by Charles G. Finney

Chapter 1

Please permit me through your columns to correct a misapprehension of

some of the members of the late Council at Oberlin of the brief remarks

which I made to them; first on Saturday morning, and afterwards on the

Lord's Day. In my first remarks to them I called attention to the mission

of the Church to disciple all nations, as recorded by Matthew and Luke,

and stated that this commission was given by Christ to the whole Church,

and that every member of the Church is under obligation to make it his

lifework to convert the world. I then raised two inquiries:

1. What do we need to secure success in this great work?

2. How can we get it?

Answer. 1. We need the endowment of power from on high. Christ had

previously informed the disciples that without Him they could do nothing.

When He gave them the commission to convert the world, He added,

"But tarry ye in Jerusalem till ye be endued with power from on high. Ye

shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Lo, I send

upon you the promise of My Father." This baptism of the Holy Ghost, this

thing promised by the Father, this endowment of power from on high,

Christ has expressly informed us is the indispensable condition of

performing the work which he has set before us.

2. How shall we get it? Christ expressly promised it to the whole Church,

and to every individual whose duty it is to labor for the conversion of the

world. He admonished the first disciples not to undertake the work until

they had received this endowment of power from on high. Both the

promise and the admonition apply equally to all Christians of every age

and nation. No one has, at any time, any right to expect success, unless

he first secures this endowment of power from on high. The example of

the first disciples teaches us how to secure this endowment. They first

consecrated themselves to his work, and continued in prayer and

supplication until the Holy Ghost fell upon them on the Day of Pentecost,

and they received the promised endowment of power from on high. This,

then, is the way to get it.

The Council desired me to say more upon this subject; consequently, on

the Lord's Day, I took for my text the assertion of Christ, that the Father

is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than we are to

give good gifts to our children.

1. I said, This text informs us that it is infinitely easy to obtain the Holy

Spirit, or this endowment of power from the Father.

2. That this is made a constant subject of prayer. Everybody prays for

this, at all times, and yet, with all this intercession, how few,

comparatively, are really endued with this spirit of power from on high!

This want is not met. The want of power is a subject of constant

complaint. Christ says, "Everyone that asketh receiveth," but there

certainly is a "great gulf" between the asking and receiving, that is a great

stumbling-block to many. How, then, is this discrepancy to be explained?

I then proceeded to show why this endowment is not received. I said:

(1) We are not willing, upon the whole, to have what we desire and ask.

(2) God has expressly informed us that if we regard iniquity in our hearts

He will not hear us. But the petitioner is often self-indulgent. This is

iniquity, and God will not hear him.

(3) He is uncharitable.

(4) Censorious.

(5) Self-dependent.

(6) Resists conviction of sin.

(7) Refuses to confess to all the parties concerned.

(8) Refuses to make restitution to injured parties.

(9) He is prejudiced and uncandid.

(10) He is resentful.

(11) Has a revengeful spirit.

(12) Has a worldly ambition.

(13) He has committed himself on some point, and become dishonest,

and neglects and rejects further light.

(14) He is denominationally selfish.

(15) Selfish for his own congregation.

(16) He resists the teachings of the Holy Spirit.

(17) He grieves the Holy Spirit by dissension.

(18) He quenches the Spirit by persistence in justifying wrong.

(19) He grieves Him by a want of watchfulness.

(20) He resists Him by indulging evil tempers.

(21) Also by dishonesties in business.

(22) Also by indolence and impatience in waiting upon the Lord.

(23) By many forms of selfishness.

(24) By negligence in business, in study, in prayer.

(25) By undertaking too much business, too much study, and too little prayer.

(26) By a want of entire consecration.

(27) Last and greatest, by unbelief. He prays for this endowment without

expecting to receive it. "He that believeth not God, hath made Him a liar."

This, then, is the greatest sin of all. What an insult, what a blasphemy, to

accuse God of lying!

I was obliged to conclude that these and other forms of indulged sin

explained why so little is received, while so much is asked. I said I had

not time to present the other side. Some of the brethren afterward

inquired, "What is the other side?" The other side presents the certainty

that we shall receive the promised endowment of power from on high,

and be successful in winning souls, if we ask, and fulfill the plainly

revealed conditions of prevailing prayer. Observe, what I said upon the

Lord's Day was upon the same subject, and in addition to what I had

previously said. The misapprehension alluded to was this: If we first get

rid of all these forms of sin, which prevent our receiving this endowment,

have we not already obtained the blessing? What more do we need?

Answer. There is a great difference between the peace and the power of

the Holy Spirit in the soul. The disciples were Christians before the Day

of Pentecost, and, as such, had a measure of the Holy Spirit. They must

have had the peace of sins forgiven, and of a justified state, but yet they

had not the endowment of power necessary to the accomplishment of the

work assigned them. They had the peace which Christ had given them,

but not the power which He had promised. This may be true of all

Christians, and right here is, I think, the great mistake of the Church, and

of the ministry. They rest in conversion, and do not seek until they obtain

this endowment of power from on high. Hence so many professors have

no power with either God or man. They prevail with neither. They cling to

a hope in Christ, and even enter the ministry, overlooking the admonition

to wait until they are endued with power from on high. But let anyone

bring all the tithes and offerings into God's treasury, let him lay all upon

the altar, and prove God herewith, and he shall find that God "will open

the windows of heaven, and pour him out a blessing that there shall not

be room enough to receive it."

Chapter 2

WHAT IS IT?

The apostles and brethren, on the Day of Pentecost, received it. What did

they receive? What power did they exercise after that event? They

received a powerful baptism of the Holy Ghost, a vast increase of divine

illumination. This baptism imparted a great diversity of gifts that were

used for the accomplishment of their work. It manifestly included the

following things: The power of a holy life. The power of a self sacrificing

life. (The manifestation of these must have had great influence with those

to whom they proclaimed the gospel.) The power of a cross bearing life.

The power of great meekness, which this baptism enabled them

everywhere to exhibit. The power of a loving enthusiasm in proclaiming

the gospel. The power of teaching. The power of a loving and living faith.

The gift of tongues. An increase of power to work miracles. The gift of

inspiration, or the revelation of many truths before unrecognized by them.

The power of moral courage to proclaim the gospel and do the bidding

of Christ, whatever it cost them.

In their circumstances all these endowments were essential to their

success; but neither separately nor all together did they constitute that

power from on high which Christ promised, and which they manifestly

received. That which they manifestly received as the supreme, crowning,

and all-important means of success was the power to prevail with both

God and man, the power to fasten saving impressions upon the minds of

men. This last was doubtless the thing which they understood Christ to

promise. He had commissioned the Church to convert the world to Him.

All that I have named above were only means, which could never secure

the end unless they were vitalized and made effectual by the power of

God. The apostles, doubtless, understood this; and, laying themselves

and their all upon the altar, they besieged a Throne of Grace in the spirit

of entire consecration to their work.

They did, in fact, receive the gifts before mentioned; but supremely and

principally this power to savingly impress men. It was manifested right

upon the spot. They began to address the multitude; and, wonderful to

tell, three thousand were converted the same hour. But, observe, here

was no new power manifested by them upon this occasion, save the gift

of tongues.

They wrought no miracle at that time, and used these tongues simply as

the means of making themselves understood. Let it be noted that they

had not had time to exhibit any other gifts of the Spirit which have been

above named. They had not at that time the advantage of exhibiting a

holy life, or any of the powerful graces and gifts of the Spirit. What was

said on the occasion, as recorded in the gospel, could not have made the

impression that it did, had it not been uttered by them with a new power

to make a saving impression upon the people. This power was not the

power of inspiration, for they only declared certain facts of their own

knowledge. It was not the power of human learning and culture, for they

had but little. It was not the power of human eloquence, for there appears

to have been but little of it. It was God speaking in and through them. It

was a power from on high God in them making a saving impression

upon those to whom they spoke. This power to savingly impress abode

with and upon them. It was, doubtless, the great and main thing promised

by Christ, and received by the apostles and primitive Christians. It has

existed, to a greater or less extent, in the Church ever since. It is a

mysterious fact often manifested in a most surprising manner.

Sometimes a single sentence, a word, a gesture, or even a look, will

convey this power in an overcoming manner.

To the honor of God alone I will say a little of my own experience in this

matter. I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 10th of October.

In the evening of the same day, and on the morning of the following day,

I received overwhelming baptisms of the Holy Ghost, that went through

me, as it seemed to me, body and soul.

I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high that a

few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their

immediate conversion. My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in

the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a

hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes a word dropped,

without my remembering it, would fasten conviction, and often result in

almost immediate conversion. Sometimes I would find myself, in a great

measure, empty of this power. I would go out and visit, and find that I

made no saving impression. I would exhort and pray, with the same

result. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing

that this power had departed from me, and would inquire anxiously after

the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself, and crying

out for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This

has been the experience of my life.

I could fill a volume with the history of my own experience and

observation with respect to this power from on high. It is a fact of

consciousness and of observation, but a great mystery. I have said that

sometimes a look has in it the power of God. I have often witnessed this.

Let the following fact illustrate it. I once preached, for the first time, in a

manufacturing village. The next morning I went into a manufacturing

establishment to view its operations. As I passed into the weaving

department I beheld a great company of young women, some of whom,

I observed, were looking at me, and then at each other, in a manner that

indicated a trifling spirit, and that they knew me. I, however, knew none

of them. As I approached nearer to those who had recognized me they

seemed to increase in their manifestations of lightness of mind. Their

levity made a peculiar impression upon me; I felt it to my very heart. I

stopped short and looked at them, I know not how, as my whole mind

was absorbed with the sense of their guilt and danger. As I settled my

countenance upon them I observed that one of them became very much

agitated. A thread broke. She attempted to mend it; but her hands

trembled in such a manner that she could not do it. I immediately

observed that the sensation was spreading, and had become universal

among that class of triflers. I looked steadily at them until one after

another gave up and paid no more attention to their looms. They fell on

their knees, and the influence spread throughout the whole room. I had

not spoken a word; and the noise of the looms would have prevented my

being heard if I had. In a few minutes all work was abandoned, and tears

and lamentations filled the room.

At this moment the owner of the factory, who was himself an unconverted

man, came in, accompanied, I believe, by the superintendent, who was

a professed Christian. When the owner saw the state of things he said to

the superintendent, "Stop the mill." What he saw seemed to pierce him

to the heart.

