Thomas Henry Howard

I

God's Call

'What manner of persons ought ye to be?' (2 Peter iii. 11.)

'As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.' (1 Peter i. 15, 16.)

When we set up standards for life and character we must be quite clear that our teaching fits in with God's purpose as revealed towards His people. Therefore, when we enforce the doctrine of personal Holiness, there is no reason more weighty than that which Peter gives us in the verses quoted, namely, that God calls us to Holiness.

The statement I have read seems to me to show that it is a mistake to suppose that personal Holiness is left optional. Many people go to Meetings, and, when they are shown the teachings of the Bible about Holiness, they recognize that it is a state of being cleansed, filled with the love of God, and kept by the indwelling Holy Ghost. They see it as a very desirable thing and a possible experience. But, somehow or other, they sit and listen, come and go, and seem to have the idea that it is quite left to themselves whether they should obey the call and claim this blessing or not.

Some talk as if there were two roads to Heaven; I mean the sinning and repenting life; falling down and getting up again; persevering in their journey with just enough religion to make them want to save their souls from going to Hell, in contradistinction to the experience of the saintly man or woman who says, 'By God's help I am going to live a life without sin! I am going to have my heart fully sanctified, and walk in the will of God.'

Some, I am afraid, even go so far as to deliberately say, 'Holiness is a very good thing if you want it; but I am not quite prepared for this, or to give up this, that, and the other. I think I shall get on very well as I am. If you want the blessing I am glad to see you go in for it.'

That is what I mean when I talk about people regarding the matter as if it were optional; and I like these words of Peter's because they show us a direct command: 'Be ye holy, for I am holy'. They fit in also with the other injunction: 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing'.

It is a grand and glorious privilege to have a clean heart; to have God Almighty coming and taking full possession of you; and to have His Holy Spirit day by day, filling your heart with love and keeping you in Divine fellowship. But I want you also to realize that it is a binding duty upon every follower of Jesus Christ to seek to become holy.

I think it was John Wesley who said something to the effect that professing Christians who had not got the blessing of a clean heart, or were not earnestly seeking to be delivered from sin, could not consistently be regarded as Christians at all. I do not put it as strongly as that; but I do, from deep conviction, say this to you, that every Salvationist, and other persons who, in Meetings of this kind, are taught that the will of God is that they shall be delivered from all sin, that they shall live a life of purity and Holiness, that they shall walk in the enjoyment of a Full Salvation, and yet are not willing to follow the light, and do what they know God wants them to do, are probably heart-backsliders, and in a fair way to backslide altogether.

I tell you, God has called you, not unto uncleanness, not to remain in a state of impurity, but to Holiness; and he that despiseth that calling despiseth not man, but God. Therefore, I beg of you not to imagine that, with clear light as to your duty, and the possibility of Full Salvation, you can either take it or leave it, and yet remain in the favour of God.

Then these verses are very useful because they set the standard for our personal spiritual condition. Need I explain what I mean by this? Let your minds turn to weights and measures, and you will see my meaning exactly. If you went to a draper's shop, and asked for so many yards of material, you would not be satisfied by his guessing the quantity—you would want it measured by the yard-stick, the proper standard of measurement. So with weights. If you ask for so many pounds of sugar or potatoes, it would not be for the shopman to say to you, 'Will that do for you? Put another in? All right! Will that do?' You would say, 'Please weigh them properly according to standard'.

Now it seems to me that in spiritual character we must have something by which we can measure and compare ourselves, and Peter gives us just such a standard when he says, 'As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy'. The standard is the character of God.

If Peter had said, 'As He is almighty, so be ye almighty', or, 'As He is infallible, so be ye infallible', then at once you would know that the standard was altogether out of your reach, and could not be realized. But, if you are a Christian at all, your inmost conviction tells you that to be holy is a reasonable requirement, and the law of consistency endorses it.

As you study your Bibles you will find many references to this standard of conformity with the Divine character, and will quickly see that nothing short of that can satisfy. It is not only the standard that exists in the Divine mind, but the world rightly expects that we, as Christian men and women, shall be holy. I know the world is very often disappointed, and that, unfortunately, the failures of some so-called Christian people are used as an excuse for disregarding the claims of God, but the world is right in expecting us to live holy lives.

That passage of Peter's contains a significant reminder in the sentence, 'Be ye holy in all manner of conversation'. Now, that word, 'conversation', has a much broader meaning in old English than the sense attached to our common use of it, generally limiting the word to mean intercourse between each other by speech. Here it really means the whole manner of living.

To me it is a matter of unspeakable joy to think that there is no right association, no duty, and no proper relationship in life that cannot be wholly sanctified and have God's smile upon it. Your eatings and drinkings, your speakings, your workings, your dressings, your courtings and marriages, also many other things, such as business and recreation, can all be sanctified, and the functions performed in harmony with the profession of Holiness and the maintenance of a clean heart.

But do not miss the true inwardness of this command: 'Be ye holy, for I am holy'. It is this—we cannot live up to the true standard, we cannot fulfil life's obligation, without a sanctified heart.

The General very frequently says, with reference to the failures of certain classes of people who call themselves Christians, that they make the mistake of supposing that they can keep the holy law of God with an unholy heart. The thing is absolutely impossible, and I should only be deluding you if I told you otherwise.

We sometimes say that in Heaven there is, and ever will be, an unwavering fulfilment of the highest will of God. But what secures that condition in Heaven? Do you think it is the absence of a personal Devil? Not only that—although the hope of it counts for a good deal with some of us. Do you think it is the absence of wicked surroundings and temptations from evil men and women? Not only that. Do you think it is the possession of things that produce unfailing pleasure and satisfaction? Not only that. It is just the fact that every heart is confirmed in its perfect acceptance of the Father's will, and is in the fullest conformity with the holy law of a holy God. There are many other things that go to make up Heaven, but without that there can be no Heaven at all.

Did you repeat the Lord's Prayer this morning? If so, you came to that little sentence, 'Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven'. Now, I ask you, do you really mean that? Do you honestly want that for yourselves? Because, unless you can put yourselves in line with that petition, unless there is a compliance with these words of Peter's, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy', you can never get that prayer answered.

II

Consecration Complete

'Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.' (Romans xii. 1.)

Surely, amongst those who love God and desire His Kingdom to come, there can be no difference of opinion with regard to the duty of whole-hearted consecration to the service of God.

The rightness of God's claims is beyond dispute among His own people; and so it ought to be recognized as our absolute duty to yield fully to those claims. The feeling of every professed servant of Christ ought to be, nay, surely is, 'I am not my own; I am bought with a price: I should "therefore glorify God in my body and soul, which are God's"'.

Whilst, however, in so many words all this is acknowledged, when it comes to practically facing the question, with its personal responsibility, how few there are who respond to the claims of the Master, rendering Him that out-and-out devotion of which we hear and speak.

Of a consecration that consists in attending Holiness Meetings, singing hymns, and uniting in prayers full of the most sublime sentiment, we have an abundance. With eyes closed and hands upraised, many vow that henceforth they will live, not unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again; but when the Meetings are over, the surroundings changed, and the actual duty presents itself, how much of this consecration is found to be mere sentiment, for 'as the early cloud and morning dew' so it passeth!

1. Now, let it be understood that real consecration is a practical thing. I have a saying, which cannot be repeated too often—'that which I give away I no longer have'. If we can only persuade people to recognize that truth, and make their consecration on these lines, something practical will follow.

Men like to say, 'I am the Lord's!' but when the Lord wants to make practical use of His own, Oh, what backwardness to obey! What slowness of speech on the part of the tongue that was professedly given to the Lord! What weariness of body will sometimes be found when that body is demanded by the Master for some special service! A dumb devil seems to take possession of the tongue, and the fear of man brings a snare, and all this often results in a shameful compromise. The fact is, much of the popular consecration means, 'Everything in general and nothing in particular'—mere words, clouds without water, leaves without fruit—and the world is little better for the vows that have been made.

We may want to follow Jesus without denying ourselves; but He says plainly that we cannot. If any man will deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Christ, he, and he only, shall be a true disciple.

Real, true consecration is a plain, matter-of-fact piece of business; sublime, not so much because of the character of the work it does, as because of the constraining love that is the motive and the results flowing from it. The beautiful halo and glamour clinging round our vows and prayers and songs during a Meeting, are gratifying to our senses; but real consecration manifests itself in hard, self-denying labour, when no eye but His sees; often, perhaps, when no heart but His appreciates, and no voice but His commends. The halo no longer seen, the glamour no longer felt, the soul steps forward and meets its duty, and, in the strength of God, does it: that is the consecration which tells for God and the Kingdom.

2. Let us also understand that real consecration is an 'all-round' thing. Many recognize the claims of God in great things, but are not so particular in the ordinary matters of everyday life.

I recall a young man, who, in private Meetings, and on the platform, would go into rhapsodies as he spoke of his love for a perishing world, and his intense desire to be sent on some great mission. I spoke to him of the hundreds of recklessly godless men with whom he daily associated at his work, and who lived round about his house, and asked him what he did in reference to these. Need I tell you how suddenly this man collapsed? He did not think that consecration meant such a commonplace thing as being faithful in the ordinary duties and walks of life, for I had inquired as to what happened when the men gathered for meals or conversation in the intervals of work.

Does it seem to some of you an evidence of entire consecration that we stand on platforms and lead Meetings, or are doing some work which draws other eyes towards us in appreciation of—what is deemed—untiring devotion? Well, I trust that the appearance does not go beyond the spirit of the business; but I tell you, the real test lies elsewhere. It shows itself in such an abandonment to God and the interests of the Kingdom, that no duty is felt too small or trifling. The man is not found saying, 'I'll do this', or 'I won't do that', and 'that doesn't matter'; but whatsoever his hand findeth to do, he does with his might, and does it unto the Lord.

Be not deceived, my friends. Consecration in great things will not atone for neglect in smaller and more trifling matters, and that only is a perfect consecration which is real and all round in its application. In little things and great things self is to be denied, ignored, and God and His glory to be the one end from attaining which the consecrated soul never swerves.

Let this be faced at the commencement, and it will save endless controversy later on. It is because so many do not take all this in at the beginning, that disappointments come, and very often breakdowns. Let your consecration take in all time and circumstances, and remember that the soul's responsibility is only limited by its opportunities. 'All for Jesus' should mean 'nothing left out'.

3. Whole-hearted consecration is a joyous thing. I don't know how the delusion has become so popular that entire devotion to the service of God means melancholy and sadness, and irksome duties and burdens. It may have only come by a roundabout road, but it is a doctrine of the Devil, who is a liar from the beginning, and the fully consecrated soul hurls the lie back to its father, proclaiming, with a heart full of gladness, 'I delight to do Thy will, my God'; 'My meat and my drink is to do the will of my Father', and 'His fruit is sweet to my taste'.

Singleness of purpose and simplicity of intention soon clear discontent and unhappiness out of a man's heart. When the soul has cut loose from all self-considerations, and has put an end to such wretched questions as, 'Will it pay to follow the Master?' or such thoughts as, 'If I give myself fully to God, perhaps I shall have to suffer the loss of many things I hold dear; people will be down upon me, and chaff me, and, perhaps, persecute me; and, besides, I really do want to make a little money for myself and my family, and I must not be righteous over-much'; when, I say, men or women have cast aside all such thoughts, and come to the determination to live for God and for God alone, then indeed are they freed from many things which cause sadness and bitterness. It is the double-minded who are strangers to true lasting joy and peace.

The great sorrows of most lives spring from disappointed ambitions, covetousness, or from love of praise, fear of man, or similar things; but when this life of selfishness is crucified, and a man is alive only unto God, none can deprive him of that which he most values. Whilst others may be saying, 'We know thy poverty', he hears the Lord say, 'But thou art rich'. Christ has been revealed to him as a living Friend, and though by the outward eye he sees Him not, 'yet believing, he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory'.

Do you remember what John said about that white stone which will be given to him that overcometh? It had 'written in it a new name which no man knoweth save he who receiveth it'. The joy of whole-hearted service for God is like that; no man really understands it save he who possesses it, but of its reality thousands daily testify.

Are you fully consecrated? Not after the fashion we spoke of at the beginning, but practically, and in a whole-hearted, all-round way? Have you settled it to go all lengths for God? If not, 'I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies—yourselves—a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service'.

III

Divine Fellowship

'That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.'. (1 John i. 3.)

My mind and heart have been dwelling upon that sweet word 'fellowship'. We all know what it means in ordinary social intercourse—it means acquaintance, friendship, communion of spirit, interchange of thought and feeling. But I want you to see that all this marks the fellowship prevailing between the Lord and His sanctified saints.

There is a chorus we sometimes sing, which expresses something of what I mean:—

Friendship with Jesus,

Fellowship Divine;

Oh, what blessed, sweet communion,

Jesus is a Friend of mine!

I have been reflecting on this principle as it works itself out in the current everyday life of the sanctified. I will not now try to exhaust all the wonderful things in the vision which has come to me in relation to this matter, for I really could not explain to you all that has been in my mind and heart, but the thing has come to me somewhat in this fashion:—

1. First of all, I have thought of the fellowship of Salvation. That may sound rather low down for a Holiness Meeting, and yet that is just where true fellowship began, so far as I was concerned. There had to be a co-operation, a uniting of God and myself before my soul could be saved at all. Two words were in my mind—'He' and 'I'; He doing His part, and I doing my part. His heart; my heart; His approaches to me by the power and influence of His Holy Spirit; my approaches to Him. Jesus died; I believed. He called; I answered. He gave; I accepted. I trusted, and Jesus saved me.

I want you to see what I mean, because it was that union of the Lord Jesus Christ and my own heart which brought life, and light, and peace to my soul. My Salvation life began at that point, and I was able to say, as we often sing:—

'Tis done, the great transaction's done,

I am my Lord's, and He is mine;

He drew me, and I followed on,

Charmed to confess the Voice Divine.

2. Then, pursuing this line, my reflection brings me up to this: there is a fellowship of love. 'He loved me, and He gave Himself for me'. We love Him because He first loved us. So, you see, our relationship has been built up, and is to be built up, upon that double plank. It is all in that. I do not suppose there is anybody in this Hall who does not know something of the power of love. You not only know the power of loving, but the sweetness of being loved. I am not quite sure which is the better side of the two, but they are two beautiful sides of fellowship.

Do we not see it in our family life? At any rate, I do. I can speak for myself in this matter because my family always has been a very affectionate one, and this loving and expressing our love to one another has brought us very close together. I think about the children. I go back to the time when they were little, and remember how they would climb upon my knee, and how they used to press their little faces against mine, and their little hearts, as it were, against my breast; and how, with more feeling than their words could express, they used to say, Dadda, papa, father, you are a dear! I do love you!' You would readily imagine what I should say back to them.

It has been just the same with my wife. She has sweetened my life very much with her expressions of love. She has done it by responding to my appeals, and by sharing my sorrows and joys. And I have no doubt that were she here to speak for herself, she would say she has equally felt the force and sweetness of my expressions of affection during the many years we have loved and lived together.

I have only told you these things because I want you to see that the fellowship of love is just as real between the Lord Jesus Christ and the soul that is set upon Him, as it is in these sacred human relationships.

3. Then there is the fellowship of service. Now, it follows that, if we are fully saved, we are and we should be workers together with God, not simply going out on 'our own', as you young people say sometimes, trying to do people good; but really, if it is as it ought to be, your relations are expressed in those words, 'We are workers together with God'.

There are several particulars about that fellowship of service which I want you to note. For instance, there is the union of purpose. You cannot have fellowship with God in service without a union of purpose. Are you in for that? Perhaps it may give my words a closer application if I glance at two or three references: 'For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil'. Are you in union with Him for that purpose? There is the reason round about us, plain and visible enough.

