things, or that they can be really
severed, the one from the other. He finds the Word of God
and of Christ in the Scriptures, and knows no other source of
acquaintance with it.

LONDON : MARSHALL BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
KESWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER Row, E.C,

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