"It is more important," he hurriedly remarked, "that these souls should be

saved than that this mill should run." As soon as the noise of the

machinery had ceased, the owner inquired: "What shall we do? We must

have a place to meet, where we can receive instruction." The

superintendent replied: "The muleroom will do." The mules were run up

out of the way, and all of the hands were notified and assembled in that

room. We had a marvelous meeting. I prayed with them, and gave them

such instructions as at the time they could bear. The word was with

power. Many expressed hope that day; and within a few days, as I was

informed, nearly every hand in that great establishment, together with the

owner, had hope in Christ.

This power is a great marvel. I have many times seen people unable to

endure the word. The most simple and ordinary statements would cut

men off from their seats like a sword, would take away their bodily

strength, and render them almost as helpless as dead men. Several

times it has been true in my experience that I could not raise my voice,

or say anything in prayer or exhortation except in the mildest manner,

without wholly overcoming those that were present. This was not

because I was preaching terror to the people; but the sweetest sounds

of the gospel would overcome them.

This power seems sometimes to pervade the atmosphere of one who is

highly charged with it. Many times great numbers of persons in a

community will be clothed with this power, when the very atmosphere of

the whole place seems to be charged with the life of God. Strangers

coming into it, and passing through the place, will be instantly smitten

with conviction of sin, and in many instances converted to Christ. When

Christians humble themselves, and consecrate their all afresh to Christ,

and ask for this power, they will often receive such a baptism that they

will be instrumental in converting more souls in one day than in all their

lifetime before. While Christians remain humble enough to retain this

power the work of conversion will go on, till whole communities and

regions of country are converted to Christ. The same is true of ministers.

But this article is long enough. If you will allow me, I have more to say

upon this subject.

Chapter 3

THE ENDOWMENT OF THE SPIRIT

Since the publication in the Independent of my article on "The Power

from on High" I have been confined with protracted illness. In the

meantime I have received numerous letters of inquiry upon that subject.

They relate mostly to three particular points of inquiry:

1. They request further illustrations of the exhibition of this power.

2. They inquire, "Who have a right to expect this endowment?"

3. How or upon what conditions can it be obtained?

I am unable to answer these inquiries by letters to individuals. With your

leave I propose, if my health continues to improve, to reply to them in

several short articles through your columns. In the present number I will

relate another exhibition of this power from on high, as witnessed by

myself. Soon after I was licensed to preach I went into a region of country

where I was an entire stranger. I went there at the request of a Female

Missionary Society, located in Oneida County, New York. Early in May,

I think, I visited the town of Antwerp, in the northern part of Jefferson

County. I stopped at the village hotel, and there learned that there were

no religious meetings held in that town at the time. They had a brick

meeting-house, but it was locked up.

By personal efforts I got a few people to assemble in the parlor of a

Christian lady in the place, and preached to them on the evening after my

arrival. As I passed round the village I was shocked with the horrible

profanity that I heard among the men wherever I went. I obtained leave

to preach in the school-house on the next Sabbath; but before the

Sabbath arrived I was much discouraged, and almost terrified, in view of

the state of society which I witnessed. On Saturday the Lord applied with

power to my heart the following words, addressed by the Lord Jesus to

Paul (Acts 18:9, 10): "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace;

for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have

much people in this city." This completely subdued my fears; but my

heart was loaded with agony for the people. On Sunday morning I arose

early, and retired to a grove not far from the village to pour out my heart

before God for a blessing on the labors of the day. I could not express

the agony of my soul in words, but struggled with much groaning, and, I

believe, with many tears, for an hour or two, without getting relief. I

returned to my room in the hotel; but almost immediately came back to

the grove. This I did thrice. The last time I got complete relief, just as it

was time to go to meeting. I went to the school house, and found it filled

to its utmost capacity. I took out my little pocket Bible, and read for my

text: "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

I exhibited the love of God as contrasted with the manner in which He

was treated by those for whom He gave up His Son.

I charged home their profanity upon them; and, as I recognized among

my hearers several whose profanity I had particularly noticed, in the

fullness of my heart and the gushing of my tears I pointed to them, and

said, "I heard these men call upon God to damn their fellows." The Word

took powerful effect. Nobody seemed offended, but almost everybody

greatly melted. At the close of the service the amiable landlord, Mr.

Copeland, rose and said that he would open the meeting house in the

afternoon. He did so. The meeting house was full, and, as in the morning,

the Word took powerful effect. Thus a powerful revival commenced in the

village, which soon after spread in every direction. I think it was on the

second Sabbath after this, when I came out of the pulpit in the afternoon,

an aged man approached, and said to me: "Can you not come and

preach in our neighborhood? We have never had any religious meetings

there." I inquired the direction and the distance, and appointed to preach

there the next afternoon, Monday, at five o'clock, in their school-house.

I had preached three times in the village, and attended two prayer

meetings on the Lord's Day; and on Monday I went on foot to fulfill this

appointment. The weather was very warm that day, and before I arrived

there I felt almost too faint to walk, and greatly discouraged in my mind.

I sat down in the shade by the wayside, and felt as if I was too faint to

reach there; and if I did, too much discouraged to open my mouth to the

people. When I arrived I found the house full, and immediately

commenced the service by reading a hymn. They attempted to sing, but

the horrible discord agonized me beyond expression. I leaned forward,

put my elbows upon my knees and my hands over my ears, and shook

my head withal, to shut out the discord, which even then I could barely

endure. As soon as they had ceased to sing I cast myself down upon my

knees, almost in a state of desperation. The Lord opened the windows

of heaven upon me, and gave me great enlargement and power in

prayer. Up to this moment I had no idea what text I should use on the

occasion. As I rose from my knees the Lord gave me this: "Up, get you

out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city." I told the people, as

nearly as I could recollect, where they would find it, and went on to tell

them of the destruction of Sodom. I gave them an outline of the history

of Abraham and Lot, and their relations to each other; of Abraham's praying for

Sodom, and of Lot, as the only pious man that was found in the city.

While I was doing this I was struck with the fact that the people

looked exceedingly angry about me. Many countenances appeared very

threatening, and some of the men near me looked as if they were about

to strike me. This I could not understand, as I was only giving them, with

great liberty of spirit, some interesting sketches of Bible history. As soon

as I had completed the historical sketch I turned upon them, and said that

I had understood they had never had any religious meetings in that

neighborhood; and, applying that fact, I thrust at them with the sword of

the Spirit with all my might.

From this moment the solemnity increased with great rapidity. In a few

moments there seemed to fall upon the congregation an instantaneous

shock. I cannot describe the sensation that I felt, nor that which was

apparent in the congregation; but the word seemed literally to cut like a

sword. The power from on high came down upon them in such a torrent

that they fell from their seats in every direction. In less than a minute

nearly the whole congregation were either down on their knees, or on

their faces, or in some position prostrate before God. Everyone was

crying or groaning for mercy upon his own soul. They paid no further

attention to me or to my preaching. I tried to get their attention; but I

could not. I observed the aged man who had invited me there as still

retaining his seat near the center of the house. He was staring around

him with a look of unutterable astonishment. Pointing to him, I cried at the

top of my voice, "Can't you pray?" He knelt down and roared out a short

prayer, about as loud as he could holler, but they paid no attention to

him. After looking round for a few moments, I knelt down and put my

hand on the head of a young man who was kneeling at my feet, and

engaged in prayer for mercy on his soul. I got his attention, and preached

Jesus in his ear. In a few moments he seized Jesus by faith, and then

broke out in prayer for those around him. I then turned to another in the

same way, and with the same result; and then another, and another, till

I know not how many had laid hold of Christ and were full of prayer for

others.

After continuing in this way till nearly sunset I was obliged to commit the

meeting to the charge of the old gentleman who had invited me, and go

to fulfill an appointment in another place for the evening. In the afternoon

of the next day I was sent for to go down to this place, as they had not

been able to break up the meeting. They had been obliged to leave the

school-house, to give place to the school; but had removed to a private

house near by, where I found a number of persons still too anxious and

too much loaded down with conviction to go to their homes. These were

soon subdued by the Word of God, and I believe all obtained a hope

before they went home. Observe, I was a total stranger in that place, had

never seen or heard of it, until as I have related. But here, at my second

visit, I learned that the place was called Sodom, by reason of its

wickedness; and the old man who invited me was called Lot, because he

was the only professor of religion in the place. After this manner the

revival broke out in this neighborhood. I have not been in that

neighborhood for many years; but in 1856, I think, while laboring in

Syracuse, New York, I was introduced to a minister of Christ from St.

Lawrence County by the name of Cross. He said to me, "Mr. Finney, you

don't know me; but do you remember preaching in a place called

Sodom?" I said, "I shall never forget it." He replied, "I was then a young

man, and was converted at that meeting." He is still living, a pastor in one

of the churches in that county, and is the father of the principal of our

preparatory department. Those who have lived in that region can testify

of the permanent results of that blessed revival. I can only give in words

a feeble description of that wonderful manifestation of power from on high

attending the preaching of the Word.

Chapter 4

ENDOWMENT OF POWER FROM ON HIGH

IN this article I propose to consider the conditions upon which this

endowment of power can be obtained. Let us borrow a little light from the

Scriptures. I will not cumber your paper with quotations from the Bible,

but simply state a few facts that will readily be recognized by all readers

of the Scriptures. If the readers of this article will read in the last Chapter

of Matthew and of Luke the commission which Christ gave to His

disciples, and in connection read the first and second Chapters of the

Acts of the Apostles, they will be prepared to appreciate what I have to

say in this article.

1st. The disciples had already been converted to Christ, and their faith

had been confirmed by His resurrection. But here let me say that

conversion to Christ is not to be confounded with a consecration to the

great work of the world's conversion. In conversion the soul has to do

directly and personally with Christ.

It yields up its prejudices, its antagonisms, its self-righteousness, its

unbelief, its selfishness; accepts Him, trusts Him, and supremely loves

Him. All this the disciples had, more or less, distinctly done. But as yet

they had received no definite commission, and no particular endowment

of power to fulfill a commission.

2nd. But when Christ had dispelled their great bewilderment resulting

from His crucifixion, and confirmed their faith by repeated interviews with

them, He gave them their great commission to win all nations to Himself.