Take another: 'To this end came I into the world that I might bear witness of the truth'. Are you in union with Him in that witness-bearing? I assure you there is a great need of it.

Take still another: 'As the Father hath sent Me, even so'—that is a very powerful little link—'even so send I you'. There is not only the sender and the one sent, but the same purpose in both minds.

There is the unity of effort; that is, being yoked together for the work. It is a beautiful thing to be yoked with loving comrades in service, so that when there is a difficulty to face, some burden to be carried, or something to be moved, then you can go in for a good pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. But this fellowship with Christ really means having Jesus Christ as a yoke-fellow in your work for God; that as you are not your own, you are not left to yourselves, but find that He is yoked up with you, and when the pull comes it is pulling together—He pulls and you pull.

4. Then this service sometimes goes so far as to become the fellowship of suffering. Jesus Christ could only redeem men by the sacrifice of Himself. There was no other way, and if He had not done that man would not have been redeemed, and the whole world would have remained under the ban of condemnation and without hope. It is on the same track that we must work out our union with Him in the service of God and humanity.

When I was meditating on this Divine union a picture imaged itself before my mind. The scene was a prison in Rome, where was seated a prisoner for Christ's sake; his name was Paul. During a visit to Rome they showed me the place where this was supposed to have occurred. There is Paul, in this prison-cell, writing a letter which he wants to send by one who, having visited him in prison, is now returning to his own people at Philippi.

The prisoner is reviewing his life. He writes that he was well-born, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and that he became very zealous, and persecuted the Christians until the Lord met him and converted him. He went on, 'But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.... That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.' And on the same page of his letter Paul says: 'Brethren, be followers together of me'. It is one of the plainest things which the Bible and Christian history confirm, that the union of service does very often include the fellowship of suffering.

5. The last feature of this relationship which I want to name is fellowship of victory and glory. Thank God, we are in for that fellowship!

We all know that a great victory will crown our Blessed Lord's sacrificial life and service; that the great Victor over death and the grave shall not only see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, but as He sits upon His throne there will be many crowns of glory. But the blessedness of that knowledge is the fact that if we suffer with Christ we are also to reign with Him—glorified together—not only workers and victors, but 'more than conquerors'. We are to sit down among that company who are able to say that they overcame by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. We may have to go on with the service and suffering, but we know that we shall be transformed into His blessed likeness, and be sharers of His glory.

Salvation, love, service, victory, glory! These are the things which we share with our Lord, and that is what I mean by Divine fellowship.

I do not think, however, I can leave this soul-entrancing vision of fellowship without specially indicating how men may enter into it. How shall I do this? By reading to you these words from the First Epistle of John: 'This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' Who shall participate in the joy of this experience? The people who walk in the light; the people who are cleansed from all sin in the Blood of Jesus.

IV

Finding God

'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.' (Jeremiah xxix. 13.)

The words of Jeremiah in their relation to God are very appropriate for men and women in whose hearts there is any longing after personal Holiness. Look at them: 'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart'. I like this word, because it turns our minds to the true and only source of light and life and power. We speak of seeking and getting the blessing; but, in reality, the object is to find God, and that deliverance and blessing which can be secured only from Him.

In our prayers and songs we express a great fact when we say, 'Thy gifts, alas! cannot suffice unless Thyself be given'.

Less than Thyself, Oh, do not give,

In might Thyself within me live,

Come, all Thou hast and art.

I want to make it plain that Holiness is an aspect of religion in which the personality of God is very real. We must find God, and have Him possessing and dwelling within us if we are to live the life and do the work which Full Salvation implies. To realize this Divine union is as essential as to experience the forgiveness of sin. We must know God as well as worship Him, and the text I have read indicates to us that the discovery of a personal God belongs to the heart: 'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart'.

God's power displayed in Nature may be perceived by the eye, the ear, and other organs of the senses. On the lines of the Psalmist, we may walk out at night, and consider the heavens the work of His fingers, and exclaim, 'All Thy works praise Thee'; 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork'. The mind also by reflection and deduction may clothe the Creator with attributes or qualities of character, such as Almighty skill and benevolence; but 'spiritual things are spiritually discerned'; and it is only when God reveals Himself to the heart that He is truly known as a personal Father, Friend, and Saviour.

To the formal religionist or the casual dealer in pious phrases and occasional prayers, these revelations do not come. It is when the heart is set upon finding God that realizing faith makes—

The clouds disperse, the shadows fly,

The invisible appears in sight,

And God is seen by mortal eye.

We urge men and women to thus seek God, because He alone can meet their need; He alone can save after the fashion that they need a Saviour; He alone, having forgiven, can break the power of sin, and cleanse from natural impurity.

But the real trouble with some is that they do not seek Full Salvation with that full purpose of heart which the prophet's words imply. In a sense they want the blessing, but I fear they do not want it enough to make them put their whole heart into seeking God's sanctifying power.

Turn to the Garden of Gethsemane, on that final night when certain men came to take Jesus. When they fain would have included and taken others, His words, you remember, were, 'If ye seek Me, let these go their way'. Now, may I not reasonably apply these words to some who regularly attend our Meetings, but do not obtain the blessing? You are holding on to things about which it requires no stretch of imagination to hear Christ say, 'If ye seek Me, let these go their way'. He desires to be your Saviour and Sanctifier, but cannot until you drop the things which hinder and which come between you and Him.

Some of these things may not be positively evil in themselves, but they are associated with things which are evil or questionable; doubtful pursuits, questionable friendships or conduct. Do you care enough about God and Holiness to drop all such? Some have not done so up to the present, and it is about these very things which hinder that Jesus says to you, 'If ye seek Me, let these things go'.

Then, again, some have not found God as a perfect Sanctifier, because their minds are not fully made up as to the lines of service and duty. The general meaning of our various topics may be put thus, 'Holiness, and what comes out of it'. Not simply spiritual blessings as an inward experience, but a gift to be lived out in daily toil and effort to spread the Kingdom. We must have that or our teaching will be rightly regarded as 'goody-goody', and be of little real use.

A very fine young woman, on the occasion of my visit to a certain town, offered herself as a Candidate for Army Officership. Hearing that the case did not mature, I inquired a little later, from an Officer who had seen her, what the difficulty was, and he repeated to me the explanation she had given him: 'Well, Colonel, I have changed my mind; I have left The Army and become a Christian'. That seems a strange putting of the position; but I fear that it was with her, as with some of you who have sought to dodge the cross, escape the toil, and evade the testimony, the sacrifice, and the service which are indispensable to the maintenance of Holiness. Instead of trying to escape from duty as it is revealed to us from day to day, our hearts should be tuned up to the idea in the song, which says—

For thee delightfully employ

What e'er Thy bounteous grace hath given;

And run my course with even joy,

And closely walk with Thee to Heaven.

The central thought of Jeremiah's text is beautifully illustrated in the Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver. Look at this woman's anxious concern and corresponding action; she lights the candle—that is, uses what light she has; she sweeps the house—turns everything over; she searches diligently—keeps at it, not giving up at the first disappointment. Observe also the effect upon herself when her search is successful. Full of satisfaction she calls in her neighbours and friends—'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost'. Loud in her testimony, she delights in making her blessing known. You see, this woman so valued the piece of silver, that she gave herself up to the search for it, and nothing satisfied her until she found it. When men appreciate the importance of having a clean heart and the blessing of God like that, they will not seek long without result.

There are two or three things implied in this whole-hearted search after God which need to be emphasized. Of these I will name, first, intensity of desire. There are blessings that come like God's rain and sunshine, sought or unsought; but no man ever got a clean heart who did not badly want it; and if God is to sanctify and keep you in the enjoyment of the blessing, your heart will have to be moved by strong desire.

Jesus put it clearly when He talked about 'hungering and thirsting'. Even prayer, without strong desire, does not accomplish much. 'What things soever ye desire'; it is that which gives intensity to your prayers, as well as 'believing that ye receive'. The Psalmist's words are equally fitting—'As the hart panteth after the water brooks'—as the hunted deer longs for the stream—'so panteth my soul after Thee, O God'. That means more than a contention for the doctrine, more than a sentimental admiration of Holiness. It implies the deep stirrings of conviction, the heart moved by strong cravings, the crying out, 'Oh, that I might find Him whom my soul desireth'!

This whole-hearted seeking the blessing also implies fullness of intention. How often I have spoken of the relation of the will; the choice, the setting of the mind in strong purpose, the decision—'I ought, I must, I will secure God's sanctifying blessing'; all this counts for much. People speak of their desires and hopes, but how slow they are to make up their minds that, at all costs, they will seek and find a Saviour, by whose power they shall be fully delivered, and kept in purity and fellowship with God. I like those Bible words about 'sincerity', 'following the Lord fully', 'cleaving unto Him with full purpose of heart', for it is to people in that state of mind that God reveals Himself.

Finally, compliance with God's conditions is included in whole-heartedly seeking Holiness. The revealed conditions of entire Sanctification have often been stated, but may be repeated once more: a turning from all things known to be evil or doubtful; a full surrender and dedication of ourselves to God's service; and a simple trust in the all-cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ.

The real tests are different with different people, but all who seek this blessing must face God's conditions, and pay the price by complying with them, not only as I have stated the conditions in general terms, but as the Holy Spirit reveals them to each one personally. To one it is, 'Do this', to another 'Do that'; 'Give up this', or 'Give up that'; 'Trust Me for this', 'Trust Me for that'. But all who cast themselves fully into God's hands, letting Him have His own way with them, shall find the truth of Jeremiah's message, 'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart'.

V

The Doctrine Adorned

'But shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.' (Titus ii. 10.)

Those of us who are specially interested in this great work often seek for plans by which the knowledge and enjoyment of a Full Salvation may be extended. I think I have found a good plan for helping the Kingdom forward, and I see it in this little sentence which Paul wrote to Titus: 'That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things'.

When I say that is a plan for spreading Salvation, I mean simply this: as there is nothing which commends an apple-tree so much as the sight of the ripened fruit hanging from the branches, so nothing sets people longing for Holiness like the living exhibition of it.

First of all, I want you to see the force of that little word 'adorn'. In speaking about adornment we usually mean something more than necessary dress. The word in our minds usually expresses the idea of clothing or covering, with the addition of decorations or ornaments.

If you fathers and mothers ask your boy or girl the meaning of the word, they will probably turn to the dictionary, and tell you something like this: 'To "adorn" is to set off to advantage, to add to the attractiveness, to beautify, to decorate as with ornaments'. Now that is exactly what the Apostle meant, and the application is that you and I must set off to advantage, add to the attractiveness of the Gospel which we profess to believe.

Jesus Christ meant that when He said, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works'—and be so influenced that they shall 'glorify your Father which is in Heaven'. That also was the idea in Paul's mind in that verse to the Philippians, 'Shine as lights', or luminaries, 'in the world'.

Will you also look at that word 'doctrine'? It is not an acceptable word at public meetings, generally implying some system of theology, some stated creed, some definition of religious belief. But whilst that may be the general application, the Apostle had no such idea in his mind when he wrote these words.

He was now writing about persons many of whom were of very humble position, servants in the houses of the ungodly, often mere slaves in some pagan household. They had never heard about formulated creeds or theologies, but they did understand the duty of living up to their profession. They knew the importance of showing in their daily lives the power of the things which they believed, and thus commending their religious faith and teaching to all observers.

There are people who know very little of what you call 'the body of doctrine', who yet in all simplicity hold the truth of God, and live up to it. Tens of thousands have crossed the River who could never give you a definition of any doctrine; but they accepted the simple truths in their hearts, were ornaments to their profession, and are now in Glory.

Now take the two words together—'adorn' and 'doctrine'—and then you will see your duty.

There are many doctrines to which this duty of adorning may be made to apply. I might talk to you about the doctrine relating to God's government, and bring in the truth about His good guiding providence. We profess to believe in that. But the question is, Does your regular practice, your daily trust, your hourly following and accepting what God's providence sends you, adorn the doctrine?

Then I might also speak to you about the doctrine of prayer and its result. Surely you believe that God 'hears and answers prayer'. But can you say that your life of faith and victory is such that all who know you believe it, because they see you living a life of faith and victory such as can only come to the men and women whose prayers God does answer? That is, do you adorn the doctrine?

For the present purpose, however, I want to apply the principle to the doctrine of Holiness. The great object of these Addresses is to help men and women into the enjoyment of the blessing of Holiness. We hear about that; sing about that; most of you believe in it, and some of you proclaim it; but do you know what is really wanted? It is that you shall so manifest the spirit of Holiness, give such illustrations of it as to adorn the truth, and make people around you say, 'We are bound to believe the doctrine when we look at these people, for they live the blessing'.

You cannot but know what we teach as the doctrine of Holiness. Our trumpet has no uncertain sound. We not only talk about the pardoning mercy of God, but about the all-cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ. We not only point out how the rebel can be transformed into a child, but we show how a man's heart can be made pure, and his nature renewed by the indwelling Spirit. Delivered from the love of sin and from its pollution in his heart, he can be kept from sin and sinning, and be enabled to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks.

A clean heart, filled with love, possessed and directed by the Holy Ghost—that is the experience which we call Holiness, and the truth which we are exhorted to adorn.

Only think what a recommendation of the doctrine it would be if you all adorned the truth, and showed in your daily lives the power to live in that Holiness and righteousness of which I am speaking.

I am not now asking whether you have an intelligent comprehension of the doctrine, or that you should say what is possible, and what is not. Some of you could probably define the blessing as well as I can; but your duty is not simply to define or defend or explain Holiness, but to adorn the teaching, give exhibitions of it, make everybody see what it means in living flesh and blood amidst the hurly-burly of life.

1. And now, what are the means by which you and I can fulfil this exhortation of Paul? First, you can adorn the doctrine by personal testimony. Personal testimony, coming from the heart, is always good and helpful; that is, to be able to say about any definite experience, 'Oh, glory! He has done it for me!' But this is especially valuable about a clean heart, and in relation to a Full Salvation.

When I was a boy I sometimes heard the doctrine of Entire Sanctification discussed over pipes and ale; but those discussions, which were merely theological disputes, had little or no relation to the personal experience of the people who were debating and contending and losing their tempers over the doctrine, and so it made no impression on me. Years after, my own heart was awakened, and desires arose in my soul. I began to search for the truth about it, and to listen for references to it, and most of all to rejoice if I could find or hear a clear testimony about it, for then I saw the possibility of the blessing for myself.

I frequently throw my Meetings open for testimony, because I know the helpful power of such words. Sometimes the wording may be a little upside down, or some qualifying term be left out, or some exaggerating word put in; but in spite of all, great is the power of testimony to encourage other hearts.

I fear, however, that many people are silent who ought to speak, and I touch some very closely when I say that owing to this silence the power of your experience has declined and become like a faded flower or a moth-eaten garment, and then when you would fain speak you find the assurance about the blessing has waned. My word, therefore, to you is, first of all get the blessing, then at every suitable opportunity, profess it openly and boldly for God, and by your happy testimony you will adorn the doctrine of Holiness.

2. Again, you can adorn the doctrine by your consistent living. To profess one thing and practise another is a blot on the profession, and a despicable thing. What I may call mere Meeting piety, platform or parlour Holiness, will not stand the weather. It is too much like the painted sparrows sold as canaries—the paint comes off and the real nature of the bird is revealed. For instance, how can you ornament the truth if, after testifying here, you go out to gossip and slander and injure your neighbour? The word lived out is more powerful than its mere repetition. The teaching may be good and powerful, the testimony still more so; but the evidence of the life and spirit is the most powerful of all.

I heard somebody tell a story about a man who was too pious to shave himself on Sunday, and yet he was pretty keen during the other six days trying, in his business, to 'shave' other people. I hope you are not among that sort.

If you want to adorn this doctrine, there must be the beauties of a happy, consistent character and life, otherwise it goes for nothing.

I do not ask the adornment of education, nor the polish of culture, so-called; neither do I ask a sanctimonious attitude; I only claim from you professors of the blessing the beauties of grace in your personal character and conduct. The endorsement of the lip by the life is only equalled by the discount to the teaching caused by some inconsistent action or unfaithfulness in the teacher or professor. An angry word, even a flash of the eye, has been known to take the point off some well-given talk or testimony. A lack of kindly consideration, which looks like selfish indulgence, is not easily atoned for, even by illuminating speeches. As one has said, 'The words ever go to the level of the life—up or down'.

Talking about Holiness has small effect unless it is to be seen in your disposition, in your ordinary life, in your loving consideration for other people, or in your patient endurance of injury, real or imaginary. Without that your profession of Holiness is mere talk without adorning.

3. You must also adorn the doctrine by your zeal for God and souls. Holiness means the possession of the Christ-spirit, the passion for saving others, with reasonable efforts to secure what you seek.

When God sanctifies your soul He makes a great inward light; the purpose is not to be your own selfish enjoyment, but that you may be better qualified as a minister of blessing and Salvation to the poor dark souls around you. The love of souls is an essential feature of inward Holiness, and if this is exhibited in practical effort you will adorn your profession and compel people to believe in your doctrine.

There is just one other word of importance in that verse, 'that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour'. I mean the word, 'Saviour'. I am so glad that is there to meet those who say, 'Ah! you talk about adornments, but I am distressed because I see so many things about me that disfigure and discredit the doctrine'. You feel that you need a power which can give deliverance from the worldly spirit, the light and frivolous disposition, bad tempers, resentments, and other selfish and sinful things which hold you more or less in bondage; but in that beautiful word, 'Saviour', you have a pledge, a guarantee that it can be made all right, for He is able to deliver you and save you fully.

VI

Sureness

'The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.' (Isaiah xxxii. 17.)

One reason why I glory in teaching Full Salvation is that it includes a religion of certainty. It brings a man to a place of sureness as to his religious relationships. A soul just awakened to a sense of responsibility is naturally full of wonderment and anxiety, and this must be disposed of. So that when we speak of a man obtaining Salvation, we say 'he found peace'.

Doubt is torment, and torment is the opposite of peace. The soul cannot rest if it is perpetually on the string. To enjoy religion the mind must be settled about the main facts of the case; there must be a feeling of sureness as to one's acceptance with God and His approval of our spiritual condition.

We have a wily old Devil to deal with, and I believe that nothing gives him more malicious delight than to get sincere souls into the bondage of fear as to their state and standing. I believe many sincere souls hesitate to claim the blessing, and say they have it, because they are afraid of deluding themselves or deceiving others by their testimonies.

Afraid to do right for fear of doing wrong, they go on, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, falling into discouragement and doubt, and allowing the Devil to get an advantage over them in this respect.

Now, we cannot dispute the fact that in the experiences of good people there are many points of difference. Temptations, surroundings, position, and work are the cause of these differences. But in the midst of all, there is the possibility and blessed privilege of being sure about one's own rightness before God.

I saw a reference the other day to Charles Spurgeon's method of treating this matter. He showed how disturbing and distressing it would be if, in our domestic life, we had elements of uncertainty such as many people have in regard to their spiritual relationships.

After quoting the old verse:—

'Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought;

Do I love the Lord or no,

Am I His or am I not?

Mr. Spurgeon made a humorous parody of the verse by making it read:—

'Tis a point I long to know,

Oft it causes anxious thought;

Do I love my wife or no,

Am I hers or am I not?

Uncertainty about our religious condition is quite as unsatisfactory as any doubt about our most sacred domestic relationships. Sureness is vital to peace, and the truly sanctified soul will live in the region of certainty, Divine things and Divine revelations becoming definite and real to him. Temptations to doubt and fear will arise; but, in spite of them, those who are sanctified realize that the Blood cleanses and the Holy Spirit dwells within.

I will not ask whether you have any religion or not, because most of you are professors of religion, but I do ask, Has your religion got this element of 'sureness' in it? We must settle that point. You may say, 'If I am to be sure, I must have evidence'. Quite so. We will, therefore, glance together at several things about which you can either say, 'It is so', or 'It is not so', and thus arrive at a reasonable conclusion as to where you are. I will classify the evidence in this way:—

First, there is the testimony of one's own consciousness, or one's own spirit, as Paul puts it.

Second, there is the testimony of the Spirit of God—the Holy Ghost.

Third, there will be the results manifest to ourselves and to others; effects which testify just as reliably as the hanging fruit indicates the character and condition of any particular tree.

1. By the first class of evidence I do not mean a set of fanciful sensations, or frames of feeling, but such an exercise of our judgment, when we examine the facts before us, as will enable us to come to a sound and reasonable conclusion.

The witness of one's own spirit is largely a matter of consciousness and faith, and it works like this: 'I am not only conscious of God's revealed claims upon me, and my own duty to Him; but, as far as I understand, I have put myself in line with what He wants me to be and do. For instance, I am told that whilst God will sanctify me I am able to sanctify myself. I therefore ask, "Have I so far co-operated with Him as to come out and separate myself from evil?" If I am right I can say, "Yes, I have"; and as a further evidence of my sincerity I seek to abstain from all appearance of evil.'

I am also commanded to present myself for practical and joyful service, and I am told that I must believe such a sacrifice is acceptable because whatever touches the Divine altar is holy. Now, I can be quite sure as to my compliance with these demands, and my willingness to live as a sanctified soul ought to live. I know whether or not in these things I have done my part; and, if I know that I have, I can then reasonably trust God or reckon on Him to do His part. That is what Paul calls 'a good conscience toward God', and there is no presumption in such a conclusion.

If we turn to John's Epistle we shall see how plainly he puts the truth about assurance. 'If', says the Apostle, 'our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things'; but 'if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God'. Without this conscious sincerity it is useless to pray for the blessing, for God cannot sanctify us whilst we are clinging to any known wrong or compounding with some doubtful habit or folly. If, on the other hand, we are conscious that we have no reserves, and accept by faith the cleansing Blood as the cure for our heart's plague, we may with all reasonableness say, 'I have the testimony of my own spirit'.

2. Let us look at the second class of evidence, namely, the testimony of the Spirit of God—the assurance of the Holy Ghost.

If we are to be quite certain about the important things in relation to the soul, we must have the expression of God's mind and approval. Nothing is made clearer in the Apostolic writings than the fact that it is our blessed privilege to have this Divine testimony. Paul not only tells us that 'the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God', but speaks of the marvellous manifestations of God in saved souls in subsequent revelations: 'We have received the Spirit, which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.'

On first thought we might say, perhaps, that the gift would speak for itself. But the Lord goes beyond that by giving us not only the blessing itself, but also the Spirit to assure us that we have got the blessing. John is on the same line when he says repeatedly about those spiritual blessings, 'we know', 'we know that we know', and the secret of sureness is made clear, 'we know by the Spirit which He hath given unto us'.

When we speak of the witness of the Spirit, either to our conversion or our sanctification, we do not mean some audible voice or some miraculous demonstration, but an inwrought conviction as to the correctness of our words when, in all sincerity, and to the glory of God, we profess to have arrived at a certain point, or obtained a certain blessing. It is a conviction which removes doubt, and satisfies the soul on the question. The mode of this—the way in which the Holy Ghost does it—may be quite beyond our comprehension; but the fact is there, as far beyond dispute as with the assurance of the blind man, who said, 'This one thing I know, that whereas once I was blind, now I see'.

3. Then I also used the word 'results', as indicating a class of evidence without which all other professed experiences are but passing sentiments and sensations. In the character and life there must be results in the shape of those holy fruits of which I have so frequently spoken.

In a sense often described, and well understood, every child of God becomes at conversion the temple of the Holy Ghost; we are born of the Spirit; enlightened by the Spirit; our spiritual life is sustained by the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are therefore manifest in a greater or lesser degree, but the advantage to the entirely sanctified is that not only is the fruit-bearing power increased, but fruits of an opposite character are absent. In other words, the fully sanctified man is 'filled with the Spirit'. The fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, are abundant in him.

To illustrate my meaning, take one passage relating to that spiritual fruit described by the word love. 'We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.' Now, of course, that comes into operation at conversion; but in the fully sanctified this is love without admixture, pure love, without any feeling opposed to love. We can soon test ourselves. Think of love in the forgiveness of injury; the love which 'thinketh no evil', 'envieth not', the love which 'worketh no ill to his neighbour'. Where does grudge-bearing, backbiting, or uncharitableness come in? Pride, passion, self-assertion, and such things belong not to the results of sanctification; the opposites are found in those who bring forth 'fruits unto Holiness'.

I heard a good woman quote a passage with an application of her own which is true in point of fact, even if not the precise meaning of the original writer. 'Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.' She meant, literally, that, however she might be pained by the words or actions of those about her, she would not be 'offended'. This is a pretty high class of result, for nothing is more common than the readiness to take offence. But this refusal to take offence is, with the other fruits, clear proof that the heart and life are sanctified. So I might work out this law of results. These samples will, however, indicate my line of teaching.

Now, coming back to my thought at the beginning—the necessity for 'Sureness' in regard to religion, and especially in the experience of Holiness—let me ask, Where are we found? Have the testings confirmed that certainty of heart, or have my words disturbed self-satisfaction? Do not be afraid of facing the direct issue. If you have the evidences referred to, then be sure to go about proclaiming what God has done. But if not, then this unsatisfied and unsatisfactory condition cannot be persisted in when the Fountain which cleanses is open for all, and when the Holy Spirit is here to apply the Blood, and to take full possession of every soul. Let this be the hour when you come to the altar round which the cleansing stream so freely flows.

VII

The Pathway of the Holy

' An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness.' (Isaiah xxxv. 8.)

One would think that Isaiah was speaking of two separate roads, for his prophetic eye sees 'a highway and a way' along which the course of God's people runs.

Perhaps we may interpret the prophet's distinction as referring to the higher and lower paths along some of the roadways in the Holy City; but he makes it quite plain that the course of the truly godly may be correctly described as 'The way of Holiness'.

Nobody here would like to say there are two separate roads to Heaven, but as we note the lives and experiences of many Christian professors it really does appear that there are two levels on which they run their various religious courses—one the lower, the other the higher path; one lying oft in shadow, the other up in the open sunshine of Heaven; one largely a profession of faith and repeated religious observances, the other full of rich experiences and realizations of God's favour and spiritual gifts.

Some people appear to step up and down according to seasons and inclinations, when, for instance, Holiness Conventions and Higher Life Conferences are on or off—like the man we heard testifying, who thanked God that he had had no ins and outs, but admitted many ups and downs. We want to help you to walk in what Isaiah calls 'The way of Holiness', or in modern terms, the pathway of the holy.

There are three things about a way. There is a beginning; a finishing place; and the course between the two points.

This pathway of the holy may be said to have its beginning at the cleansing Fountain; it finishes, if it finishes at all, amid the glories of the Heavenly World; but between these two points lies the road which must be trodden, the journey which has to be made.

We often dwell upon that moment where the soul, by an act of submission and trust, enters upon the highway, or 'gets the blessing', as we say; but Holiness is, after all, a state, a continuous experience, a set course or way in life where the will of the Lord is supreme, and the full-hearted love of God is the great moving force. It is in that course and along that path that you and I ought to travel continually.

We like testimonies from any who are in the way, but we appreciate and are helped still more by the words of those who have walked on in patient faith and obedience for long periods. Reading lately the life of William Bramwell, I was encouraged by his testimony as to obtaining the blessing of Holiness and its enjoyment for many long years. But I was the more delighted to find his words supported by his acquaintances, who bore testimony that Bramwell adorned the doctrine so beautifully. Of himself this good man said, 'The Lord came suddenly to His temple, and I had an immediate evidence that this was the blessing; my soul was then all wonder, love, and praise. It is now twenty-six years ago—I have walked in that liberty ever since.' You see, he went on in the way of Holiness because it had become his way of life.

One who was closely associated with this man said, 'I knew him intimately for twenty years. I lived in the same house with him in his seasons of relaxation as well as occupation, but never saw him in such a temper that I could reprove. His soul was like a spring, continually overflowing with the most amiable, benevolent emotion. In his last years, in particular, he was like a shock of corn fully ripe and fit for the heavenly garner, or like a beautiful tree whose vigorous and luxuriant branches were weighted with a diversity of the richest fruit.' Bramwell trod consistently the pathway of the holy, a worthy successor of Enoch, who 'walked with God', and was translated after receiving the testimony that his way pleased God.

I would like to refer to several features of this pathway of the holy which appeal strongly to me.

1. The way of Holiness is a pathway of the purified. The prophet intimates plainly that nothing unclean can pass that way. The hearts of men and women who are to walk there must be washed from their moral defilements. I heard of a good man who said, 'Many years ago the Lord took me out of the mire; some years after, He took the mire out of me'. I think you quite understand his meaning. Sin is a foul, slimy, miry thing, defiling whoever it touches. This must be purged away if you are to walk in the way of Holiness; and it can only be purged by the 'Blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth us from all sin'.

2. The way of Holiness is a pathway of light and learning. It is a way of advancing knowledge. There is a point where the path commences, when one knows for the first time that the Blood cleanses, and the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in the heart; but each succeeding step brings fuller light, and things unknown are revealed.

Familiar intercourse with God brings deeper realizations and knowledge of Divine and spiritual things, so that yours does indeed become the path of the just 'which shineth more and more unto the perfect day'. As a result, your own heart is enlarged, your spiritual capacities increased, and, growing in grace, you advance in knowledge and favour with God. Those who walk this pathway are they to whom the Lord whispers His secrets, and whose souls He fills with heavenly delights. Oh, that we could induce you to step up from the lower to this higher and better pathway!

Let me give you a note from the personal experience of another of God's saints who walked the higher way, one who habitually lived on that level, and who expressed himself thus: 'Let me say that my spiritual life is no longer like a leaky suction pump, half the time dry, and affording scanty water only by desperate tugging of the handle, but it is like an artesian well of water springing up unto everlasting life. The Scriptures are sweeter than honey. Prayer and praise are a delight, and it is like Paradise regained; the glory of Christ has become the all-absorbing passion of my soul.'

The sanctified life is not only a lengthening of the spiritual experience, but a growth or advance in the knowledge of Divine realities.

3. Then, further, the way of Holiness is a path of duty, not a pathway of ease and indulgence. We can never leave this practical thought out, whatever our topic may be, for Holiness and hard work are inseparable. The eyes being open to see the need, the hand is ever ready to take up its task; and the labour of love being the sweetest of all occupations, work for God and souls becomes a delight.

He who is too holy to work for others will soon step to the lower path. The willing soul will ever be crying, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' and the answer will come, 'Do this, do that, come here, go there'.

The way of Holiness is not free from temptation and suffering; but, thank God, it can be the way of victory and safety.

Even the ordinary workaday life is full of circumstances which try and tempt and test you. The more you struggle towards living in God's way the more the Devil will attack you. The path which the holy Saviour trod was the way of the cross, and they who follow Him must share the cross-bearing. The ultimate crown is for the overcomer, and not for the untempted one.

Christ leads us through no darker rooms

Than He went through before;

He who into God's Kingdom comes

Must enter by this door.