But He admonished them to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with

power from on high, which He said they should receive not many days

hence. Now observe what they did. They assembled, the men and

women, for prayer. They accepted the commission, and, doubtless, came

to an understanding of the nature of the commission, and the necessity

of the spiritual endowment which Christ had promised. As they continued

day after day in prayer and conference they, no doubt, came to

appreciate more and more the difficulties that would beset them, and to

feel more and more their inadequacy to the task. A consideration of the

circumstances and results leads to the conclusion that they, one and all,

consecrated themselves, with all they had, to the conversion of the world

as their life-work. They must have renounced utterly the idea of living to

themselves in any form, and devoted themselves with all their powers to

the work set before them. This consecration of themselves to the work,

this selfrenunciation, this dying to all that the world could offer them,

must, in the order of nature, have preceded their intelligent seeking of the

promised endowment of power from on high. They then continued, with

one accord, in prayer for the promised baptism of the Spirit, which

baptism included all that was essential to their success. Observe, they

had a work set before them. They had a promise of power to perform it.

They were admonished to wait until the promise was fulfilled. How did

they wait? Not in listlessness and inactivity; not in making preparations

by study and otherwise to get along without it; not by going about their

business, and offering an occasional prayer that the promise might be

fulfilled; but they continued in prayer, and persisted in their suit till the

answer came. They understood that it was to be a baptism of the Holy

Ghost. They understood that it was to be received from Christ. They

prayed in faith. They held on, with the firmest expectation, until the

endowment came. Now, let these facts instruct us as to the conditions of

receiving this endowment of power.

We, as Christians, have the same commission to fulfill. As truly as they

did, we need an endowment of power from on high. Of course, the same

injunction, to wait upon God till we receive it, is given to us.

We have the same promise that they had. Now, let us take substantially

and in spirit the same course that they did. They were Christians, and

had a measure of the Spirit to lead them in prayer and in consecration.

So have we. Every Christian possesses a measure of the Spirit of Christ,

enough of the Holy Spirit to lead us to true consecration and inspire us

with the faith that is essential to our prevalence in prayer. Let us, then,

not grieve or resist Him: but accept the commission, fully consecrate

ourselves, with all we have, to the saving of souls as our great and our

only life-work. Let us get on to the altar with all we have and are, and lie

there and persist in prayer till we receive the endowment. Now, observe,

conversion to Christ is not to be confounded with the acceptance of this

commission to convert the world. The first is a personal transaction

between the soul and Christ relating to its own salvation. The second is

the soul's acceptance of the service in which Christ proposes to employ

it. Christ does not require us to make brick without straw. To whom He

gives the commission He also gives the admonition and the promise. If

the commission is heartily accepted, if the promise is believed, if the

admonition to wait upon the Lord till our strength is renewed be complied

with, we shall receive the endowment.

It is of the last importance that all Christians should understand that this

commission to convert the world is given to them by Christ individually.

Everyone has the great responsibility devolved upon him or her to win as

many souls as possible to Christ. This is the great privilege and the great

duty of all the disciples of Christ. There are a great many departments in

this work. But in every department we may and ought to possess this

power, that, whether we preach, or pray, or write, or print, or trade, or

travel, take care of children, or administer the government of the state,

or whatever we do, our whole life and influence should be permeated

with this power. Christ says: "If any man believe in Me, out of his belly

shall flow rivers of living water" that is, a Christian influence, having in

it the element of power to impress the truth of Christ upon the hearts of

men, shall proceed from Him. The great want of the Church at present is,

first, the realizing conviction that this commission to convert the world is

given to each of Christ's disciples as his life-work. I fear I must say that

the great mass of professing Christians seem never to have been

impressed with this truth. The work of saving souls they leave to

ministers. The second great want is a realizing conviction of the necessity

of this endowment of power upon every individual soul.

Many professors of religion suppose it belongs especially and only to

such as are called to preach the Gospel as a life-work. They fail to realize

that all are called to preach the Gospel, that the whole life of every

Christian is to be a proclamation of the glad tidings. A third want is an

earnest faith in the promise of this endowment. A vast many professors

of religion, and even ministers, seem to doubt whether this promise is to

the whole Church and to every Christian. Consequently, they have no

faith to lay hold of it. If it does not belong to all, they don't know to whom

it does belong. Of course they cannot lay hold of the promise by faith. A

fourth want is that persistence in waiting upon God for it that is enjoined

in the Scriptures. They faint before they have prevailed, and, hence, the

endowment is not received. Multitudes seem to satisfy themselves with

a hope of eternal life for themselves. They never get ready to dismiss the

question of their own salvation, leaving that, as settled, with Christ. They

don't get ready to accept the great commission to work for the salvation

of others, because their faith is so weak that they do not steadily leave

the question of their own salvation in the hands of Christ; and even some

ministers of the Gospel, I find, are in the same condition, and halting in

the same way, unable to give themselves wholly to the work of saving

others, because in a measure unsettled about their own salvation. It is

amazing to witness the extent to which the Church has practically lost

sight of the necessity of this endowment of power. Much is said of our

dependence upon the Holy Spirit by almost everybody; but how little is

this dependence realized. Christians and even ministers go to work

without it. I mourn to be obliged to say that the ranks of the ministry seem

to be filling up with those who do not possess it. May the Lord have

mercy upon us! Will this last remark be thought uncharitable? If so, let the

report of the Home Missionary Society, for example, be heard upon this

subject. Surely, something is wrong.

An average of five souls won to Christ by each missionary of that Society

in a year's toil certainly indicates a most alarming weakness in the

ministry. Have all or even a majority of these ministers been endued with

the power which Christ promised? If not, why not? But, if they have, is

this all that Christ intended by His promise? In a former article I have said

that the reception of this endowment of power is instantaneous. I do not

mean to assert that in every instance the recipient was aware of the

precise time at which the power commenced to work mightily within him.

It may have commenced like the dew and increased to a shower. I have

alluded to the report of the Home Missionary Society. Not that I suppose

that the brethren employed by that Society are exceptionally weak in faith

and power as laborers for God. On the contrary, from my acquaintance

with some of them, I regard them as among our most devoted and self-denying

laborers in the cause of God. This fact illustrates the alarming

weakness that pervades every branch of the Church, both clergy and

laity. Are we not weak? Are we not criminally weak? It has been

suggested that by writing thus I should offend the ministry and the

Church. I cannot believe that the statement of so palpable a fact will be

regarded as an offense. The fact is, there is something sadly defective

in the education of the ministry and of the Church.

The ministry is weak, because the Church is weak. And then, again, the

Church is kept weak by the weakness of the ministry. Oh for a conviction

of the necessity of this endowment of power and faith in the promise of

Christ!

Chapter 5

IS IT A HARD SAYING?

In a former article I said that the want of an endowment of power from on

high should be deemed a disqualification for a pastor, a deacon or elder,

a Sabbath school superintendent, a professor in a Christian college, and

especially for a professor in a theological seminary. Is this a hard saying?

Is this an uncharitable saying? Is it unjust? Is it unreasonable? Is it

unscriptural?

Suppose any one of the Apostles, or those present on the day of

Pentecost, had failed, through apathy, selfishness, unbelief, indolence,

or ignorance, to obtain this endowment of power, would it have been

uncharitable, unjust, unreasonable, or unscriptural, to have accounted

him disqualified for the work which Christ had appointed them?

Christ had expressly informed them that without this endowment they

could do nothing. He had expressly enjoined it upon them not to attempt

it in their own strength, but to tarry at Jerusalem until they received the

necessary power from on high. He had also expressly promised that if

they tarried, in the sense which He intended, they should receive it "not

many days hence." They evidently understood Him to enjoin upon them

to tarry in the sense of a constant waiting upon Him in prayer and

supplication for the blessing. Now, suppose that any one of them had

stayed away and attended to his own business, and waited for the

sovereignty of God to confer this power. He of course would have been

disqualified for the work; and if his fellow-Christians, who had obtained

this power, had deemed him so, would it have been uncharitable,

unreasonable, unscriptural?

And is it not true of all to whom the command to disciple the world is

given, and to whom the promise of this power is made, if through any

shortcoming or fault of theirs they fail to obtain this gift, that they are in

fact disqualified for the work, and especially for any official station? Are

they not, in fact, disqualified for leadership in the sacramental host? Are

they qualified for teachers of those who are to do the work? If it is a fact

that they do lack this power, however this defect is to be accounted for,

it is also a fact that they are not qualified for teachers of God's people;

and if they are seen to be disqualified because they lack this power, it

must be reasonable and right and Scriptural so to deem them, and so to

speak of them, and so to treat them. Who has a right to complain?

Surely, they have not. Shall the Church of God be burdened with

teachers and leaders who lack this fundamental qualification, when their

failing to possess it must be their own fault? The manifest apathy,

indolence, ignorance, and unbelief that exist upon this subject are truly

amazing. They are inexcusable. They must be highly criminal. With such

a command to convert the world ringing in our ears; with such an

injunction to wait in constant, wrestling prayer till we receive the power;

with such a promise, made by such a Savior, held out to us of all the help

we need from Christ Himself, what excuse can we offer for being

powerless in this great work? What an awful responsibility rests upon us,

upon the whole Church, upon every Christian! One might ask, How is

apathy, how is indolence, how is the common fatal neglect possible,

under such circumstances? If any of the primitive Christians to whom this

commandment was given had failed to receive this power, should we not

think them greatly to blame? If such default had been sin in them, how

much more in us with all the light of history and of fact blazing upon us,

which they had not received? Some ministers and many Christians treat

this matter as if it were to be left to the sovereignty of God, without any

persistent effort to obtain this endowment. Did the primitive Christians so

understand and treat it? No, indeed. They gave themselves no rest till

this baptism of power came upon them.

I once heard a minister preaching upon the subject of the baptism of the Holy

Ghost. He treated it as a reality; and when he came to the question of how it

was to be obtained, he said truly that it was to be obtained as the Apostles

obtained it on the day of Pentecost. I was much gratified, and listened eagerly

to hear him press the obligation on his hearers to give themselves no rest

till they had obtained it. But in this I was disappointed: for before he sat

down he seemed to relieve the audience from the feeling of obligation to

obtain the baptism, and left the impression that the matter was to be left

to the discretion of God, and said what appeared to imply a censure of

those that vehemently and persistently urged upon God the fulfillment of

the promise. Neither did he hold out to them the certainty of their

obtaining the blessing if they fulfilled the conditions. The sermon was in

most respects a good one; but I think the audience left without any

feeling of encouragement or sense of obligation to seek earnestly the

baptism.