There is no crown without a previous cross; but with trials and temptations comes the way of escape and victory, 'these light afflictions ... work out an exceeding weight of glory'. The Book says, 'All who will live godly ... shall suffer persecution'. And this will be specially so with those who openly profess and live on the lines of a Full Salvation.

Here is a page from the personal experience of one who was determined to walk the King's highway:—

'Perfect love', he says, 'will not go long untested. For a time I was not called to suffer distinctly for Christ from that hostile spirit which nailed Him to the cross. The lion, however, was not dead, but asleep, and presently he awoke and glared at me. My soul was calm as a summer's evening. When it pleased the Blessed Master that I should suffer reproach and vilification for my testimony, then it was that the river of joy which flows from the Throne flowed through my heart as never before. It was a new experience—a quintessence of joy. The shouts of burning martyrs were no longer a mystery. I stagger no more at the account of the saints who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. My soul is bathed in an ocean of balm and ineffable joy.'

4. But I spoke also of the safety of the way of Holiness. I must speak of that more fully another time, but what I mean is this: So long as you have the remains of sin in your heart you are exposed to a double danger—the enemy without and the responding traitor within. One reason why religion is so unsatisfactory to some people is that they persist in walking on the low level where doubts often spoil their worship and the allurements of the world pull very hard, and its siren song makes discord in their hallelujahs. It is, of course, possible to backslide from any level; but, believe me, the prospect of stability is infinitely greater if you get a clean heart, and determine to walk in the pathway of the holy.

In closing, let me quote a short prayer. David cried: 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting'. If, in sincerity and simplicity of intention to follow Christ fully, you offer that prayer, God will not only lead you along the way, but to the Home of the holy.

There are, however, two little notes which you should compare in this connexion. One refers to the passage now before us, 'The way of Holiness'. It is said, 'The unclean shall not pass over it'. The other refers to Heaven, and says, 'There shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth or maketh a lie'. By connecting these two you see that you need to be not only led along the heavenly way, but to be made fit for the heavenly courts; and David's prayer, sincerely offered, brings that fitness—that purity of heart which sees God and delights in the completion of His holy will.

VIII

Circumstances and Consequences

'And fears shall be in the way.' (Ecclesiastes xii. 5.)

The man who wrote these words was specially emphasizing the importance of settling one's relationships to the great Creator before the coming of days when infirmities increase, and decay of natural powers sets in. The practical outcome of that thought is, that postponement only adds to one's difficulties when the battle really has to be fought.

Amongst those difficulties the sacred writer places that natural foreboding, physical shrinking and hesitation which paralyse men when, after lives spent in sin and selfish indulgence, they desire to make their peace with God; for, says he, 'They shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way'. The imaginary obstacles which arise in people's minds, seeming to make holy living impossible, are varied in character, but I see that many are influenced by fears and feelings concerning things which I class under the headings of 'Circumstances and Consequences'.

How often, when giving earnest advice, one gets the response, 'My circumstances are against me', 'Placed as I am, it cannot be', or 'The consequences are too serious', 'The price of the blessing is too high'. Even with persons who have no doubt as to the possibility of a clean heart and sanctification of life, these thoughts operate; and we find the fear of circumstances hindering one, and the fear of consequences influencing another, so that they are held back from definitely seeking the blessing. True, in many instances, the idea is a delusion, a snare of the Devil, by which souls are kept out of God's Full Salvation; but, there is the fact—'fears are in the way'.

Fear is like a great magnifying-glass; or one of those mirrors which give a distorted image of things reflected in them. This effect is often produced in persons both as regards their own circumstances and the consequences of following the leadings of God's Spirit.

You may remember how Bunyan, in his 'Pilgrim's Progress', represents Christian desiring to enter the House Beautiful, but suddenly he espied two lions in the way, and was almost frightened out of his purpose until some one told him that, if he went boldly on, and kept in the middle of the path, he need not fear, seeing the lions were securely chained. What an illustration of the quaking fears which hinder definite action in regard to spiritual blessings!

1. A few words as to circumstances may be helpful to some one. Let me, however, first make one thing clear. With some people circumstances exist which are insurmountable barriers; there are positions in the world which could not be held by a fully sanctified person any more than fire can be carried in a man's bosom and he not be burned; situations involving the practice of evil or resulting in gain through the unjust sufferings of others. Such positions must be given up, if men wish to enjoy God's sanctifying power. I am not, however, dealing now with such positions or the circumstances connected with them; I am referring to circumstances or conditions of life which are lawful in themselves and in the light of the Word of God, but which may present difficulties and involve serious trial to those determined to live purely and serve God faithfully.

The fear in some instances is that if they obtain the blessing the strain of temptation would be such as to render a fall probable. 'I could not keep the blessing if I got it'; 'If I could change my position, or surroundings, or connexions, then I would take the necessary steps'. These are words we frequently hear. A married man or woman says, 'Ah! if only I were single, then I could live a life of full consecration'. With equal seriousness the single person says, 'Ah! if only I were married, then the life of purity and Holiness would be possible to me'. The mother, fearful about the strain which the care of the children brings, often speaks in the same way. So it is with business relationships and many other matters in which the circumstances are presented as things making Holiness an impossibility.

When I was a young man in business I yearned for a position in which I could be separate from all worldly entanglements, so that I could obtain and enjoy the blessing. But, do you know, since I have been a Salvation Army Officer, I have often been tempted to think that the sanctified life is easier in the circumstances of commercial life, and that if I was so placed the spiritual things would be more appreciated, and I should be able to live nearer to God. You see, it is the same old temptation, 'My circumstances, my conditions of life, my work, my home', and the fear of these things often becomes a snare.

That is a pathetic picture which the Psalmist gives us of these poor Jews by the waters of Babylon, who, when urged to sing the songs of Zion, answered, 'How shall we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land?' Is not that the feeling which bursts from many lips and many more hearts, 'How can you expect me, in my circumstances, to get sanctified and live a holy life?'

But is not that just the point where the triumph of faith comes in? It is there that we see the value of those exceeding great and precious promises by which you are to become a partaker of the Divine nature, and on which your faith is to build. 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be'; 'My God shall supply all your need'; and that includes your need in cleansing, your need in keeping, and your need in blessing adapted to your circumstances. Remember, the Lord is the Master of circumstances, and you must put yours into His hands, and trust Him not only to sanctify you wholly, but to preserve you blameless unto the end. You must trust God to make you equal to your circumstances.

2. But there is that second class of anxious persons to whom I referred: those who are held back by the fear of consequences.

Oh, what crowds of enlightened souls might be walking triumphantly along the King's highway, who are yet tramping on amidst doubts and fears and frequent condemnation, all because they dread the pressure of God's claims upon them, and fear the consequences of making a whole-hearted surrender to Him.

There is another point of view about which I must speak a word in passing. When looking at the consequences of fully yielding to God's claims, and perhaps trembling and hesitating, do you ever think of the results of holding back what you know God wants? Do not forget that there are some consequences of saying 'No' to the Lord. When a child knows his father's wish, but, in answer to a reasonable request, says, 'No', you call it disobedience. Is it not a still more serious thing to be disobedient in the presence of more than a father's love? You must count the cost of that, when resisting the light and influence of God's Spirit.

Surely, you will not choose to be numbered among those who 'knew their Lord's will, but did it not'. In the Gospel story such were 'beaten with many stripes'; that means stripes of loss, stripes of pain, stripes of sorrow, perhaps even stripes of death. If we are to suffer, let it be the result of following Him, rather than the consequence of denying our Lord.

Now, I do not want to mislead anybody, for, of course, there are consequences of surrender and determination to live the holy life; but, unfortunately, these fearful ones look at the wrong side of the list. They think of the separateness from the world involved in a life of Holiness; they think of the cold shoulder which some, even Christian friends, would give them; they think of the toil after souls which the sanctified must maintain; of the money that they may have to give; of the partnership in Christ's sufferings, and other self-denying expressions of devotion to God and the Kingdom. 'Oh, I shall have to wear uniform!' or 'go to the Open-Air', or 'perhaps become an Army Officer', and, as an Officer, 'may have to leave my native land'. The enemy holds these and many similar things before the eyes of a convicted soul, very often magnifying the facts until the word difficulty is changed to impossibility, and, like the young ruler of the Gospel story, they 'go away sorrowful'.

A man came across London to be present at one of our Thursday Meetings. When spoken to by an Officer, he admitted the force of all that had been said, but he found an insurmountable difficulty in his business as a shopkeeper. He saw that the goods on his shelves and sold over the counter were mixed, including what he realized to be bad and damaging to many others. His heart was full of conviction and desire, but anxiety about his wife and family prevented him closing down, while his conscience prevented him selling a business which he knew had wrong and doubtful things connected with it. 'What is wrong for me', he said, 'would be wrong for another'; and so he could not pay the price, and, like the young ruler referred to, he has gone away sorrowful.

In the Meeting of the following week a man came to the table seeking the blessing, and he cried out aloud, 'O Lord, give me a clean heart! Take the malice out which I have had towards these two persons! O Lord, I will go straight to them, and confess, and ask them to forgive me!' Needless to add, the blessing came, and, rejoicing, he went off to his home, fifty miles out of London, to fulfil his word. The contrast between this and the man previously mentioned teaches its own lesson.

Now, it is quite right that seekers of Full Salvation should look at the cost, and count it well; but, Oh, that they would also think of the tremendous balance of joy and peace and blessing which more than makes up for what has to be borne or done or given up! Instead of dim twilight, or hazy doubts or forebodings, the sunshine of the Divine Presence makes all things bright and gladsome. Instead of depending for light and peace on 'suns' which 'go down' and 'moons' which 'withdraw' themselves, the fully sanctified man finds that God has become his 'everlasting light, and the days of his mourning are ended'. As I have said, there will be sacrifice, but there also will be satisfaction; and, as with the mother in regard to her new-born babe, the fully saved soul forgets the suffering and the sacrifice which has been made.

Sometimes we are tempted to look at sacrifice apart from love. I heard Mr. Bramwell Booth say in a Meeting, 'Sacrifice is the flower of love'; and you know full well that things which are otherwise impossible become comparatively easy to true love and faith. Men do not talk about sacrifices when they realize that they have received more—much more—than that which they gave up.

When I hear people dwelling on how much they have given up for God, I begin to wonder whether those self-denying ones have realized the joy and satisfaction which God wants to give to the fully consecrated heart. If they have, it is strange for them to talk of rushlight sacrifices whilst they are bathed in the sunlight of the Divine Presence.

Sometimes distressing consequences do follow surrender and faith, but are there not also glorious consequences in the form of joy in the seasons of sorrow, light and guidance in the hours of perplexity, Divine approval and communion when others misunderstand and shun us? Surely the knowledge of this leads me to cry, 'O my Lord, let me have the blessing with all its consequences!'

Oh, my friends, whilst counting the cost, look at both sides of God's gift, the crown as well as the cross; the delight as well as the denial; the heavenly sunshine as well as the earthly shadows; and the great, glorious, everlasting reward in eternity. When you have looked at all these things, make your choice; and, having chosen aright, 'hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown'.

IX

Bound to the Altar

'Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.' (Psalm cxviii. 27.)

Periodically in our Halls we have had what we call Altar Services. At such times, and more especially during the Self-Denial and Harvest Festival efforts, Soldiers, friends, and others who are interested in God's work are invited to come forward with gifts of money to lay upon the special table which, for that occasion, serves the purpose of an altar. Those who have been present at these Meetings will not need to be told that the 'gift' is irrevocable. The giver cannot honestly get it back—it has been deliberately parted with.

That is a very definite thing done, and it illustrates the central idea of the verse which I have read to you.

Some time ago I went with The General to Stockholm, where the Swedish Officers were gathered together for their annual Congress. At the close of the Councils I asked an Officer how he liked the Meetings, and what the result would be. He replied, 'Commissioner, it's just like this. It is as if The General during these days builded an altar, and to-night we all climbed upon that altar offering ourselves a sacrifice unto God, and the fire came down and sanctified the offering.'

The true worship and service of God—it need not be told—involves sacrifice. If any one here feels that religion is all a question of how much he can get out of God by saying so many prayers or offering so many donations, he has a totally wrong conception of what it is. I know that there are many who regard their vows to God very lightly. They seem to think they can get through their religion without much self-denial. Religion of that sort, however, is worth nothing either to those who possess it or to the Lord whom they profess to serve. Without self-sacrifice, without self-denial, religion comes to nothing, or, at any rate, amounts to very little.

I do not desire that you should imitate the senseless practices prevailing in some countries, where the people are allowed to build their hopes of Salvation upon penance and self-torture. And yet we are sometimes put to shame by the things we hear and see.

A short time ago I received a letter from a young Officer in India. After describing some pleasing scenes, he said, 'One sees some awful things out here. I saw a man the other day literally walking upon nails. It made me shiver. He imagined that by this he could save his soul. With what passion I wished that man could only understand that other nails were pierced in other feet for him! But you see how in earnest the people here are about their religion, and in all these things they are seeking for Salvation.'

There are not many who are prepared to do what that poor Indian devotee did. They are a long way off that. But unless they are prepared to include sacrifice in their religion, they are not on the lines either of their Lord's example or their Lord's words. The cross, the following, the denial of self, the Calvary path, cannot be excluded from the life of Christ's follower.

Whilst true service must always be a spiritual thing, do not imagine it is something merely 'in the mind'. I have heard it talked about in the same way as a doctor talked to a poor lad who had his thumb crushed in a machine.

'Don't shout, my poor boy', he said. 'Don't you know I feel it as truly as you do?'

'Perhaps so,' replied the boy; 'but you feels it in your mind, and I feels it in my thumb!'

Sacrifice is often talked about by some people who feel it perhaps as much as the doctor felt the crushed thumb, being largely a matter of sympathy, without the actual hurting.

This matter of sacrifice indicates a certain principle, a certain state of mind, which expresses itself in two ways. It is either a giving up of things which are against God's will, or the contribution of something which is valuable, to be surrendered or used in His service. Shall I not say that sacrifice represents the heart saying, on the one hand, 'I will come out, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing'? and, on the other hand, 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?' Not only singing, 'Where He leads I will follow', 'Lord, I make a full surrender', but actually spending and being spent for Him.

I need not dwell at any great length upon the word 'altar'. I referred to the table in our Altar Services as the place of gifts. It is also the place of dedication, and the place of sacrifice. Thank God, it has been so to many, as well as the mercy-seat, where God has sealed the acceptance of the offering presented to Him.

How often have we been reminded of that altar of sacrifice in the shape of the accursed cross, where the Saviour made atonement for our sins! And it is in reality at that altar we bow when we sincerely sing—

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all!

Not only 'demands' the sacrifice, but 'shall have my soul, my life, my all'.

But what does the binding of the sacrifice to the altar mean? The phrase is very significant.

The horns were the corner posts, and sometimes the worshipper presenting a living creature would tether it with a cord to the altar's horn, so that the gift could be used either for sacrifice or service. In both cases the figure of speech seems to imply the possibility of the consecration being reversed by the withdrawal of the offering, or broken by its loss, the sacrifice slipping off or away from the altar, or being loosened by the person who had presented the offering.

The Psalmist therefore urges those to whom he is speaking to maintain their consecration, and to see to it that their sacrifice is not taken off the altar after being put on. These corner posts were not there for ornament, but for use, and the cords were intended to hold the sacrifice to the altar, so that it could not be snatched away.

Here is my Bible. If I turned away, and anybody were so minded, it would be easy to make off with it while my back was turned. But if I had some cord, and, by crossing it transversely from corner to corner, tied the Book to the table, that would make it secure. It was thus that the sacrifices were bound to the Jewish altar.