This is a common fault of the sermons that I hear. There is much that is

instructive in them; but they fail to leave either a sense of obligation or a

feeling of great encouragement, as to the use of means, upon the

congregation. They are greatly defective in their winding up. They neither

leave the conscience under a pressure nor the whole mind under the

stimulus of hope. The doctrine is often good, but the "what then?" is often

left out. Many ministers and professors of religion seem to be theorizing,

criticizing, and endeavoring to justify their neglect of this attainment. So

did not the Apostles and other Christians. It was not a question which

they endeavored to grasp with their intellects before they embraced it

with their hearts. It was with them, as it should be with us, a question of

faith in a promise. I find many persons endeavoring to grasp with their

intellect and settle as a theory questions of pure experience. They are

puzzling themselves with endeavors to apprehend with the intellect that

which is to be received as a conscious experience through faith.

There is need of a great reformation in the Church on this particular

point. The Churches should wake up to the facts in the case, and take a

new position, a firm stand in regard to the qualifications of ministers and

Church officers. They should refuse to settle a man as pastor of whose

qualifications for the office in this respect they are not well satisfied.

Whatever else he may have to recommend him, if his record does not

show that he has this endowment of power to win souls to Christ, they

should deem him unqualified. It used to be the custom of Churches, and

I believe in some places is so still, in presenting a call to the pastorate,

to certify that, having witnessed the spiritual fruits of his labors, they

deem him qualified and called of God to the work of the ministry.

Churches should be well satisfied in some way that they call a fruitful

minister, and not a dry stalk that is, a mere intellect, a mere head with

little heart; an elegant writer, but with no unction; a great logician, but of

little faith; a fervid imagination, it may be, with no Holy Ghost power.

The Churches should hold the theological seminaries to a strict account

in this matter; and until they do, I fear the theological seminaries will

never wake up to their responsibility. Some years since, one branch of

the Scotch Church was so tried with the want of unction and power in the

ministers furnished them by their theological seminary that they passed

a resolution that until the seminary reformed in this respect they would

not employ ministers that were educated there. This was a necessary, a

just, a timely rebuke, which I believe had a very salutary effect. A

theological seminary ought by all means to be a school not merely for the

teaching of doctrine, but also, and even more especially, for the

development of Christian experience. To be sure the intellect should be

well furnished in those schools; but it is immeasurably more important

that the pupils should be led to a thorough personal knowledge of Christ,

and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,

and to be made conformable to His death. A theological seminary that

aims mainly at the culture of the intellect, and sends out learned men

who lack this endowment of power from on high, is a snare and a

stumbling-block to the Church. The seminaries should recommend no

one to the Churches, however great his intellectual attainments, unless

he has this most essential of all attainments, the endowment of power

from on high. The seminaries should be held as incompetent to educate

men for the ministry if it is seen that they send out men as ministers who

have not this most essential qualification. The Churches should inform

themselves, and look to those seminaries which furnish not merely the

best educated, but the most unctuous and spiritually powerful ministers.

It is amazing that, while it is generally admitted that the endowment of

power from on high is a reality, and essential to ministerial success,

practically it should be treated by the Churches and by the schools as of

comparatively little importance. In theory it is admitted to be everything;

but in practice treated as if it were nothing. From the Apostles to the

present day it has been seen that men of very little human culture, but

endued with this power, have been highly successful in winning souls to

Christ; whilst men of the greatest learning, with all that the schools have

done for them, have been powerless so far as the proper work of the

ministry is concerned.

And yet we go on laying ten times more stress on human culture than we

do on the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Practically human culture is treated

as infinitely more important than the endowment of power from on high.

The seminaries are furnished with learned men, but often not with men

of spiritual power; hence, they do not insist upon this endowment of

power as indispensable to the work of the ministry. Students are pressed

almost beyond endurance with study and the culture of the intellect, while

scarcely an hour in a day is given to instruction in Christian experience.

Indeed, I do not know that so much as one course of lectures on

Christian experience is given in the theological seminaries. But religion

is an experience. It is a consciousness. Personal intercourse with God is

the secret of the whole of it. There is a world of most essential learning

in this direction wholly neglected by the theological seminaries. With them

doctrine, philosophy, theology, Church history, sermonizing are

everything, and real heart-union with God nothing. Spiritual power to

prevail with God and to prevail with man has but little place in their

teaching. I have often been surprised at the judgment men form in regard

to the prospective usefulness of young men preparing for the ministry.

Even professors are very apt, I see, to deceive themselves on this

subject. If a young man is a good scholar, a fine writer, makes good

progress in exegesis, and stands high in intellectual culture, they have

strong hopes of him, even though they must know in many such cases

that these young men cannot pray; that they have no unction, no power

in prayer, no spirit of wrestling, of agonizing, and prevailing with God. Yet

they are expecting them, because of their culture, to make their mark in

the ministry, to be highly useful. For my part, I expect no such thing of

this class of men. I have infinitely more hope of the usefulness of a man

who, at any cost, will keep up daily intercourse with God; who is yearning

for and struggling after the highest possible spiritual attainment; who will

not live without daily prevalence in prayer and being clothed with power

from on high. Churches, presbyteries, associations, and whoever license

young men for the ministry, are often very faulty in this respect. They will

spend hours in informing themselves of the intellectual culture of the

candidates, but scarcely as many minutes in ascertaining their heart

culture, and what they know of the power of Christ to save from sin, what

they know of the power of prayer, and whether and to what extent they

are endued with power from on high to win souls to Christ. The whole

proceeding on such occasions cannot but leave the impression that

human learning is preferred to spiritual unction. Oh! that it were different,

and that we were all agreed, practically, now and for ever, to hold fast to

the promise of Christ, and never think ourselves or anybody else to be fit

for the great work of the Church till we have received a rich endowment

of power from on high I beg of my brethren, and especially my younger

brethren, not to conceive of these articles as written in the spirit of

reproach. I beg the Churches, I beg the seminaries, to receive a word of

exhortation from an old man, who has had some experience in these

things, and one whose heart mourns and is weighed down in view of the

shortcomings of the Church, the ministers, and the seminaries on this

subject. Brethren, I beseech you to more thoroughly consider this matter,

to wake up and lay it to heart, and rest not till this subject of the

endowment of power from on high is brought forward into its proper

place, and takes that prominent and practical position in view of the

whole Church that Christ designed it should.

Chapter 6

PREVAILING PRAYER

Prevailing prayer is that which secures an answer. Saying prayers is not

offering prevailing prayer. The prevalence of prayer does not depend so

much on quantity as on quality. I do not know how better to approach this

subject than by relating a fact of my own experience before I was

converted. I relate it because I fear such experiences are but too

common among unconverted men.

I do not recollect having ever attended a prayer meeting until after I

began the study of law. Then, for the first time, I lived in a neighborhood

where there was a prayer meeting weekly.

I had neither known, heard, nor seen much of religion; hence I had no

settled opinions about it. Partly from curiosity and partly from an

uneasiness of mind upon the subject, which I could not well define, I

began to attend that prayer meeting. About the same time I bought the

first Bible that I ever owned, and began to read it. I listened to the prayers

which I heard offered in those prayer meetings with all the attention that

I could give to prayers so cold and formal. In every prayer they prayed for

the gift and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Both in their prayers and in their

remarks, which were occasionally interspersed, they acknowledged that

they did not prevail with God. This was most evident, and had almost

made me a skeptic.

Seeing me so frequently in their prayer meeting, the leader, on one

occasion, asked me if I did not wish them to pray for me. I replied: "No."

I said: "I suppose that I need to be prayed for, but your prayers are not

answered. You confess it yourselves." I then expressed my astonishment

at this fact, in view of what the Bible said about the prevalence of prayer.

Indeed, for some time my mind was much perplexed and in doubt in view

of Christ's teaching on the subject of prayer and the manifest facts before

me, from week to week, in this prayer meeting. Was Christ a divine

teacher? Did He actually teach what the Gospels attributed to Him? Did

He mean what He said? Did prayer really avail to secure blessings from

God? If so, what was I to make of what I witnessed from week to week

and month to month in that prayer meeting? Were they real Christians?

Was that which I heard real prayer, in the Bible sense? Was it such

prayer as Christ had promised to answer? Here I found the solution.

I became convinced that they were under a delusion; that they did not

prevail because they had no right to prevail. They did not comply with the

conditions upon which God had promised to hear prayer. Their prayers

were just such as God had promised not to answer. It was evident they

were overlooking the fact that they were in danger of praying themselves

into skepticism in regard to the value of prayer.

In reading my Bible I noticed such revealed conditions as the following:

(a) Faith in God as the answerer of prayer. This, it is plain, involves the

expectation of receiving what we ask.

(b) Another revealed condition is the asking according to the revealed will

of God. This plainly implies asking not only for such things as God is

willing to grant, but also asking in such a state of mind as God can

accept. I fear it is common for professed Christians to overlook the state

of mind in which God requires them to be as a condition of answering

their prayers.

For example: In offering the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come," it is

plain that sincerity is a condition of prevailing with God. But sincerity in

offering this petition implies the whole heart and life devotion of the

petitioner to the building up of this kingdom. It implies the sincere and

thorough consecration of all that we have and all that we are to this end.

To utter this petition in any other state of mind involves hypocrisy, and is

an abomination.

So in the next petition, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," God

has not promised to hear this petition unless it be sincerely offered. But

sincerity implies a state of mind that accepts the whole revealed will of

God, so far as we understand it, as they accept it in heaven. It implies a

loving, confiding, universal obedience to the whole known will of God,

whether that will is revealed in His Word, by His Spirit, or in His

providence. It implies that we hold ourselves and all that we have and are

as absolutely and cordially at God's disposal as do the inhabitants of

heaven. If we fall short of this, and withhold anything whatever from God,

we "regard iniquity in our hearts," and God will not hear us.

Sincerity in offering this petition implies a state of entire and universal

consecration to God. Anything short of this is withholding from God that

which is His due. It is "turning away our ear from hearing the law." But

what saith the Scriptures? "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the

law, even his prayer shall be an abomination." Do professed Christians

understand this?

What is true of offering these two petitions is true of all prayer. Do

Christians lay this to heart? Do they consider that all professed prayer is

an abomination if it be not offered in a state of entire consecration of all

that we have and are to God? If we do not offer ourselves with and in our

prayers, with all that we have; if we are not in a state of mind that

cordially accepts and, so far as we know, perfectly conforms to the whole

will of God, our prayer is an abomination. How awfully profane is the use

very frequently made of the Lord's Prayer, both in public and in private.