What I want to emphasize by this is, that those who come with gifts and dedications should bind themselves in terms of unalterable covenant. They should stand to their consecration when loss or pain or temptation come, as come they will in one form or another. It is just here where so many fail—they do not really maintain their sacrifice. That is to say, having made a consecration they do not stand to it. The offering has been made, but it has been taken back again; the vow has been registered, but not paid; the promise has been made, but not fulfilled; the consecration has been broken or reversed.

Take that wonderful scene in the life of Abraham. At the command of God he erected an altar, cut the sacrifice in pieces, and laid it there. Then Abraham waited for the coming of the fire. Before the fire came, or anything happened, the vultures, those unclean birds, were circling around his head, and around the altar, trying to defile the sacrifice or snatch it away or devour it. The story says that when the birds came down Abraham drove them away, and he stood to his covenant until the fire came. The vultures of temptation will circle around you. They will try to frighten you, and to remove the sacrifice wholly or partially, or to defile it in some way. Your business then is to drive them away, to bind and rebind the sacrifice to God's altar.

In the days of Queen Mary, a girl-martyr refused, when pressure was brought upon her, to deny her Lord and renounce her faith. She was condemned and taken to the seashore. There she was bound to a stake near the low tide line, and, as the incoming waters gathered round her feet, one of her persecutors rode out and offered to spare her life if she would renounce her faith and turn her back upon her Lord.

The waters rose to her waist, and he rode out again, and, when half unconscious, she was dragged out, and urged to recant. Refusing to do this, the girl was again bound to the stake.

When the waters reached her shoulders the offer was repeated. To one and all she replied something like this: 'No, I will not draw back! I will not deny my Lord!' And as the rising tide came in she bowed her head, and poured her soul out unto death rather than deny her Master. She bound her sacrifice to the altar, and died in the faith.

Some of those who hear my words are disappointed and sad at heart, for they have gone back on Jesus Christ; not perhaps to save their lives, but for a mere trifle. Why these neglected vows? Why these defiled sacrifices? Why these broken consecrations? If they were ever really put on the altar they were not, I am afraid, bound there. Impulse, sentiment, desire, intention may have induced the offering, but it was not bound with 'cords of submission, cords of determination'. Companionships, some secret indulgence, some selfish pleasure, some act of reversal, carried off the sacrifice.

Alas! how many have never seriously and sincerely approached the Divine altar to make the full surrender of themselves to God. The love of sin, the selfish gratifications which are so precious to them, have kept them back, though often convicted about their duty.

But the act of dedication is very simple, and can be made or renewed now. While we bow before God around the altar of consecration, bring yourselves and the sacrifice again and put it on that altar in an unchangeable covenant, and with a simple faith that will bring from God that holy fire which makes it possible to maintain it there for ever.

X

'Why Should I?'

'Thou saidst, What advantage will it be? What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.' (Job xxxv. 3, 4.)

In reading these words I have no wish to enter into the controversy between Job and his friends as to the relationship of physical suffering to sin, but to emphasize a certain mental attitude which they indicate, and which often expresses itself in relation to other things.

The human mind is so constituted that men will not commit themselves to a course suggested by another unless it is proved to be worth their while. When we want to move people to do that which does not at the moment fit in with their desires, we have to urge motives upon their consideration. Very few actions are performed without there being some personal motive. It seems born in us to ask, 'Is it worth while? Why should I do, or go and accept what I do not want?' and so we hang back until some motive carries our judgment or feelings.

We find the same attitude in men's minds towards Salvation and those spiritual blessings and conditions of life in which the Lord wants men to live. The immediate gratification of the flesh, or love of selfish indulgence, lies in the opposite direction to the Altar of Consecration; so that when the call to surrender and Holiness comes, naturally, and at once, the cry springs up, 'Why should I? Where is the advantage? What profit shall I have?' It seems, therefore, absolutely necessary to find some personal motives by which to urge people to be saved, or seek a clean heart, and pursue those lines of sacred duty to which redeemed men should be consecrated.

Speaking from personal experience, I would say that whilst soul-saving is hard work, it appears equally difficult to persuade professors of religion to definitely seek deliverance from inward sin, and to attain those spiritual realizations which we speak of as 'Full Salvation' or 'The Blessing of Holiness'. As evidence of this difficulty, I may point to the state of soul and spiritual experience in which even some of you are now found: receiving light and instruction about Holiness, but continuing unsanctified; singing of the Cleansing Blood, but yet remaining uncleansed by it; praying, 'Baptize me with the Holy Ghost', and yet resisting His gracious leadings to the higher life of Holiness.

In one of my Meetings my subject was 'Out-and-Out Consecration'. I was attracted by a man who seemed intensely interested. I spoke with him afterwards, when he said, 'I was much pleased with your address—I entirely approve of the sentiments you expressed'. And yet I could not induce the man to give himself to God. Thus we have to seek for motives by which to move the hearts of people in this vital matter.

1. Let me again set before you those motives which should lead you to seek the blessing. I place first among them the fact which Paul stated thus, 'This is the will of God, even your sanctification'. I put this first because the highest motive stimulating the soul of the child of God should be the knowledge of his Father's will. One would think that to know God's will should be enough to provoke the determination to do it. To hear the Father's voice should stir the heart in responsive desire and effort.

We had a little daughter who, before she went to Heaven, was the joy of our hearts and the light of our home. The child had a passion for cleanliness, and as the evening hour came on, she gave the maid no peace until she was washed and dressed in clean clothes. Then, running to her mother, she would ask, 'Mamma, am I clean, clean enough for father?' Soon after my return from business, the child would climb on my knee, put a little hand on each side of my face, to compel me to look at her, and then ask, 'Am I clean, papa, am I clean?' Nothing would delight that child more than for me to say, 'Yes, my darling, you are clean, even clean enough for father'.

Let us ask ourselves, 'What does the will of God count for with us? We know what He wants, and the claims of gratitude and sincere regard for His glory should influence our attitude, and lead us to say, 'Lo! I come to do Thy will, O my God!'

2. A second motive to Holiness may be found in the urgent need of the people around us. We all know something of God's plan for saving the world. It is, broadly speaking, on the line of using one man to save another. Co-operation on this line is rightly expected from all professing Christians.

Personally, I hold that professors of religion who are not moved by a concern for the souls of others, and a willingness to use all possible efforts to seek their Salvation, can hardly claim to be properly saved themselves. The need of saved men and women to act on these lines of consecrated effort is, indeed, very great, and the knowledge of this fact should urge us to the fullest consecration. But we need to see more clearly that unless we exhibit in our own characters and lives the true fruits of Holiness, we shall either fail in our own consecration, or our influence will be greatly reduced.

What do you think will be the effect of a man's words about the Christian's 'separateness', and about Christ being the satisfying portion of the human heart, if people see him seeking satisfaction with the multitude that go to do evil? How will the world be influenced by Christian talkers who sacrifice honour, truth, and perhaps honesty, in their daily associations? How often people's tongues are tied, when they ought to speak and act? They are half paralysed through a sense of their personal inconsistency.

Holiness is not only the inspiration to holy effort; it is a necessary qualification. The power of a holy life is the best evidence of what God can do. Platform and Meeting-Holiness, or glass-case sanctity, are feeble when compared with the exhibition of the blessing in daily association. Therefore, 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven'. These words indicate my meaning when I urge you to seek and maintain the blessing of Holiness in the interests of those around you. Holy lives are the most convincing sermons and testimonies. We often say 'Holiness is power'; and I am sure that you need all the power which can be obtained to influence the world around for God and Salvation.

3. Then, as a last motive to stimulate you in the pursuit of Holiness, I will name self-interest. That may seem rather a low-down motive, seeing that Holiness, which is perfect love, is the extreme opposite of that selfishness which is the essence or root of all sin. It seems like a paradox or contradiction to say that self-denial can harmonize with enjoyment; and yet it is true. A man does advance his highest interests and truest well-being when he submits to the sanctifying conditions of the Holy Ghost; for what the world counts loss, he finds to be gain.

I would point out that we find God Himself appealing to men just at that point of self-interest. What a chapter is that fifty-fifth of Isaiah, beginning, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters', and so on, the second verse finishing, 'Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness'. As much as to say, 'You will find it worth while to come into right relations with Me'.

There is no doubt that people are moved when they properly understand the fact which Paul set forth in the words: 'Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come'; 'Godliness with contentment is great gain'. And I want you to see that to have the blessing of Full Salvation will be worth your while, because it will meet the deep needs of your individual life.

If I am asked to define what you must be in order that your religious life may be happy and successful, I would state the case thus.

First, you need to be in right and happy relationship with God. There must be no enmity there; no clouds in that sky; no closed doors between you and your Heavenly Father. Salvation does nothing for you if it does not bring that.

Second, you need to be delivered from those inward evils which have darkened your mind, polluted your soul, and will be like roots of bitterness springing up to trouble you if they are not removed.

Third, you want power to live up to your own ideals; that is, up to the standards of life upon which your consecrated heart will be set. You do not want to be in the position of the man who exclaims, 'The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do'. You want power to live 'unspotted from the world', to walk in Divine fellowship, to triumph over temptation, and to have victory and success in your service. These are the things you must have to meet your deepest need, and they are all secured to you in the blessing of Holiness which we urge you to seek.

Believe me, nothing spoils a man's happiness so much as sin in the heart, and nothing helps in human happiness so much as a holy, sanctified condition. You see the supreme advantage when you remember the open fellowship possible to the fully sanctified; the perfect peace in which God keeps the man whose mind is stayed on Him; the perfect love which casteth out fear, and the joy unspeakable and full of glory realized by one filled with the Holy Ghost.

On the other hand, how much unhappiness and disappointment is caused by the remains of sin in the heart! Look, for instance, at ill-tempers and their effect. You may have found a certain amount of gratification in letting your temper display itself; you have 'spoken your mind', and so forth, and, perhaps, caused pain to somebody in so doing; but you know how unhappy and humiliated you have been upon reflection.

Take also the case of the envious man. We all know that it is wrong to be envious; but who is the chief sufferer? Why, the envious man himself. So with grumbling and discontent: it is very unpleasant for those around; but how unhappy are the grumblers themselves! Similarly with pride; it may be very self-satisfying, until one sees somebody better, or something which cuts one out; then comes disappointment. And so I might go on with other illustrations, but I have said enough to show what I mean.

Now look at these motives which I have named; they all appeal to you in regard to Holiness. It is the will of God concerning you. It is desirable and necessary to give your religion power with those around you. It is also to your own happiness and interest to get your nature sanctified and your own heart and mind and life brought into harmony with God. To those whose experience includes the enjoyment of the blessing, I say let these motives influence you in maintaining the conditions. And to those who have not got the blessing, let these motives constrain you to seek the blessing without delay.

XI

Judged by Fruit

'A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.' (Luke vi. 43, 44.)

Jesus Christ, in the few sentences quoted, indicates the true secret or principle of holy living. They show that holy living works from the heart of things—beginning within—to the outside.

Many judge their religion the other way about. They take up religious duties, attend religious Meetings, sing hymns, say prayers, put on what may be called the outward things of religion. Perhaps they adopt a dress, make a profession, or assume a religious manner, and hope to grow good in the process. But really it does not work out that way. I do not say that the things are not good. Far from that; but what I want to make plain is this: in none of these things does the secret of true religion lie, and you will be a failure if you rely upon the outward form.

You have the secret, the principle of religion, in the words of Jesus: 'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh'. You see, that which is in will come out, and you cannot bring out that which is not in.

In these words Jesus tries to enforce a great truth in human life, by showing how the principle works out in the action of a tree. Nature cannot teach us everything about God, nor everything about religion; but Nature does supply us with a great many beautiful illustrations. Jesus makes use of one when He says, 'Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. Every tree is known by his own fruit.' You see, not only is the fruit according to the tree, but the quality of the tree is to be judged according to its fruits.

That is the way by which ordinary people identify a tree. There are some who are highly skilled in forestry, who can tell you all about a tree by looking at the bark or the leaves or the blossoms, or even by its general appearance. But we cannot all do that. I have sometimes stood in a company, and listened to an argument as to what kind a particular tree really was. But no arguments are required when the fruit hangs on the branches. Everybody can tell the apple tree then, and knows what a pear or a plum tree is when they see the fruit hanging upon it. You can see the bearing of this upon personal religion and character. By our fruit, then, we shall be known and judged.

In the fifth chapter of Galatians you will find a commentary upon this natural law. Shall we read it? 'Now the works of the flesh'—the fruit of the flesh, if you like to put it that way—'are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance', or self-control. The two sets of verses taken together not only show in detail a cluster of virtues which are like luscious fruit in a beautiful garden, but also a cluster of evils, which are like poisoned berries upon the roadside bushes.

The contrast between the two clusters indicates how great is the difference when one is changed from being a proud, fleshly, corrupt man into a clean, holy, spiritual person; but the contrast also marks the grace of God as the transforming power. No matter what change was wrought in you at conversion, you cannot properly call yourselves fully sanctified until the transformation is complete; that is, until you are delivered from the works or fruit of the flesh, and produce the fruit of the Spirit, and by your fruits you shall be known. Profession of Holiness without appropriate fruit is no good. That would be just like the tree to which the Saviour turned on one occasion when He found nothing but leaves.

Let me put the matter very simply, but very definitely. Here is a man, we will suppose, who says, 'I am saved'. That is good. I like to hear men who are able to stand up and say, 'I am saved'. But if in that man's dealings with those around him he tells lies—black ones or white ones—well, then it is obvious that the man still needs Salvation.

Here is another who stands up and says, 'I have a clean heart'. That is a testimony in which I glory. But if you see that man's bodily appetites master him, or see him fall into uncleanness of speech or of act, you know very well what even those who want to be charitable will say, 'Either that man fails to understand the meaning of the words he uses, or his profession of Holiness is a false one'.

Another person says, 'I love God with all my heart'—or as many do say, 'There is nothing between my soul and God'. But if you see the same person running after those things which he knows God is against, however charitable you may feel, you cannot help judging by what he does rather than by what he says.

One may stand up and speak about being sanctified; but if his actions indicate in some form or another that he is jealous, or ill-tempered, or selfish, everybody will say, 'No matter what that person may say about himself, testimony or no testimony, profession or no profession, he still needs the blessing of Full Salvation!'

Let me, by an illustration or two, help you to see what I mean—the fruits of the sanctified heart.

A university professor was afflicted with an ungovernable temper. One day he went to the house of a relative with a view to adjusting some property matters in dispute. Now, the man to whom he went not only made unjust claims, but put forth these claims in a way to provoke his Christian relative to anger. He did it on purpose; he was determined to show that this man's religion made him no different from the people round about him. As a consequence, high words arose, and the professor left the house in a rage, slamming the door behind him.

When he got into the street calm reflection came, and in the place of anger and bitterness a sense of humiliation and shame and defeat. He went straight home, up to his room, fastened the door, got down on his knees, and spent the night pleading that God would not only forgive him for his display of temper, but would deliver him from those angry passions which made him such a discredit to his profession of religion. As morning dawned, peace came to his soul, the power of the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and a sense of deliverance pervaded his whole being.

He went to the house of his relative, and found him at breakfast. With deep humility, and in the presence of the family, he confessed his sin, said not a word about provocation, and only pleaded that they would forgive him for his display of anger. Thirty years subsequent to this that professor, who became famous as a man of God, stated that no temptation or provocation received had ever stirred the emotion of evil temper within him since that memorable night. He had been delivered. Instead of the fruit of the flesh, there grew the fruit of the Spirit.

Take the case of a certain mother with several unconverted children. She was a fretting, chafing woman, and by her impatience, fault-finding, and nagging she fretted and vexed the whole family. When she got the blessing she became so even in her disposition that she was kept in such 'perfect peace' that, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the domestic circle became like a little heaven below.

Resentful and revengeful persons are so changed that the spirit of forgiveness and forbearance which they exhibit in their lives is the admiration of all who know them. Self-seeking Christians are made into self-sacrificing, cross-bearing saints and soldiers, where formerly they would only be content if they were having their own way.

Now, what does this mean? This: that such open professors of religion as we are must justify our profession by bringing forth fruit unto Holiness. If the condition of your mind and heart, if the state of your disposition (I will put it that way) is not such as brings forth this fruit, you must earnestly and sincerely ask the Lord to cleanse and sanctify and anoint you with the Holy Ghost, so that instead of bringing forth the fruit of the flesh, everybody shall see displayed and exhibited by you the fruit of the Spirit.

Do not say the standard is too high, for it is simply a case of your experience being too low. We want the whole thing not 'levelled down', but 'levelled up'. Let God take full possession of you; let the Divine power be exerted upon your particular difficulty; and seek to be wholly anointed with that Holy Spirit who can not only cleanse, but keep you, making you fruitful in every good word and work.

XII

Perpetual Covenants

'Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.' (Jeremiah 1. 5.)

We find in our Meetings persons who are perplexed by the doctrinal statements about Holiness or entire Sanctification and equivalent terms. Some take our words to mean more than we intend; others think the statements imply less than we mean; some put the standard too high, whilst others put it altogether too low.

At the close of a recent Meeting a gentleman said to me, 'I greatly enjoyed your address, but I am sure you will never get people to follow that line, because you advocate an abnormal life. It cannot be lived.' Equally I find men who in an indefinite way imagine that high states of emotion dispense with standards of morality such as truth, honour, and rectitude in business. And it is with great difficulty that we make the Bible standard plainly understood.

I think, however, that very few are perplexed as to what we mean by the consecration side of Holiness. There is, in all who are moderately well instructed in Bible truth, a living sense of God's claims, a recognition of what I may call the law of consistency, and a feeling that, as a matter of duty, we really ought to yield to those claims, and devote ourselves to doing His will. That is what Jeremiah meant when he called upon the people to join themselves unto the Lord in 'a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten'.

We all recognize how right it is for buildings to be dedicated to God's service; we call them the houses of God. We also see the rightness of contributing gifts to help God's cause; and yet men and women are so slow to fully and definitely join themselves unto the Lord, that is, to put the sacred mark upon their entire lives, and recognize their duty in spending their lives for God alone. They are slow to regard their bodily, mental, and other powers and faculties as belonging to God, and slower still in yielding their hearts in supreme love to Him who loved them, and gave Himself for them.

I am often puzzled as to why religious people who, in their business life, are regularly making covenants and contracts, either for labour or material, should so fail to follow on similar lines in their relations to God. My duty called me lately to examine a contract, and I found the basis expressed in terms like these: 'This is an agreement between So-and-so in the first part and So-and-so in the second part'. And then on each side there were pledges and responsibilities and commitments; finally, the contract was 'signed, sealed, and delivered' by the two contracting parties. Now, that illustrates precisely what is meant by a covenant with the Lord. He, on the one part, and we on the other part, uniting for a common purpose, and each undertaking definite responsibilities to secure the purpose desired.

Mind, this covenanting with God is not a case of bargaining. I know that it pays to be on right relationships with God, and to do His will; but do not forget—He settles and dictates the terms, our part is to comply and surrender.

Moses puts this in a simple but beautiful way to his people when he said, 'Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and to hearken unto His voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all His commandments'. The appeal of the Apostle is also familiar to us all, 'I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service'.

Jesus always kept this before His disciples. He certainly talked of daily cross-bearing, and following and confessing Him before the world; but He was careful to say to them, 'There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting'.

Our songs and prayers are full of the same ideas, and we are again face to face with the appeal expressed by Jeremiah: 'Come, let us join ourselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten'. Now, there are certain features of this covenant-making that I should like to look at.

1. To begin with, it is to be an inward act, a thing of the heart. I believe in outward tokens of religious life and feeling, such as standing up, raising the hand, coming to the table, and similar modes of testimony; but if any of these outward acts are mere forms, they are next to useless. The heart must be in it if the covenant is to be properly made and maintained.

One frequently hears it said, 'Ah, yes, I do it in my heart. I can get the blessing in my seat or at home quietly. I do not believe in this public line of declaration, and this parade of one's sacred experiences'. Well, I believe, in both the inward and the outward. If, however, we cannot have both, by all means let us have the covenant made in sincerity of heart, for without that the whole thing is in vain.

We may learn much from an old Hebrew custom referred to in the twenty-first chapter of Exodus, which shows that the Jewish people understood the nature of true devotion. Under the Mosaic law a bondservant could only be held by his master for six years; in the seventh he was 'to go out free for nothing'. But if the servant came to his master, and said, 'I don't want to go; I love you; I will not go out free; I will serve you for ever', the master would reply, 'If you really mean that, let us have it settled, and settled in public'. The master would then bring the servant to the judges to register the agreement, and would also take him to the doorpost, and with an awl bore a hole through the man's ear, fastening him to the post. This was the sign of a perpetual covenant, and everybody who saw it knew that the man's self-surrender to his master was real, binding, and permanent.

We have no such ceremony in our public Meetings, but we can have the definite declaration, 'I love Thee, O Lord, and I will serve Thee; and here and now I bind myself in an everlasting covenant to serve Thee for ever'.

2. Then, again, a true covenant is a deed which commits you to active and definite service. Some covenant-makings are largely sentimental; a kind of religious IOU or promise to pay, and I fear some are treated as the Irishman treated his responsibility when, having signed a promissory note for a debt, he exclaimed, 'Thank God, that is done with!'

The vows and covenant-making which God wants are those which will be followed by something practical. The states of emotion and high spiritual contemplation are right in so far as they assist men to realize the presence of God and Divine things; but to answer their purpose they must carry men out to activity and self-denying service for God and those around them. The highest type of religion is a combination of the experimental and the practical, the inward and the outward, the personal and the relative. Our consecration must include what God can get out of us as well as what we obtain from Him.

I found a parable the other day in a legend of the Greek Church which is worth repeating. That Church has two favourite saints—St. Cassianus, the type of monastic asceticism, and St. Nicholas, the type of genial, active, unselfish, laborious Christianity. St. Cassianus enters Heaven, and Christ says to him, 'What hast thou seen on earth, Cassianus?' 'I saw', he answered, 'a peasant floundering with his wagon in a marsh'. 'Didst thou help him?' 'No.' 'Why not?' 'I was coming before Thee,' said St. Cassianus, 'and I was afraid of soiling my white robes'.

Just then St. Nicholas enters Heaven, all covered with mud and mire. 'Why so stained and soiled, St. Nicholas?' said the Lord. 'I saw a peasant floundering in a marsh,' said St. Nicholas, 'and I put my shoulder to the wheel, and helped him out'. 'Blessed art thou', answered the Lord. 'Thou didst well; thou didst better than Cassianus.' And He blessed St. Nicholas with fourfold approval. The moral is so obvious that I need not labour the application of my parable.

3. Let me also impress upon you that covenant-making must be a believing act. That is to say, when you come up to the altar of consecration, and say, 'Here I give my all to Thee', you must believe that if you are good for your word the Lord is also good for His. So that what you give, God accepts; what you claim, God gives. That may appear a very simple way of putting the faith that saves and sanctifies, but in all its simplicity it is true, for 'He is faithful who hath promised'.

4. Then comes the all-important necessity of standing to your consecration at all costs. 'Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.' God wants men and women who stand to their covenant; who, having made their pledges and promises, are not turned aside by difficulties or temptations, but say and mean, as we sing sometimes—

In the Book of Judges there is the story of a man named Jephthah. He made a vow, and when the test came he found it involved the sacrifice of one who was all the world to him—his daughter, and she was his only child. Jephthah rent his clothes, and almost broke his heart; and, no doubt, everybody expected him to set aside his vow; but, no, he stood to it, declaring, 'I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back'. There are some, thank God, who equally stand to their covenants with Him; but, alas! that so many open their mouths, and sing and say words of consecration, but when the temptation comes they do not stand to their vows.

Of all the people who hinder the cause of Jesus Christ, I think the most lamentable cases are those who go back upon their Lord. Having spoken, they do not fulfil their word; having vowed, they do not perform their vows. They lack that decision which can be expressed in the words, 'I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of His people', and I want to urge all such to join with those of us who, bowing before the Divine altar, renew our covenant, resolving by His grace to bind ourselves in perpetual devotion and service.

XIII

The Baptism of the Spirit

'And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.... And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.' (Acts ii. 2, 4.)

The Holy Ghost is the active force in all spiritual life. It is, therefore, important that we should realize the close connexion between the experience of Holiness and that 'Promise of the Father' for which the early disciples were to wait. All followers of Jesus should realize, as truly as the disciples did on that historic day, that their day of Pentecost has fully come, and each of us should be able to say, 'Not only was the Holy Ghost outpoured upon the waiting host in that Jewish centre, but Pentecost has come to my heart. The Spirit of the living God has come to me.'

Now, whatever manifestations of the Holy Ghost there might have been in Old Testament times—and without question there were some wonderful displays—the age in which we live is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost for us. Our Lord said that He should come to convince the world of sin, and to produce many other mighty effects.

To my mind, that Pentecostal event was like the launching of God's great campaign for the evangelization of the world. The world without the Holy Ghost would be as dark, spiritually, as the material world was in the beginning before the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, 'Let there be light'.

Going over Peter's sermon on that occasion, we find him quoting Joel's very wonderful prophecy, claiming its fulfilment that day. And amongst all the glorious truths that have been proclaimed in our own time, there is none grander than that God will dwell with men—yea, the Spirit of God will dwell in men.

You cannot read your Bibles, nor look through the books of human experience, without seeing that God's great purpose in the outpouring of the Spirit was the setting up of His Kingdom upon the earth. And we see that as the Son of God humbled Himself to earth's poverty, ignominy, and death, to redeem men, so the Holy Ghost is sent to be the great operating force in leading the world back to God. The hope of the world is in the presence of the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ.

It is so in relation to the individual soul. The Holy Ghost stands at the door of the Kingdom of God, either to bar the entrance or to fit the soul to enter. You remember the Saviour's words to Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God'. There is, and can be, no entrance without conversion.

'No man', says Paul, 'can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.' And when some would have put outward religion or the profession of it in the place of this conversion, the deciding point was stated in unmistakable terms: 'If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His.' The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Health, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Power, and there would be no hope for the human soul or the individual life apart from His gracious presence and influence.

This matter cannot be explained in terms of ordinary language, but it is none the less real and definite in human experience. To Nicodemus, Jesus said, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit'. The Spirit, like the wind, is mysterious in movement, uncontrolled by human restriction, and yet its influences are all-pervading. The courses of the wind are to be discerned by the effects; equally so will the Spirit's operations; mysterious, unfettered, unexplainable these operations may be, but the effects are discernible in ourselves and others.

Analysing the purpose of God in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, we see its application to ourselves in several ways.

There is the rectification of our own hearts, the revealing of Divine things within us, the transforming of our characters. All these are indications of the Holy Ghost's work in ourselves; and then comes the power to help and bless and save others, God making us channels of blessing, and instruments by which His Kingdom can be extended.

In this connexion there are two sayings of Jesus, which, although the figure is changed, come up together in my mind. The first is in the story of the woman at the well in Samaria. The Saviour said to her what is very applicable to you, 'Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life'. Later, on the last day of the feast, Jesus said, 'He that believeth on Me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water'. Do you see what those two sayings of Jesus set before us? The one shows how the Baptism of the Spirit provides the inward spring, the inward supply, bubbling up within, fresh, clean, sweet, and vitalizing like a 'fountain ever springing'; the other indicates the outflow, from us to others, of this spiritual force and blessing.

Now, you want both the inward spring and the outward flow. Some of you are very desirous about the second provision: 'Out of you shall flow rivers of living water'. It is good that you have such desires; but before you can become a channel through which the vital force can flow for the Salvation of others, you must yourselves be the subject of the Spirit's operations within you. Not only as the great Revealer must the Holy Ghost make Divine things real to you, but as a purifying flame He must change your nature, purging away the natural corruption and sinfulness of your heart.

An Eastern legend says that an angel once rested by a fair fountain. In a favoured hour he infused it with a mysterious power, so that if only some drops of its water were scattered in a barren plain, a fountain of sweet water would spring up. Any traveller who henceforth came to the spring might, after refreshing himself, take some portion from it, and carry with him the secret of unfailing springs, and suffer no fear of thirst either for himself or those with him.

We are such travellers, and for us the water which Christ gives is better than that fabled fountain, for he who carries the precious water may drop it in places where no spiritual water is, and so bring life and blessing to the multitudes of needy souls. Oh, note the words, 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up', and 'out of him shall flow rivers of living water'. This He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should afterwards receive.

That is a very blessed promise, 'Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you'; and yet, so far as we understand the prevailing experience of Christian people, the promises of power are very feebly realized, and very slowly acted upon. When we see the manifest lack of the Holy Ghost in the experience, and ask, 'Why is this?' we know that the cause may lie in certain easily defined facts.

One reason may be the actual existence of sin in the heart—some hidden or secret wrong. There are numbers in whose hearts there is something wrong. Is it so with you? Is there some inward love of or desire for evil? Or the world spirit—is that there? Or anything of a similar character? Now, before the Holy Ghost can flow into you, to say nothing of Him flowing through and out of you, these wrong things must be purged away by the cleansing stream; or, to change the figure, the purifying flame must

Or the hindrance may lie in a want of surrender and faith, without which the Spirit cannot possess and use us. I am not speaking of some act of surrender or faith only, but also of that condition which must be maintained. It is just that neglect or withdrawal which disturbs the touch with God, and so the connexion is broken. You are all familiar with the electric switch and the light. You know how slight is the thing which connects or disconnects the current. A child's finger can touch a button which will turn on enough electricity to blast a rock or move the machinery of a great factory.

And so I tell you that little things which are held on to against God's will switch off the Power. That unwillingness in some hearts to follow the Lord, and do as He commands, will switch it off; that spirit which chooses to do this, but won't do that; which says, 'I will go here, but I won't go there', that sort of thing breaks the connexion.

This comes home very close to some of you, for, alas! it is just there that your power fails. You must ask yourselves what are the hindrances, if any, in your hearts and lives? Some of you are weak, wavering, wobbling, and uncertain. If you look closely you will find the secret of that in your want of surrender and faith. Do not make a mistake; the inward experience is closely related to the outward service. God's plan is first to do the cleansing, and then the filling; first the inward spring, and then the outward flowing river.

One other important thing. If you have not got the Holy Spirit abiding within you, no substitute will meet the need. Many try to make other things produce the same effects—religious talking, singing, energetic service, or the memories of spiritual experiences. These are all very good, but of themselves they will no more meet the necessities of your hearts and lives than a picture of a fire will warm the man who spreads out his hands before it. You must have the real thing—the power of the Holy Ghost.

Now, the Lord is around and among us, saying, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost'; and whether you are an enslaved sinner, or a backslider in heart; or whether it is the assurance of Salvation, cleansing from sin, or power for service, which you lack, the Holy Ghost will meet your particular need. Let God work His will in you, and in Jesus Christ's name I say, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost'.

'Tis fire we want, for fire we plead,

Send the fire!

The fire will meet our every need,

Send the fire!

For strength to ever do the right,

For grace to conquer in the fight,

For power to walk the world in white,

Send the fire!

XIV

Lost Earnings

'He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.' (Haggai i. 6.)