To hear men and women chatter over the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom

come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," while their lives are

anything but conformed to the known will of God is shocking and

revolting. To hear men pray, "Thy kingdom come," while it is most evident

that they are making little or no sacrifice or effort to promote this

kingdom, forces the conviction of bare-faced hypocrisy. Such is not

prevailing prayer.

(c) Unselfishness is a condition of prevailing prayer. "Ye ask and receive

not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts"

(James 4:3).

(d) Another condition of prevailing prayer is a conscience void of offense

toward God and man. 1 John 3:20, 22: "If our heart (conscience)

condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things; if our

heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and

whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His

commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."

Here two things are made plain: first, that to prevail with God we must

keep a conscience void of offense; and, second, that we must keep His

commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

(e) A pure heart is also a condition of prevailing prayer. Psalm 66 18: "If

I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."

(f) All due confession and restitution to God and man is another condition

of prevailing prayer. Proverbs 28:13: "He that covereth his sins shall not

prosper. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy."

(g) Clean hands is another condition. Psalm 26:6: "I will wash mine hands

in innocence, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord." I Timothy 6:8: "I will

that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and

doubting."

(h) The settling of disputes and animosities among brethren is a

condition. Matthew 5:23, 24: "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there

rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift

before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, then

come and offer thy gift."

(I) Humility is another condition of prevailing prayer. James 4:6: "God

resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."

(j) Taking up the stumbling-blocks is another condition. Ezekiel 14:3:

"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the

stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of

at all by them?"

(k) A forgiving spirit is a condition. Matthew 6:12: "Forgive us our debts

as we forgive our debtors"; 15: "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,

neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses."

(l) The exercise of a truthful spirit is a condition. Psalm 51:6: "Behold,

Thou desireth truth in the inward parts." If the heart be not in a truthful

state, if it be not entirely sincere and unselfish, we regard iniquity in our

hearts; and, therefore, the Lord will not hear us.

(m) Praying in the name of Christ is a condition of prevailing prayer.

(n) The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is another condition. All truly

prevailing prayer is inspired by the Holy Ghost. Romans 8:26, 27: "For we

know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself

maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And

He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,

because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of

God." This is the true spirit of prayer. This is being led by the Spirit in

prayer. It is the only really prevailing prayer. Do professed Christians

really understand this? Do they believe that unless they live and walk in

the Spirit, unless they are taught how to pray by the intercession of the

Spirit in them, they cannot prevail with God?

(o) Fervency is a condition. A prayer, to be prevailing, must be fervent.

James 5:16: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for

another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a

righteous man availeth much."

(p) Perseverance or persistence in prayer is often a condition of

prevailing. See the case of Jacob, of Daniel, of Elijah, of the

Syrophoenician woman, of the unjust judge, and the teaching of the Bible

generally.

(q) Travail of soul is often a condition of prevailing prayer. "As soon as

Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." "My little children," said

Paul, "for whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you." This

implies that he had travailed in birth for them before they were converted.

Indeed, travail of soul in prayer is the only real revival prayer. If anyone

does not know what this is, he does not understand the spirit of prayer.

He is not in a revival state. He does not understand the passage already

quoted Romans 8:26, 27. Until he understands this agonizing prayer

he does not know the real secret of revival power.

(r) Another condition of prevailing prayer is the consistent use of means

to secure the object prayed for, if means are within our reach, and are

known by us to be necessary to the securing of the end. To pray for a

revival of religion, and use no other means, is to tempt God. This, I could

plainly see, was the case of those who offered prayer in the prayer

meeting of which I have spoken. They continued to offer prayer for a

revival of religion, but out of meeting they were as silent as death on the

subject, and opened not their mouths to those around them. They continued

this inconsistency until a prominent impenitent man

in the community administered to them in my presence a terrible rebuke.

He expressed just what I deeply felt. He rose, and with the utmost

solemnity and tearfulness said: "Christian people, what can you mean?

You continue to pray in these meetings for a revival of religion. You often

exhort each other here to wake up and use means to promote a revival.

You assure each other, and assure us who are impenitent, that we are

in the way to hell; and I believe it. You also insist that if you should wake

up, and use the appropriate means, there would be a revival, and we

should be converted. You tell us of our great danger, and that our souls

are worth more than all worlds; and yet you keep about your

comparatively trifling employments and use no such means. We have no

revival and our souls are not saved." Here he broke down and fell,

sobbing, back into his seat.

This rebuke fell heavily upon that prayer meeting, as I shall ever

remember. It did them good; for it was not long before the members of

that prayer meeting broke down, and we had a revival. I was present in

the first meeting in which the revival spirit was manifest. Oh! how

changed was the tone of their prayers, confessions, and supplications.

I remarked, in returning home, to a friend: "What a change has come

over these Christians. This must be the beginning of a revival." Yes; a

wonderful change comes over all the meetings whenever the Christian

people are revived. Then their confessions mean something. They mean

reformation and restitution. They mean work. They mean the use of

means. They mean the opening of their pockets, their hearts and hands,

and the devotion of all their powers to the promotion of the work.

(s) Prevailing prayer is specific. It is offered for a definite object. We

cannot prevail for everything at once. In all the cases recorded in the

Bible in which prayer was answered, it is noteworthy that the petitioner

prayed for a definite object.

(t) Another condition of prevailing prayer is that we mean what we say in

prayer; that we make no false pretenses; in short, that we are entirely

childlike and sincere, speaking out of the heart, nothing more nor less

than we mean, feel, and believe.

(u) Another condition of prevailing prayer is a state of mind that assumes

the good faith of God in all His promises.

(v) Another condition is "watching unto prayer" as well as "praying in the

Holy Ghost." By this I mean guarding against everything that can quench

or grieve the Spirit of God in our hearts.

Also watching for the answer, in a state of mind that will diligently use all

necessary means, at any expense, and add entreaty to entreaty.

When the fallow ground is thoroughly broken up in the hearts of

Christians, when they have confessed and made restitution if the work

be thorough and honest they will naturally and inevitably fulfill the

conditions, and will prevail in prayer. But it cannot be too distinctly

understood that none others will. What we commonly hear in prayer and

conference meetings is not prevailing prayer. It is often astonishing and

lamentable to witness the delusions that prevail upon the subject. Who

that has witnessed real revivals of religion has not been struck with the

change that comes over the whole spirit and manner of the prayers of

really revived Christians? I do not think I ever could have been converted

if I had not discovered the solution of the question: "Why is it that so

much that is called prayer is not answered?"

Chapter 7

HOW TO WIN SOULS

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in

doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." 1

Timothy 4:16.

I beg leave in this article to suggest to my younger brethren in the

ministry some thoughts on the philosophy of so preaching the gospel as

to secure the salvation of souls. They are the result of much study, much

prayer for divine teaching, and a practical experience of many years.

I understand the admonition at the head of this article to relate to the

matter, order, and manner of preaching.

The problem is, how shall we win souls wholly to Christ? Certainly we

must win them away from themselves.

1st. They are free moral agents, of course rational, accountable.

2nd. They are in rebellion against God, wholly alienated intensely

prejudiced, and committed against Him.

3rd. They are committed to self-gratification as the end of their being.

4th. This committed state is moral depravity, the fountain of sin within

them, from which flow by a natural law all their sinful ways. This

committed voluntary state is their "wicked heart." This it is that needs a

radical change.

5th. God is infinitely benevolent, and unconverted sinners are supremely

selfish, so that they are radically opposed to God. Their committal to the

gratification of their appetites and propensities is known in Bible language

as the "carnal mind"; or, as in the margin, "the minding of the flesh,"

which is enmity against God.

6th. This enmity is voluntary, and must be overcome, if at all, by the Word

of God, made effectual by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

7th. The gospel is adapted to this end, and when wisely presented we

may confidently expect the effectual cooperation of the Holy Spirit. This

is implied in our commission, "Go and disciple all nations, and lo! I am

with you always, even to the end of the world."

8th. If we are unwise, illogical, unphilosophical, and out of all natural

order in presenting the gospel, we have no warrant for expecting divine

cooperation.

9th. In winning souls, as in everything else, God works through and in

accordance with natural laws. Hence, if we would win souls we must

wisely adapt means to this end. We must present those truths and in that

order adapted to the natural laws of mind, of thought and mental action.

A false mental philosophy will greatly mislead us, and we shall often be

found ignorantly working against the agency of the Holy Spirit.

10th. Sinners must be convicted of their enmity. They do not know God,

and consequently are often ignorant of the opposition of their hearts to

Him. "By the law is the knowledge of sin," because by the law the sinner

gets his first true idea of God. By the law he first learns that God is

perfectly benevolent, and infinitely opposed to all selfishness. This law,

then, should be arrayed in all its majesty against the selfishness and

enmity of the sinner.

11th. This law carries irresistible conviction of its righteousness, and no

moral agent can doubt it.

12th. All men know that they have sinned, but all are not convicted of the

guilt and ill desert of sin. The many are careless and do not feel the

burden of sin, the horrors and terrors of remorse, and have not a sense

of condemnation and of being lost.

13th. But without this they cannot understand or appreciate the gospel

method of salvation. One cannot intelligently and heartily ask or accept

a pardon until he sees and feels the fact and justice of his condemnation.

14th. It is absurd to suppose that a careless, unconvicted sinner can

intelligently and thankfully accept the gospel offer of pardon until he

accepts the righteousness of God in his condemnation. Conversion to

Christ is an intelligent change. Hence the conviction of ill desert must

precede the acceptance of mercy; for without this conviction the soul

does not understand its need of mercy. Of course, the offer is rejected.

The gospel is no glad tidings to the careless, unconvicted sinner.

15th. The spirituality of the law should be unsparingly applied to the

conscience until the sinner's self-righteousness is annihilated, and he

stands speechless and self-condemned before a holy God.

16th. In some men this conviction is already ripe, and the preacher may

at once present Christ, with the hope of His being accepted; but at

ordinary times such cases are exceptional. The great mass of sinners are

careless, unconvicted, and to assume their conviction and preparedness

to receive Christ, and, hence, to urge sinners immediately to accept Him,

is to begin at the wrong end of our work to render our teaching

unintelligible. And such a course will be found to have been a mistaken

one, whatever present appearances and professions may indicate. The

sinner may obtain a hope under such teaching; but, unless the Holy Spirit

supplies something which the preacher has failed to do, it will be found

to be a false one. All the essential links of truth must be supplied.