In our Holiness Meetings we often speak of Full Salvation as a blessing to be obtained, and also a blessing to be retained; but I want now to turn the truth the other way round, and speak about 'losing the blessing'. These words of Haggai about the man who lost his earnings through a faulty bag will serve me as a text, and are very significant.

As a figure of speech, the words are well understood. From the boy who, by holding a horse, or running errands, earns threepence, and puts it into a pocket with a hole at the bottom, to the man or woman who puts the savings of years into a rotten speculation, all know the literal meaning of Haggai's text, 'He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes'.

The central idea is that something gained by hard effort has been lost, and that the loss was due to the man's own fault. The man had earned his wages, and then let what he had won by toil slip through holes in the bag into which he put it. The possibility of this in relation to spiritual blessings is a danger we are warned against in God's Word, and the necessity for guarding against such losses is one of the important lessons to be learned.

This text reminds me of an incident and parable in the Book of Kings. During the progress of a battle one of the leaders, having captured a prisoner, called to a subordinate and placed the captive in his care, to be kept at the risk of his life. Later, the man had to give an account, and when admitting the loss of the prisoner he said, 'As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone'. Alas! there are many whose spiritual acquisitions have slipped away like that.

The spiritual application of this thought is brought home to us by a verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 'Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip'. If you look in the margin of your Bible, you will see the words, 'run out as leaking vessels', and in the Revised Version the words read, 'drift away from them'. You see the idea is, that unless you are careful you will lose your blessing after having enjoyed it.

Looking round my audiences I can with fitness use these figures, and apply the idea to many who, after tears and agonies of heart, secured the Salvation of their souls, and the heavenly treasure which only the pardoned sinner knows; but, alas! through the faulty bag, or pocket with holes, their earnings slipped away, and they are now spiritual bankrupts, their latter state being worse than the first. Thank God, if those who have thus lost their Salvation and peace will truly repent and do their first works, they may again obtain heavenly treasure, and with it grace and wisdom to prevent the repetition of past follies. Let others learn and take heed lest they also drift away, as the Apostle puts it.

My chief purpose, however, relates to those who, though they once had the blessing of a clean heart, have lost it. Their present lack is not due to their having exhausted their earnings in lawful pursuits, or because they invested their treasure in sanctified enterprises, but because they have let the blessing slip; or, turning back to Haggai's words, they have been as him 'that earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes'. The experience is a thing of the past. At times they are tempted to say that they were deluded, and never had the blessing, or that they were as a man who only dreamed that he had his wages; but that is not so. The wages were earned, but lost.

So you must not regard your experience as the sensations of a dream. You had the blessing right enough, and some of you had secured it at no small sacrifice; but, alas! you let it slip out of your possession, and you woke up to find it gone.

It is remarkable how many sanctified people have to testify that before they settled into the regular experience of Full Salvation they lost the blessing which they had received; in fact, some eminent saints have recorded repeated experiences of loss before they learned how to carry themselves and guard against the dangers.

Perhaps here I ought to say definitely, that the Bible does not tell us of any stage in our heavenward journey at which we can be saved from the possibility of losing the blessing. This blessed treasure of perfect purity, peace which passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable, is only ours so long as we maintain that entire consecration and faith which are the conditions on which the blessing is received. There is no spot where the advice is not necessary—'Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life'. Paul put it clearly, 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall', and showed how seriously he regarded the matter when he declared that he had to keep his body under and in hand, lest after preaching to others he should himself become a castaway.

I have called to mind two remarkable touches of Bunyan, in his 'Pilgrim's Progress'. The first picture shows us Christian, weary with climbing the Hill Difficulty, turning aside into a pleasant arbour where he sat down to rest. For the comfort of his own heart he pulled out his roll of assurance. He also began to examine with great satisfaction the coat which had been given to him, and 'after pleasing himself for a while' he fell into a slumber, and in his sleep let the roll fall from his hand.

Mercifully, Christian was awakened, and hasted along the road. Later, he got into great temptation, and, desiring to reassure his own heart, he put his hand into his bosom to find the roll, 'which was his pass to the Celestial City'; but, to his horror, it was not there! After great distress Christian remembered his sleeping in the arbour, and painfully retraced his steps 'bewailing his sinful sleep in the midst of difficulty'. He reached the place of his loss, and at last espied the roll which had slipped out of his hand. He secured it once more, and after giving thanks for his recovery, the Pilgrim betook himself again to his journey.

Bunyan's other picture of Vain-hope is even more pathetic. The vision shows the gate of the Celestial City, and the entrance of Christian and other pilgrims. But when this man, Vain-hope, came up, he had no roll or certificate, having lost it, if he ever had it; the poor wretch passed away to 'a door on the side of the hill', which caused the dreamer to write, 'Then I saw that there is a way to Hell even from the very gates of Heaven'.

How true, therefore, it is, that at every stage of the heavenward journey, one has to guard against the loss of that spiritual treasure which has been secured at such a cost.

I hope you see clearly that the Divine treasure is all right, and the possibility of its continued enjoyment is not in question. If lost, the fault is with the bag or carrier of the bag. But by pointing out some of the holes in the bag through which certain people have lost their blessing, we may help them and others.

As one hole through which spiritual loss is sustained, let me first speak of ignorance. I do not say that in an unkind way. By ignorance I mean lack of knowledge. You cannot imagine a man putting his wages into a faulty pocket if he knew there was a hole there.

There are traps and pitfalls for the newly sanctified. Some know of them; others do not know, and are unprepared for dangers and the devices of the Devil, who, if he cannot hinder a man getting the blessing will scheme to rob him of it. For instance, temptations to doubt are pressed on a soul just entering the path of Holiness: 'Can it be?' 'Have I been deceiving myself?' 'I thought I should have such and such sensations; where are the feelings of ecstasy which I expected?' The uninstructed soul often confuses feelings with assurance, particularly if in the moment of deliverance some special wave of feeling swept over the soul. When this wave subsides the sensations are different, and the soul is tempted to doubt the reality of the transaction.

Personally, I am always thankful that both in the matter of conversion and getting a clean heart, the Lord left me to claim the blessing by naked faith. I had little or no special feelings; I just had to go on believing. I stepped out, as upon thin air, and found my feet on the rock.

For lack of knowledge many souls imagine that Holiness will mean ecstasy, or that the sanctified soul will not feel temptation; and Satan feeds the anxious thought until sometimes the hand of faith is unclasped, and the blessing lost for the time being.

Later on the faithful soul learns to hold on, to resist the enemy's insidious attacks, and understands the meaning of the lines—

Again, unwatchfulness is a hole, a danger against which I warn you. Recently saved people, and those who have recently found Full Salvation, are tempted to say, 'Glory to God, now I am all right!' forgetting that, although on the right road, the journey is before them, and that the rule of the road is, 'As ye received the Lord Jesus, so walk in Him'. Do not forget the relation between those two little words 'as' and 'so'.

Now the word unwatchfulness, or I might change it for carelessness, is a very general term. I will touch upon two or three things in which it shows itself. Going where Jesus could not go with you; to do that is like playing with pitch, or with fire. Keeping company with the wrong people: some of you lose there; treating Meetings and prayer lightly; resenting little unkindnesses and persecution; carelessness of speech; gossiping, frivolity, forgetting that whilst the Holy Ghost is a Spirit of Joy, He is grieved by lightness and frivolous jesting. These are some of the little holes through which the blessing drops out. You must watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

Then, holding back from testimony is a snare into which some of you have fallen. Listen to me! Some of you have tried to testify, and your very backwardness and fear have been holes in your bag through which the blessing has been lost.

May I once more refer to myself. When, during a long course of years, I have been bold and outspoken about my possession of the blessing of Full Salvation and my relations to God, sureness and confidence have filled my heart; but when I have been tempted to modify and hedge and hesitate in the terms of my testimony, I have had reason to say, 'Is it so? Where am I?' Apply what I am saying to your own experience, and judge ye what I say.

Failure to walk in the light has been the cause of many professors of Holiness losing their blessing. The path of Holiness brings many surprises and tests. Demands not previously thought of come upon one; duties not expected are presented; sacrifices are required: Do this, do that. Let that go. Follow here, go there. I doubt whether any single day passes which does not bring its test of our consecration. If you follow the light, you will be safe; but if you refuse it, you will go under. Disobedience and a spirit of unwillingness knock holes in the bag. It has been so with some of you, and loss has been the result.

I want to add a word about personal prayer in this connexion, for I believe many owe their loss to a neglect of that essential. The lack of prayer shows over-confidence in oneself, and accounts for many falls. 'Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication.' This is indeed a necessary condition of keeping the blessing.

My closing question Is a very straight one. Have you got the blessing of a clean heart now? If you have had it and lost it, seek it once more. Make haste to the altar; renew your consecration again, claiming the blessing, and the Lord will restore you.

XV

Fighting Holiness

'Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.' (1 Timothy vi. 12.)

My object, in announcing 'Fighting Holiness' as my subject, is to make it quite clear that a Full Salvation does not mean a hot-house emotionalism or glass-case sanctity, but a vigorous, daring, aggressive religion, on the lines of the Saviour's words, 'The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force'.

If this text, 'Fight the good fight of faith', means anything at all, it means you must struggle for the thing you believe in. If you do not fight for it, the inference is either that you have little love for and confidence in your cause, or that you are indolent and unfaithful to that cause.

You say you believe in the rightness of God's claims upon the hearts and lives of men; you believe in the humiliation and passion of Christ to redeem men; you believe in the necessity for and possibility of rescuing human souls from the curse of evil and the eternal penalty of sin; but, believe me, your faith is vain if you do not stand for, and labour and fight to enforce, God's claims to proclaim Christ's redeeming grace, and to deliver men from going down to the pit.

The aspects of personal Holiness set out in terms such as 'perfect peace' and the 'rest of faith' are frequently before us, and I do not desire to reduce their value, for it is a blessed truth that 'we which have believed do enter into rest'. If by the 'rest of faith' is meant that calm confidence in the power and grace of God by which the believing and obedient soul is kept in perfect peace, then, all right; that, however, is very different from the only-believe-and-do-nothing policy of some people who adopt the phrase. Let there be no mistake about the fact that every consecrated man must take his place in God's fighting line.

The story of Mary of Bethany, 'who sat at the Lord's feet, and heard His word', also appeals to me; but the emphasis is not quite as some people put it. What Christ commended in Mary was not that she sat at His feet whilst Martha did all the hard work, but that she had 'chosen the good part—the one thing needful', which her anxious sister seems to have overlooked.

There is rest for the struggling soul who finds in Jesus a real deliverer. There is rest for the soul tossed about on waves of doubt and fear, who, anchoring in the haven of the Saviour's love, finds peace in believing. For the faithful but tired servant of Christ who 'works whilst it is called day', for the warrior also who has faced the enemy and braved the danger, there is rest; but the rest comes after the working and fighting is over.

I like the words 'fight' and 'fighting', because they involve taking a side, and devoting oneself to secure victory for the side one belongs to. I heard some one remark the other day, 'God wants fighting saints as well as kissing saints'; truly the phrase is not without its lesson for us. This is the very opposite to the attitude known as 'sitting on the fence', or that wretched fear which seems to possess some professed followers of Jesus Christ, who, outside a church or religious Meeting, are afraid to declare themselves for Him.' I am for Jesus Christ, and I want everybody to know it'; that is the line of the true Soldier.

Oh, how the spirit of compromise curses and hinders the work of God! I think the man who invented the phrase 'out-and-out consecration' was a benefactor to the cause, seeing it is such a contradiction of the half-and-half spirit which characterizes so much religious profession and service.

When reading the history of the American Civil War, I found instances of strange fraternizing on the part of the soldiers of contending armies. Sometimes the soldiers of the North would be on one side of a river when the Southern troops were on the other side. With the evening came suspension of hostilities, and under cover of darkness men of one army would cross over to the enemy's camp to smoke and talk with men who during the day had sought their destruction. That may have seemed very fine, from a certain point of view, but is regrettable in religious warfare. When the Soldiers of Jesus cross over to the Devil's forces for their pleasure and refreshment, it indicates little devotion to their King or enthusiasm for His cause.

Why should we be friends with the enemies of our Lord? If we have sincerely chosen His side, let all compromise cease, and each of us declare and stand for Him at all costs.

Then this idea of Fighting Holiness implies that the sanctified Soldier of Christ is an aggressor in the struggle for his Lord's supremacy. He cannot be content with following the line of the least resistance; he is rather in the spirit of the words already quoted, 'The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force'.

The business of attack in Spiritual Soldier-ship is quite as important as the protection of your own soul or defence of your position. It may involve doing violence to your own feelings, and oft-times to the feelings of others, but you cannot be faithful to your profession unless willing to attack the Devil's strongholds, and fight evil in its own entrenchments.

I was much interested a few days ago in the story of a man connected with a Corps where there has been a marvellous religious awakening. The man got truly saved, and became a Salvation Soldier. A month later he was convinced of his need of a clean heart, his chief conviction being that he ought to become 'a fisher of men'. He went to the mercy-seat, made his consecration, claimed the blessing and power, and began fishing for souls. That was a little over a year ago; recently the results of that man's personal fishing were ascertained, and it was seen that since his consecration he had personally induced over 300 persons to go to the mercy-seat for Salvation. That is an illustration of the aggressive spirit included in Fighting Holiness.

We each find our own particular difficulties with which we should grapple, and the enemies whom we ought to attack; but, speaking generally, I point to the evil influences which are around us, cursing the people, the victims, alas! being multiplied by those who fatten on the woes and vices and even ruin of their fellows. These influences must be resisted, the fiends of Hell in human form must be grappled with, and 'the prey be taken from the mighty'. People must be aroused from their indifference and selfishness; the cold-blooded carelessness and worldliness of formal religionists must be assailed as well as help rendered to those who are ready to perish. Our fighting programme must include all this, if we are to be consistent professors of holy consecration to God and His Kingdom.

Then, further, I recognize that personal spiritual conflicts are included in Fighting Holiness. That is to say, our battles and victories relate not only to resistance of the Devil and the rescue of his captives, but in the varying phases of personal experiences we have to fight this good fight of faith.

Spiritual conflicts often have much mystery connected with them. If the fact had not been recorded, that Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, and learned obedience in the things which He suffered, we should wonder whether some of our struggles of faith were not the result of personal sin. We know, however, that there may be much temptation without either contracting the guilt or stain of sin.

It is true that spiritual conflicts are all the more dangerous for those who have not yet found deliverance from their own unsanctified passions and tendencies. A heart in which such things as pride and evil desire, lust, worldly ambition, and ill-tempers remain, is like a citadel in which traitors lurk to respond to the call of outward enemies. But when the heart is sanctified, and we are equipped with the armour of which Paul wrote to the Ephesians, the attacks of the enemy can be continually resisted.

I cannot cover the area of spiritual conflict. As varied as our characters are our temptations, and with all the changes in circumstances and physical or mental condition come enticements to evil. We have never taught that Holiness of heart means freedom from temptation. In one form or another temptation will come to the holiest of us, and the fight of faith has to be sustained even up to the very gates of Heaven.

The fully consecrated soul has not only to resist the temptations to positive sin, but must manifest its victory in the patient endurance of physical ills and the trials of life; and that apostolic note of triumph is also a word of guidance, 'This is the victory which overcometh ... even your faith'.

Human nature, even with the best of us, is a marvellous combination. We have nerves which sometimes vibrate like the wires of a highly-strung harp. Mental clouds at times seem to shut the sun out of the conditions of life, and dark shadows stretch across or along the pathway. Some of us have dispositions which, whilst capable of exquisite pleasure, also expose us to the most acute pain and disappointment. Then comes the temptation to charge against our spiritual condition weaknesses which are purely physical. To resist such temptations is indeed the fight of faith.