17th. When the law has done its work, annihilated self-righteousness,

and shut the sinner up to the acceptance of mercy, he should be made

to understand the delicacy and danger of dispensing with the execution

of the penalty when the precept of law has been violated.

18th. Right here the sinner should be made to understand that from the

benevolence of God he cannot justly infer that God can consistently

forgive him. For unless public justice can be satisfied, the law of universal

benevolence forbids the forgiveness of sin. If public justice is not

regarded in the exercise of mercy, the good of the public is sacrificed to

that of the individual. God will never do this.

19th. This teaching will shut the sinner up to look for some offering to

public justice.

20th. Now give him the atonement as a revealed fact, and shut him up to

Christ as his own sin offering. Press the revealed fact that God has

accepted the death of Christ as a substitute for the sinner's death, and

that this is to be received upon the testimony of God.

21st. Being already crushed into contrition by the convicting power of the

law, the revelation of the love of God manifested in the death of Christ

will naturally beget great self-loathing, and that godly sorrow that needeth

not to be repented of. Under this showing the sinner can never forgive

himself. God is holy and glorious; and he a sinner, saved by sovereign

grace. This teaching may be more or less formal as the souls you

address are more or less thoughtful, intelligent, and careful to

understand.

22nd. It was not by accident that the dispensation of law preceded the

dispensation of grace; but it is in the natural order of things, in

accordance with established mental laws, and evermore the law must

prepare the way for the gospel. To overlook this in instructing souls is

almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard

of Christian experience, and to fill the Church with spurious converts.

Time will make this plain.

23rd. The truth should be preached to the persons present, and so

personally applied as to compel everyone to feel that you mean him or

her. As has been often said of a certain preacher:

"He does not preach, but explains what other people preach, and seems

to be talking directly to me."

24th. This course will rivet attention, and cause your hearers to lose sight

of the length of your sermon. They will tire if they feel no personal interest

in what you say. To secure their individual interest in what you are saying

is an indispensable condition of their being converted. And, while their

individual interest is thus awakened, and held fast to your subject, they

will seldom complain of the length of your sermon. In nearly all cases, if

the people complain of the length of our sermons, it is because we fail to

interest them personally in what we say.

25th. If we fail to interest them personally, it is either because we do not

address them personally, or because we lack unction and earnestness, or because

we lack clearness and force, or certainly because we lack something that we

ought to possess. To make them feel that we and that God means them is

indispensable.

26th. Do not think that earnest piety alone can make you successful in

winning souls. This is only one condition of success. There must be

common sense, there must be spiritual wisdom in adapting means to the

end. Matter and manner and order and time and place all need to be

wisely adjusted to the end we have in view.

27th. God may sometimes convert souls by men who are not spiritually

minded, when they possess that natural sagacity which enables them to

adapt means to that end; but the Bible warrants us in affirming that these

are exceptional cases. Without this sagacity and adaptation of means to

this end a spiritual mind will fail to win souls to Christ.

28th. Souls need instruction in accordance with the measure of their

intelligence. A few simple truths, when wisely applied and illuminated by

the Holy Ghost, will convert children to Christ. I say wisely applied, for

they too are sinners, and need the application of the law, as a

schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ, that they may be justified by faith.

It will sooner or later appear that supposed conversions to Christ are

spurious where the preparatory law work has been omitted, and Christ

has not been embraced as a Savior from sin and condemnation.

29th. Sinners of education and culture, who are, after all, unconvicted

and skeptical in their hearts, need a vastly more extended and thorough

application of truth. Professional men need the gospel net to be thrown

quite around them, with no break through which they can escape; and,

when thus dealt with, they are all the more sure to be converted in

proportion to their real intelligence. I have found that a course of lectures

addressed to lawyers, and adapted to their habits of thought and

reasoning, is most sure to convert them.

30th. To be successful in winning souls, we need to be observing to

study individual character, to press the facts of experience, observation,

and revelation upon the consciences of all classes.

31st. Be sure to explain the terms you use. Before I was converted, I

failed to hear the terms repentance, faith, regeneration, and conversion

intelligibly explained. Repentance was described as a feeling. Faith was

represented as an intellectual act or state, and not as a voluntary act of

trust. Regeneration was represented as some physical change in the

nature, produced by the direct power of the Holy Ghost, instead of a

voluntary change of the ultimate preference of the soul, produced by the

spiritual illumination of the Holy Ghost. Even conversion was represented

as being the work of the Holy Ghost in such a sense as to cover up the

fact that it is the sinner's own act, under the persuasions of the Holy

Ghost.

32nd. Urge the fact that repentance involves the voluntary and actual

renunciation of all sin; that it is a radical change of mind toward God.

33rd. Also the fact that saving faith is heart trust in Christ; that it works

by love, it purifies the heart, and overcomes the world; that no faith is

saving that has not these attributes.

34th. The sinner is required to put forth certain mental acts. What these

are he needs to understand. Error in mental philosophy but embarrasses,

and may fatally deceive the inquiring soul. Sinners are often put upon a

wrong track. They are put upon a strain to feel instead of putting forth the

required acts of will. Before my conversion I never received from man

any intelligible idea of the mental acts that God required of me.

35th. The deceitfulness of sin renders the inquiring soul exceedingly

exposed to delusion; therefore it behoves teachers to beat about every

bush, and to search out every nook and corner where a soul can find a

false refuge. Be so thorough and discriminating as to render it as nearly

impossible as the nature of the case will admit that the inquirer should

entertain a false hope.

36th. Do not fear to be thorough. Do not through false pity put on a

plaster where the probe is needed. Do not fear that you shall discourage

the convicted sinner, and turn him back, by searching him out to the

bottom. If the Holy Spirit is dealing with him, the more you search and

probe the more impossible it will be for the soul to turn back or rest in sin.

37th. If you would save the soul, do not spare a right hand, or right eye,

or any darling idol; but see to it that every form of sin is given up. Insist

upon full confession of wrong to all that have a right to confession. Insist

upon full restitution, so far as is possible, to all injured parties. Do not

fall short of the express teachings of Christ on this subject. Whoever the

sinner may be, let him distinctly understand that unless he forsakes all

that he has he cannot be the disciple of Christ. Insist upon entire and

universal consecration of all the powers of body and mind, and of all the

property, possessions, character, and influence to God. Insist upon the

total abandonment to God of all ownership of self, or anything else, as a

condition of being accepted.

38th. Understand yourself, and, if possible, make the sinner understand,

that nothing short of this is involved in true faith or true repentance, and

that true consecration involves them all.

39th. Keep constantly before the sinner's mind that it is the personal

Christ with whom he is dealing, that God in Christ is seeking his

reconciliation to Himself, and that the condition of his reconciliation is that

he gives up his will and his whole being to God that he "leave not a

hoof behind."

40th. Assure him that "God has given to him eternal life, and this life is in

His Son"; that "Christ is made unto him wisdom, righteousness,

sanctification, and redemption"; and that from first to last he is to find his

whole salvation in Christ.

41st. When satisfied that the soul intelligently receives all this doctrine,

and the Christ herein revealed, then remember that he must persevere

unto the end, as the further condition of his salvation. Here you have

before you the great work of preventing the soul from backsliding, of

securing its permanent sanctification and sealing for eternal glory.

42nd. Does not the very common backsliding in heart of converts indicate

some grave defect in the teachings of the pulpit on this subject?

What does it mean that so many hopeful converts, within a few months

of their apparent conversion, lose their first love, lose all their fervency in

religion, neglect their duty, and live on in name Christians, but in spirit

and life worldlings?

43rd. A truly successful preacher must not only win souls to Christ, but

must keep them won. He must not only secure their conversion, but their

permanent sanctification.

44th. Nothing in the Bible is more expressly promised in this life than

permanent sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24: "The very God of

peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and

body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." This is unquestionably

a prayer of the apostle for permanent sanctification in this life, with an

express promise that He who has called us will do it.

45th. We learn from the Scriptures that "after we believe" we are, or may

be, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and that this sealing is the

earnest of our salvation. Ephesians 1:13, 14: "In whom ye also trusted

after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in

whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of

promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of

the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." This sealing, this

earnest of our inheritance, is that which renders our salvation sure.

Hence, in Ephesians 4:30, the apostle says: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit

of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." And in 2

Corinthians 1:21 and 22 the apostle says: "Now He which establisheth us

with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us

and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Thus we are established

in Christ and anointed by the Spirit, and also sealed by the earnest of the

Spirit in our hearts. And this, remember, is a blessing that we receive

after that we believe, as Paul has informed us in his Epistle to the

Ephesians, above quoted. Now, it is of the first importance that converts

should be taught not to rest short of this permanent sanctification, this

sealing, this being established in Christ by the special anointing of the

Holy Ghost.

46th. Now, brethren, unless we know what this means by our own

experience, and lead converts to this experience, we fail most lamentably

and essentially in our teaching. We leave out the very cream and fullness

of the Gospel.

47th. It should be understood that while this experience is rare amongst

ministers it will be discredited by the Churches, and it will be next to

impossible for an isolated preacher of this doctrine to overcome the

unbelief of his Church. They will feel doubtful about it, because so few

preach it or believe in it; and will account for their pastor's insisting upon

it by saying that his experience is owing to his peculiar temperament, and

thus they will fail to receive this anointing because of their unbelief. Under

such circumstances it is all the more necessary to insist much upon the

importance and privilege of permanent sanctification.

48th. Sin consists in carnal-mindedness, in "obeying the desires of the

flesh and of the mind." Permanent sanctification consists in entire and

permanent consecration to God. It implies the refusal to obey the desire

of the flesh or of the mind. The baptism or sealing of the Holy Spirit

subdues the power of the desires, and strengthens and confirms the will

in resisting the impulse of desire, and in abiding permanently in a state

of making the whole being an offering to God.

49th. If we are silent upon this subject, the natural inference will be that

we do not believe in it, and, of course, that we know nothing about it in

experience. This will inevitably be a stumbling block to the Church.

50th. Since this is undeniably an important doctrine, and plainly taught in

the gospel, and is, indeed, the marrow and fatness of the gospel, to fail

in teaching this is to rob the Church of its richest inheritance.

51st. The testimony of the Church, and to a great extent of the ministry,

on the subject has been lamentably defective. This legacy has been

withheld from the Church, and is it any wonder that she so disgracefully

backslides? The testimony of the comparatively few, here and there, that

insist upon this doctrine is almost nullified by the counter-testimony or

culpable silence of the great mass of Christ's witnesses.

52nd. My dear brethren, my convictions are so ripe and my feelings so

deep upon this subject that I must not conceal from you my fears that

lack of personal experience, in many cases, is the reason of this great

defect in preaching the gospel. I do not say this to reproach you; it is not

in my heart to do so. It is not wonderful that many of you, at least, have

not this experience. Your religious training has been defective. You have

been led to take a different view of this subject. Various causes have

operated to prejudice you against this blessed doctrine of the glorious

gospel. You have not intellectually believed it; and, of course, have not

received Christ in His fullness into your hearts. Perhaps this doctrine to

you has been a stumbling block and a rock of offense; but I pray you let

not prejudice prevail, but venture upon Christ by a present acceptance

of Him as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

and see if He will not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you

asked or thought.

53rd. No man, saint or sinner, should be left by us to rest or be quiet in

the indulgence of any sin. No one should be allowed to entertain the

hope of heaven, if we can prevent it, who lives in the indulgence of

known sin in any form. Our constant demand and persuasion should be,

"Be ye holy, for God is holy." "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in

heaven is perfect." Let us remember the manner in which Christ

concludes His memorable Sermon on the Mount. After spreading out

those awfully searching truths before His hearers, and demanding that

they should be perfect, as their Father in heaven was perfect, He

concludes by assuring them that no one could be saved who did not

receive and obey His teachings. Instead of attempting to please our

people in their sins, we should continually endeavor to hunt and

persuade them out of their sins. Brethren, let us do it, as we would not

have our skirts defiled with their blood. If we pursue this course and

constantly preach with unction and power, and abide in the fullness of the

doctrine of Christ, we may joyfully expect to save ourselves and them

that hear us.

Chapter 8

PREACHER, SAVE THYSELF

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, continue in them: for in

doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." I

Timothy 4:16.

I am not going to preach to preachers, but to suggest certain conditions

upon which the salvation promised in this text may be secured by them.

1st. See that you are constrained by love to preach the gospel, as Christ

was to provide a gospel.

2nd. See that you have the special enduement of power from on high, by

the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

3rd. See that you have a heart, and not merely a head call to undertake

the preaching of the gospel. By this I mean, be heartily and most

intensely inclined to seek the salvation of souls as the great work of life,

and do not undertake what you have no heart to.

4th. Constantly maintain a close walk with God.

5th. Make the Bible your book of books. Study it much, upon your knees,

waiting for divine light.

6th. Beware of leaning on commentaries. Consult them when convenient;

but judge for yourself, in the light of the Holy Ghost.

7th. Keep yourself pure in will, in thought, in feeling, in word and action.

8th. Contemplate much the guilt and danger of sinners, that your zeal for

their salvation may be intensified.

9th. Also deeply ponder and dwell much upon the boundless love and

compassion of Christ for them.

10th. So love them yourself as to be willing to die for them.

11th. Give your most intense thought to the study of ways and means by

which you may save them. Make this the great and intense study of your

life.

12th. Refuse to be diverted from this work. Guard against every

temptation that would abate your interest in it.

13th. Believe the assertion of Christ that He is with you in this work

always and everywhere, to give you all the help you need.

14th. "He that winneth souls is wise"; and "If any man lack wisdom, let

him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and

he shall receive." But let him ask in faith." Remember, therefore, that you

are bound to have the wisdom that shall win souls to Christ.

15th. Being called of God to the work, make your calling your constant

argument with God for all that you need for the accomplishment of the

work.

16th. Be diligent and laborious, "in season and out of season."

17th. Converse much with all classes of your hearers on the question of

their salvation, that you may understand their opinions, errors, and wants.

Ascertain their prejudices, ignorance, temper, habits, and whatever you

need to know to adapt your instruction to their necessities.

18th. See that your own habits are in all respects correct; that you are

temperate in all things free from the stain or smell of tobacco, alcohol,

drugs, or anything of which you have reason to be ashamed, and which

may stumble others.

19th. Be not "light-minded," but "set the Lord always before you."

20th. Bridle your tongue, and be not given to idle and unprofitable

conversation.

21st. Always let your people see that you are in solemn earnest with

them, both in the pulpit and out of it; and let not your daily intercourse

with them nullify your serious teaching on the Sabbath.

22nd. Resolve to "know nothing" among your people "save Jesus Christ

and Him crucified"; and let them understand that, as an ambassador of

Christ, your business with them relates wholly to the salvation of their

souls.

23rd. Be sure to teach them as well by example as by precept. Practice

yourself what you preach.

24th. Be especially guarded in your intercourse with women, to raise no

thought or suspicion of the least impurity in yourself.

25th. Guard your weak points. If naturally tending to gaiety and trifling,

watch against occasions of failure in this direction.

26th. If naturally somber and unsocial, guard against moroseness and

unsociability.

27th. Avoid all affectation and sham in all things. Be what you profess to

be, and you will have no temptation to "make believe."

28th. Let simplicity, sincerity, and Christian propriety stamp your whole

life.

29th. Spend much time every day and night in prayer and direct

communion with God. This will make you a power for salvation. No

amount of learning and study can compensate for the loss of this

communion. If you fail to maintain communion with God, you are "weak

as another man."

30th. Beware of the error that there are no means of regeneration, and,

consequently, no connection of means and ends in the regeneration of

souls.

31st. Understand that regeneration is a moral, and therefore a voluntary

change.

32nd. Understand that the gospel is adapted to change the hearts of

men, and in a wise presentation of it you may expect the efficient

cooperation of the Holy Spirit.

33rd. In the selection and treatment of your texts, always secure the

direct teaching of the Holy Spirit.

34th. Let all your sermons be heart and not merely head sermons.

35th. Preach from experience, and not from hearsay, or mere reading

and study.

36th. Always present the subject which the Holy Spirit lays upon your

heart for the occasion. Seize the points presented by the Holy Spirit to

your own mind, and present them with the greatest possible directness

to your congregation.

37th. Be full of prayer whenever you attempt to preach, and go from your

closet to your pulpit with the inward groanings of the Spirit pressing for

utterance at your lips.

38th. Get your mind fully imbued with your subject, so that it will press for

utterance; then open your mouth, and let it forth like a torrent.

39th. See that "the fear of man that bringeth a snare" is not upon you. Let

your people understand that you fear God too much to be afraid of them.

40th. Never let the question of your popularity with your people influence

your preaching.

41st. Never let the question of salary deter you from "declaring the whole

counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear."

42nd. Do not temporize, lest you lose the confidence of your people, and

thus fail to save them. They cannot thoroughly respect you, as an

ambassador of Christ, if they see that you dare not do your duty.

43rd. Be sure to "commend yourself to every man's conscience in the

sight of God."

44th. Be "not a lover of filthy lucre."

45th. Avoid every appearance of vanity.

46th. Compel your people to respect your sincerity and your spiritual

wisdom.

47th. Let them not for one moment suppose that you can be influenced

in your preaching by any considerations of salary, more or less, or none

at all.

48th. Do not make the impression that you are fond of good dinners, and

like to be invited out to dine; for this will be a snare to you, and a

stumbling-block to them.

49th. Keep your body under, lest after having preached to others,

yourself should be a castaway.

50th. "Watch for souls as one who must give an account to God."

51st. Be a diligent student, and thoroughly instruct your people in all that

is essential to their salvation.

52nd. Never flatter the rich.

53rd. Be especially attentive to the wants and instruction of the poor.

54th. Suffer not yourself to be bribed into a compromise with sin by

donation parties.

55th. Suffer not yourself to be publicly treated as a mendicants or you will

come to be despised by a large class of your hearers.

56th. Repel every attempt to close your mouth against whatever is

extravagant, wrong, or injurious amongst your people.

57th. Maintain your pastoral integrity and independence, lest you sear

your conscience, quench the Holy Spirit, forfeit the confidence of your

people, and lose the favor of God.

58th. Be an example to the flock, and let your life illustrate your teaching.

Remember that your actions and spirit will teach even more impressively

than your sermons.

59th. If you preach that men should offer to God and their neighbor a

love service, see that you do this yourself, and avoid all that tends to the

belief that you are working for pay.

60th. Give to your people a love service, and encourage them to render

to you, not a money equivalent for your labor, but a love reward that will

refresh both you and them.

61st. Repel every proposal to get money for you or for Church purposes

that will naturally disgust and excite the contempt of worldly but

thoughtful men.

62nd. Resist the introduction of tea parties, amusing lectures, and

dissipating sociables, especially at those seasons most favorable for

united efforts to convert souls to Christ. Be sure the devil will try to head

you off in this direction. When you are praying and planning for a revival

of God's work, some of your worldly Church members will invite you to a

party. Go not, or you are in for a circle of them, that will defeat your

prayers.

63rd. Do not be deceived. Your spiritual power with your people will

never be increased by accepting such invitations at such times. If it is a

good time to have parties, because the people have leisure, it is also a

good time for religious meetings, and your influence should be used to

draw the people to the house of God.

64th. See that you personally know and daily live upon Christ.

Chapter 9

INNOCENT AMUSEMENTS

We hear much said, and read much, in these days, of indulging in

innocent amusements. I heard a minister, some time since, in addressing

a large company of young people, say that he had spent much time in

devising innocent amusements for the young. Within a few years I have

read several sermons and numerous articles pleading for more

amusements than have been customary with religious people. With your

consent, I wish to suggest a few thoughts upon this subject first, what

are not, and, secondly, what are innocent amusements.

1st. This is a question of morals.

2nd. All intelligent acts of a moral agent must be either right or wrong.

Nothing is innocent in a moral agent that is not in accordance with the

law and gospel of God.

3rd. The moral character of any and every act of a moral agent resides

in the motive or the ultimate reason for the act. This I take to be

self-evident and universally admitted.

4th. Now, what is the rule of judgment in this case? How are we to decide

whether any given act of amusement is right or wrong, innocent or sinful?

I answer:

1st. By the moral law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart," etc., "and thy neighbor as thyself." No intelligent act of a moral

agent is innocent or right unless it proceeds from and is an expression of

supreme love to God and equal love to man in other words, unless it

is benevolent.

2nd. The Gospel. This requires the same: "Therefore, whether ye eat or

drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God." "Do all in the name

of our Lord Jesus Christ."

3rd. Right reason affirms the same thing.

Now, in the light of this rule, it is plain that it is not innocent to

engage in amusements merely to gratify the desire for amusement. We may not

innocently eat or drink to gratify the desire for food or drink. To eat

or drink merely to gratify appetite is innocent enough in a mere animal, but

in a moral agent it is a sin. A moral agent is bound to have a higher

ultimate motive to eat and drink that he may be strong and healthy for

the service of God. God has made eating and drinking pleasant to us; but

this pleasure ought not to be our ultimate reason for eating and drinking.

So amusements are pleasant, but this does not justify us in seeking

amusements to gratify desire. Mere animals may do this innocently,

because they are incapable of any higher motive. But moral agents are

under a higher law, and are bound to have another and a higher aim than

merely to gratify the desire for amusements. Therefore, no amusement

is innocent which is engaged in for the pleasure of the amusement, any

more than it would be innocent to eat and drink for the pleasure of it.

Again, no amusement is innocent that is engaged in because we need

amusements. We need food and drink; but this does not justify us in

eating and drinking simply because we need it. The law of God does not

say, "Seek whatever ye need because ye need it"; but, "Do all from love

to God and man." A wicked man might eat and drink selfishly that is,

to make his body strong to execute his selfish plans but this eating

and drinking would be sin notwithstanding he needed food and drink.

Nothing is innocent unless it proceeds from supreme love to God and

equal love to man, unless the supreme and ultimate motive be to please

and honor God. In other words, to be innocent, any amusement must be

engaged in because it is believed to be at the time most pleasing to God,

and is intended to be a service rendered to Him, as that which, upon the

whole, will honor Him more than anything else that we can engage in for

the time being. I take this to be self-evident. What then? It follows:

1st. That none but benevolent amusements can be innocent. Fishing and

shooting for amusement are not innocent. We may fish and hunt for the

same reason that we are allowed to eat and drink to supply nature

with aliment, that we may be strong in the service of God. We may hunt

to destroy noxious animals, for the glory of God and the interests of His

kingdom. But fishing and hunting to gratify a passion for these sports is

not innocent. Again, no amusement can be innocent that involves the

squandering of precious time, that might be better employed to the glory

of God and the good of man. Life is short. Time is precious. We have but

one life to live. Much is to be done. The world is in darkness. A world of

sinners are to be enlightened, and, if possible, saved. We are required

to work while the day lasteth. Our commission and work require dispatch.

No time is to be lost. If our hearts are right, our work is pleasant. If

rightly performed it affords the highest enjoyment and is itself the highest

amusement. No turning aside for amusement can be innocent that

involves any unnecessary loss of time. No man that realizes the

greatness of the work to be done, and loves to do it, can turn aside for

any amusement involving an unnecessary waste of time.

Again, no amusement can be innocent that involves an unnecessary expenditure

of the Lord's money. All our time and all our money are the Lord's. We

are the Lord's. We may innocently use both time and money to promote

the Lord's interests and the highest interests of man, which are the Lord's

interests. But we may not innocently use either for our own pleasure and

gratification. Expensive journeys for our own pleasure and amusement,

and not indulged in with a single eye to the glory of God, are not innocent

amusements, but sinful. Again, in the light of the above rule of judgment,

we see that no form of amusement is lawful for an unconverted sinner.

Nothing in him is innocent. While he remains impenitent and unbelieving,

does not love God and his neighbor according to God's command, there

is for him no innocent employment or amusement; all is sin.

And right here I fear that many are acting under a great delusion.

The loose manner in which this subject is viewed by many professors of

religion, and even ministers, is surprising and alarming. Some time since,

in a sermon, I remarked that there were no lawful employments or

innocent amusements for sinners. An aged clergyman who was present

said, after service, that it was ridiculous to hold that nothing was lawful or

innocent in an impenitent sinner. I replied: "I thought you were orthodox.

Do you not believe in the universal necessity of regeneration by the Holy

Spirit?" He replied: "Yes." I added: "Do you believe that an unregenerate

soul does anything acceptable to God? Before his heart is changed, does

he ever act from a motive that God can accept, in anything whatever? Is

he not totally depraved, in the sense that his heart is all wrong, and

therefore his actions must be all wrong?" He appeared embarrassed, saw

the point, and subsided.

Whatever is lawful in a moral agent or according to the law of God is

right. If anyone, therefore, engages lawfully in any employment or in any

amusement, he must do so from supreme love to God and equal love to

his neighbor; and is, therefore, not an impenitent sinner, but a Christian.

It is simply absurd and a contradiction to say that an impenitent soul

does, or says, or omits anything with a right heart. If impenitent, his

ultimate motive must necessarily be wrong; and, consequently, nothing

in him is innocent, but all must be sinful. What, then, is an innocent

amusement? It must be that and that only which not only might be but

actually is engaged in with a single eye to God's glory and the interests

of His kingdom. If this be not the ultimate and supreme design, it is not

an innocent, but a sinful amusement. Now, right here is the delusion of

many persons, I fear. When speaking of amusements, they say: "What

harm is there in them?" In answering to themselves and others this

question, they do not penetrate to the bottom of it. If on the surface they

see nothing contrary to morality, they judge that the amusement is

innocent. They fail to inquire into the supreme and ultimate motive in

which the innocence or sinfulness of the act is found. But apart from the

motive no course of action is either innocent or sinful, any more than the

motions of a machine or the acts of a mere animal are innocent or sinful.

No act or course of action should, therefore, be adjudged as either

innocent or sinful without ascertaining the supreme motive of the person

who acts.

To teach, either directly or by implication, that any amusement of an

impenitent sinner or of a backslider is innocent is to teach a gross and

ruinous heresy. Parents should remember this in regard to the

amusements of their unconverted children. Sabbath school teachers and

superintendents who are planning amusements for their Sabbath

schools, preachers who spend their time in planning amusements for the

young, who lead their flocks to picnics, in pleasure excursions, and justify

various games, should certainly remember that, unless they are in a holy

state of heart, and do all this from supreme love to God and a design in

the highest degree to glorify

God thereby, these ways of spending time are by no means innocent, but

highly criminal, and those who teach people to walk in these ways are

simply directing the channels in which their depravity shall run. For be it

ever remembered that, unless these things are indulged in from supreme

love to God and designed to glorify Him, unless they are, in fact, engaged

in with a single eye to the glory of God, they are not innocent, but sinful

amusements. I must say again, and, if possible, still more emphatically,

that it is not enough that they might be engaged in as the best way, for

the time being, to honor and please God; but they must be actually

engaged in from supreme love to God, with the ultimate design to glorify

Him. If such, then, is the true doctrine of innocent amusements, let no

impenitent sinner and no backslidden Christian suppose for a moment

that it is possible for him to engage in any innocent amusement. If it were

true, as the aged minister to whom I have referred and many others

seem to believe, that impenitent sinners or backsliders can and do

engage in innocent amusements, the very engaging in such

amusements, being lawfully right and innocent in them, would involve a

change of heart in the unconverted, and a return to God in the backslider.

For no amusement is lawful unless it be engaged in as a love-service

rendered to God and with design to please and glorify Him. It must not

only be a love service, but, in the judgment of the one who renders it, it

must be the best service that, for the time being, he can render to God

a service that will be more pleasing to Him and more useful to His

kingdom than any other that can be engaged in at the time. Let these

facts be borne in mind when the question of engaging in amusements

comes up for decision. And remember, the question in all such cases is

not, "What harm is there in this proposed amusement?" but, "What good

can it do?" "Is it the best way in which I can spend my time?" "Will it be

more pleasing to God and more for the interest of His kingdom than

anything else at present possible to me?" "If not, it is not an innocent

amusement, and I cannot engage in it without sin."

The question often arises: "Are we never to seek such amusements?" I answer: It

is our privilege and our duty to live above a desire for such things. All that

class of desires should be so subdued by living so much in the light of God,

and having so deep a communion with Him as to have no relish for such

amusements whatever. It certainly is the privilege of every child of God

to walk so closely with Him, and maintain so divine a communion with

Him, as not to feel the necessity of worldly excitements, sports,

pastimes, and entertainments to make his enjoyment satisfactory. If a

Christian avails himself of his privilege of communion with God, he will

naturally and by an instinct of his new nature repel solicitations to go after

worldly amusements. To him such pastimes will appear low,

unsatisfactory, and even repulsive. If he is of a heavenly mind, as he

ought to be, he will feel as if he could not afford to come down and seek

enjoyment in worldly amusements. Surely, a Christian must be fallen

from his first love, he must have turned back into the world, before he can

feel the necessity or have the desire of seeking enjoyment in worldly

sports and pastimes. A spiritual mind cannot seek enjoyment in worldly

society. To such a mind that society is necessarily repulsive. Worldly

society is insincere, hollow, and to a great extent a sham. What relish can

a spiritual mind have for the gossip of a worldly party of pleasure? None

whatever. To a mind in communion with God their worldly spirit and

ways, conversation and folly is repulsive and painful, as it is so strongly

suggestive of the downward tendency of their souls, and of the destiny

that awaits them. I have had so marked an experience of both sides of

this question that I think I cannot be mistaken. Probably but few persons

enjoy worldly pleasure more intensely than I did before I was converted;

but my conversion, and the spiritual baptism which immediately followed

it, completely extinguished all desire for worldly sports and amusements.

I was lifted at once into entirely another plane of life and another kind of

enjoyment. From that hour to the present the mode of life, the pastimes,

sports, amusements, and worldly ways that so much delighted me before

have not only failed to interest me, but I have had a positive aversion to

them. I have never felt them necessary to, or even compatible with, a

truly rational enjoyment. I do not speak boastingly; but for the honor of

Christ and His religion, I must say that my Christian life has been a happy

one. I have had as much enjoyment as is probably best for men to have

in this life, and never for an hour have I had the desire to turn back and

seek enjoyment from anything the world can give. But some may ask:

"Suppose we do not find sufficient enjoyment in religion, and really desire

to go after worldly amusements. If we have the disposition, is it not as

well to gratify it?" "Is there any more sin in seeking amusements than in

entertaining a longing for them?" I reply that a longing for them should

never be entertained. It is the privilege and therefore the duty of

everyone to rise, through grace, above a hungering and thirsting for the

fleshpots of Egypt, worldly pastimes and time-wasting amusements. The indulgence

of such longings is not innocent. One should not ask whether the longing

should be gratified, but whether it should not be displaced by a longing

for the glory of God and His kingdom.

Professed Christians are bound to maintain a life consistent with their

profession. For the honor of religion, they ought to deny worldly lusts; and

not, by seeking to gratify them,