Physical depression comes upon some people until, for the time being, life is a burden and death would be a relief. Measured by their bodily and mental sensations, their experience is sometimes like a stretch of arid desert, and in such hours the enemy assails the mind with difficulties and suggestions to doubt, which can only be conquered by steady confidence in the love and wisdom and prevailing grace of the living God. That is the good fight of faith.

I hope that what I have said will not discourage any soul. Remember, if we are fully given up to God, and seeking to realize His will for us, we are not fighting a losing battle; 'He that is with us is greater than they that be against us'. The provision of Divine Grace is such that, in spite of enemies and dangers, our life can be one of victory; we can be more than conquerors through Him that loved us. The victor's palm and the overcomer's crown will more than compensate for the self-denial and loss of things which the world counts gain.

Many of you know the story of a certain Indian conqueror who, in his onward march, came to a temple containing a specially sacred idol. This he was proceeding to destroy, when the priests and others pleaded with him, and offered a large sum of money if he would only spare that idol; but, refusing the bribe, the conqueror demolished the image, and found within it the treasures of the temple, which for safety had been hidden there. There are many things which we may lose by fighting our battles faithfully, but the heavenly treasure will more than make up for it all.

'Be thou faithful unto death' is a strong exhortation; but that which makes it a positive inspiration to loving and enduring service and fighting is the added sentence, 'I will give thee a crown of life'.

XVI

Sanctified Commonplaces

'In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.' (Zechariah xiv. 20, 21.)

What I have to say may not strike some of you as setting forth any very high or exalted truth, but I am satisfied as to its being a very important matter. I want to talk to you about the sanctification of the commonplace things in life.

However desirable it may seem, you cannot always be sitting at the Master's feet in that contemplative, ecstatic mood sometimes attributed to Mary. Like Martha, we have to do a good deal of serving. Whether we are encumbered by 'much serving' is a separate question; but if we are to fulfil the Divine tasks we have to do a great deal of serving as well as praying and trusting. I may quote, with slight alteration, two lines of a poem:—

How true that is in practical life many of us know full well.

The most attractive manifestation of God's power is seen in the fact that He stoops to touch men at the points of their daily need. It is that aspect of the grace of God—the meeting your need in the daily battle of life—which makes it so supremely precious. In the same way, when we, who profess to be followers and imitators of our Heavenly Father, and to regulate our conduct by the principles of holy living, bring these principles to bear upon the ordinary relationships of life, we are most accepted in our witness for Jesus Christ, and exert the best, the most effective influence upon others.

These are the thoughts that have been in my mind, and which have led me to the subject upon which I wish to speak: the sanctification of the commonplace things. My thoughts arise from reading this passage in the Book of Zechariah: 'In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts'.

Now, when we look at these things, these pots and pans and horses and bridles and things of that sort, having to do with our daily toil, our cooking and eating, our work at home and in the streets, and compare them with the glories of the Temple, the golden candlesticks, the golden vessels, the High Priest's wonderful garments, his breastplate, and, not least, with the Ark of the Covenant, we feel they are very commonplace things. And yet, you see, according to this statement the same stamp of holiness is to be put upon them all. Even the most commonplace of them comes within the scope of this Divine sanctity, and there is to be in relation to each of them this sacredness, this sanctification: 'Holiness unto the Lord', is the stamp for all alike.

As an illustration of how Jesus did great things by the use of the commonplace, look at that narrative of the marriage in Cana of Galilee. We should probably never have heard of this marriage but for our Lord's miracle; and yet, apart from His Divine power, the process of turning the water into wine and transforming the character of the entire feast, that event was, indeed, a very common one.

Look, first of all, at these clay pots—common enough—jars and jugs, standing in a corner, or perhaps standing out on the veranda, near where the Saviour was sitting. These pots are easily broken, and no great value is attached to them. If Christ had intended to do this great thing you would have imagined that He would have called for the best vessels in the house; but He did nothing of the kind. He took the very meanest vessel of the whole household, and He consecrated and sanctified it to His Divine use.

Look at the water—that is common enough. Wine is costly, but water is cheap; it is thrown about, slopped about, and the pails containing it are often upset because easily filled again. Ordinarily speaking, water is one of the commonest of the commonplace necessaries of life. And yet that water was sanctified for a display of the Divine power.

Then there are the servants—never a scarcity in the East, where often there are three to do one man's work. Christ did not call the master of the house to stand near and observe Him, or say, 'Ye highly-placed guests, come and see'. He left the head people, as we should say, and took the common servants. 'Fill up the jars; draw it out; carry it to the governor; pass it round', was His simple command. And the water was turned into wine. Some one has poetically said, 'The modest water saw its Lord, and blushed'; but it was more than that, for His was the best wine of the feast.

Christ, you see, sanctified commonplace things and persons to display His benevolence and power. Make some practical use of them in regard to your own lives.

It is hardly needful for me to point out that life is very largely made up of commonplaces—commonplace engagements, commonplace relationships, and commonplace duties. There are some who are a little better off than others, but even such people have common things to do before they get through the routine of life. With some of us it is altogether so—commonplace in the home, commonplace in the situation, commonplace in the workshop, commonplace in the office, commonplace in what we do for our living, and commonplace in the persons with whom we are associated. Nothing great or dignified about it. It is indeed a case of 'the trivial round, the common task'.

But, whether you are a business man or a road-sweeper, you can live the sanctified life.

Some of you may be heads of houses or domestic servants, horse-drivers or laundry-workers, factory hands or the owners of factories; but whatever you are, as followers of Jesus Christ, God wants you to put this label upon each and every section of your life—'Holiness unto the Lord'. He wants you also to conduct yourselves in every way consistent with that thought. The pots and the pans, and the bridles of the horses, and whatever we may have to do, must be labelled with that.

'Commissioner, can a man have a clean heart and drive a cab?' a man recently asked me. 'Of course, he can,' I replied, 'and if you come with me I will show you how to do it'.

Why, the way in which we use these things is to be a part of our consecrated service to God. It does not sound very lofty, but that is just where the highest exhibition of Holiness can be given to the world. It is not what you do—that may seem very important or may be very trivial; but it is the manner of doing it and the motive behind it which is the main thing.

You have all heard the story of the servant-girl who had got the blessing, and who, when asked how she knew she had it, said that she knew it because she 'now swept under the mats'. What a very simple thing, and yet the blessing of Holiness just shows itself in that. Sweeping round the mat and in the middle of the room only is not 'Holiness'. The girl was quite right; she knew that the sanctifying Grace of God had made a change in her, because she wanted to clean where dirt would not have been seen even if left there.

How beautiful the lines of George Herbert, where, after speaking of doing things 'for Christ's sake', he says:—

The fact that you do your work in the spirit of your religion sanctifies your lives. It transforms them from secular to sacred. Your work and your worship spring from the same motive, and those who see this treat you and your work with respect. The Scripture puts it beautifully in speaking of the Apostles, 'The people took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus'.

Observe carefully how Zechariah combines the great and the commonplace. He says not only that the pots in the Lord's house shall be as sacred as the bowls before the altar, but that every pot and pan in the city shall be sanctified. The great point to be learned is that the Holiness of the home is to be as the Holiness of the Temple. The dedication which makes the bowls before the altar holy is also to sanctify the pots of the household, and the bells and trappings of the horses; the label which was written upon the priest's forehead, 'Holiness unto the Lord', is to be stamped upon the common things, in the street, in the shop, in the house—in fact, upon everything.

Get rid for ever of the idea that the affairs of human life are divided into things secular and things sacred; that business is separate from religion, and religion separate from business; that the consecration of certain hours to Meetings, to Bible-reading, or to religious work, is a different sort of thing from the devotion of other hours to labour, or eating, or physical necessities. Now, such a division may exist with some, but it cannot be allowed to exist in the lives of those who profess to have consecrated themselves to God.

In that case there is only one label for everything. For the meanest act, the commonest duty, the personal and private habits, there is only one motive, 'Holiness unto the Lord'. God's will, God's honour, God's service—these are on the labels. And—

Some have not got there yet. They have not made a dedication such as Zechariah spoke of, one which governs the whole life, the big and the little, the work and the worship, their associations and pleasures and methods of business. There are things in their daily work and personal habits, little indulgences or selfishnesses, to which that label, 'Holiness unto the Lord', cannot be attached.

Oh, I beseech you, make no distinctions. Let there be no reserves. Body, soul, spirit, as we sometimes sing, lay upon the altar. Consecrate yourselves to your Lord in simplicity and sincerity, with a simple faith that God will baptize you, and give you His Holy Spirit to maintain this consecration.

XVII

Spiritual Growth

'Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring whose waters fail not.' (Isaiah lviii. 11.)

'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' (2 Peter iii. 18.)

The truths of the Bible exist in counterpart, having at least two aspects, each of which must be considered in relation to the other, if their full meaning is to be understood. That is a very necessary statement in regard to the aspect of truth which we emphasize under the general heading of 'Spiritual Growth', or 'Growth in the Divine Life'. On the one hand, we know that spiritual experience is marked by certain crises which are in some cases like earthquakes or tidal waves; whilst, on the other hand, the law of progression must be in constant operation.

We speak of conversion as a crisis, because a man in a moment 'passes from death unto life'; or, in the Saviour's words, is 'born again'. Whatever happens before or after, there must be that definite change before any man can enter the Kingdom of God. Then, happily, many have experienced another crisis which we speak of as 'getting a clean heart'. This happens when an enlightened soul fully and absolutely consecrates itself to God, and, by faith, claims and realizes that 'the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin'. A man may be a long time, in coming to that point; but, sooner or later, he must reach and pass it if he is to secure that 'holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord'.

But whilst no amount of improvement in moral character can dispense with the crises referred to, we cannot rightly magnify the definite transactions at conversion or cleansing, or any other remarkable point of religious life, to the detraction of spiritual growth. Each aspect of the truth, as I have already said, is the counterpart of the other, and must be viewed in its natural perspective.

People sometimes express themselves in exaggerated language as regards both aspects of truth. A lady friend, referring to a young person of beautiful disposition, said to me, 'Ah, you see, in her case there is no need of conversion. She was born sanctified like her mother.' Quite a false notion. But it is equally foolish for persons to exclaim, 'I am converted, and a child of God; now I am all right'; or, 'Now I have got a clean heart; it is all done'. As a matter of fact, there is no more important principle to be cultivated than the law of progression or advance in the Divine life. That principle is certainly in perfect harmony with Scripture teaching, and is expressed in Peter's exhortation, 'Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'.

Paul's words about 'growing up unto Him in all things which is the head even Christ', express the same thought; whilst John shows the ascending grades of spiritual experience in directing his words to 'little children', 'young men', and 'fathers'. These grades are not measured by years, but by progress in spiritual life and vigour and personal knowledge of God.

The Bible contains many figures illustrating this idea of growth or progress, whether applied to character or service. For example, it refers to the garden as a place where things grow, and thus illustrates the garden of the soul; to the development of a building in course of erection, 'all fitly framed together' and growing; to the growth of a fortune by wise investment, in the use of talents, two becoming four, five becoming ten, and so forth. The growth of the human body is also referred to, with its limbs, muscles, and parts developing with the head; and the growth of the student, as exemplified in the text, 'Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity'.

Then the ideas associated with a garden or the field are also used as illustrations. The Bible parables from nature are very significant and powerful. They embrace the vine and its branches, the sower and the seed, the lily among thorns, the trees planted by the rivers of water; and thus the facts of the spiritual realm are made clear to us.

I often speak of the garden of the soul. If I widen the figure, and apply it to our personal character and general make-up, we shall see the similitude of a garden which is a place where all sorts of things grow; things related to the body, and to the mind, and to life generally.

The gardener studies his ground, and the possible products and available seed. He seeks to get rid of the weeds and briers and poisonous plants, in order that the desired products may grow to perfection. So the ground of our hearts and characters must be purged from the weeds and hindering things which grow with the affections and disposition generally. Evil things flourish apace in the garden of human nature; but if they are removed, sanctified seed may be sown, and holy plants may be cultivated.

The Bible also speaks of God's saints as being in 'the garden of the Lord', as trees which His right hand planted, or growing from seed which He has sown, blossoming as the rose, fragrant as the honeysuckle and almond, and bringing forth the fruits of righteousness to the glory of His name. But whether you look at your souls as a garden, from which evil plants are to be removed, and in which the plants of God's grace are to flourish instead, or regard yourselves as trees in God's garden, the ideas are always connected with growth, enlargement, and productiveness.

Isaiah gives an illustration which is in striking contrast. Speaking of God's idea concerning His saints, he says, 'Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and a spring whose waters fail not'; but he supplies another picture of those 'who forsake the Lord' after having known Him, God saying to them, 'Ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water'. Let us look well at ourselves, and find out to which class we belong.

The religion of Jesus Christ is pre-eminently good because it marks things of evil growth as things to be rooted out, and it produces qualities in the soul and character which are Christ-like, such as love, forgiveness of injuries, patience, devotion, and self-sacrifice for the good of others. These are all things which grow, and must grow, if we are to be as God wants us to be. Cleansing from evil things we must definitely seek and secure; but growth in grace and peace and Divine knowledge, and skill in service, must be sought and cultivated by us continually.

It may help our understanding of this truth if we study carefully the process in the growth of a good tree. If there is satisfactory development, three things in the tree will be discovered; namely, growth in the root, growth in the branches, and growth in the form of flowers and fruit.

1. I said growth in the root. This means that the tree must strike deep, deeper, and deeper still, so as to get an increasingly firm grip on the earth below, from which it draws much of its support. Without this the tree will fall of its own top-weight, or be uprooted by the storms which will rage about it. So, in the individual soul and character there must, below the surface, be a deepening and spreading and gripping of the spiritual forces and principles and realizations, those hidden connexions with the Divine Unseen without which one cannot stand before the storms and scorching tests of life.

One of the sacred writers speaks of a section of God's people in trouble, and in danger of being wiped out, but reveals God's purpose for them in these words, 'They shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward'. It is not difficult to grasp the principle illustrated; we must cultivate a religion with roots, otherwise our experience will be superficial and shallow, and, like the seed in the parable, with no depth of earth, and having little root, will ultimately become dried up.

This really means growth in secret, growth out of sight, and reminds us of the beautiful words of Jesus: 'When thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall Himself reward thee openly'. There are many kinds of prayer, but here is one that helps growth in the very roots of our religion. It fits in with the Psalmist's word, 'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty'.

2. I also spoke of growth in the branches. It is easy to understand what the growth of trunk and branches means in a tree; it grows higher, develops strength, and reaches out farther. It means the same when applied to growth in grace and character; getting power to grow stronger in resisting evil and standing for the right; stronger to say 'Yes' and 'No'; stronger to discharge our duty, and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ. Equally it means reaching out, stretching farther, and extending our efforts to reach and help and bless.

The banyan tree of the East affords us an apt illustration in this connexion. Its stem shoots up, its branches dip, touch the earth, and take root, repeating the process of extension until a great area is covered, and crowds may shelter beneath it. In like manner the extent of one's influence may at first be small, and the circle affected by our power be limited; but if it is wisely used and cultivated, it will stretch and grow, reaching farther and farther, and touching new people with new power and blessing.

You know the old preacher's reproach to the people who sang, 'Oh, for a thousand tongues!' and yet would not use the one they each possessed to witness for their Lord. I knew a man who wanted to go to China as a missionary, who would not testify for Christ in the neighbourhood where he lived. That meant declension, not growth. Growth comes by using the grace, stretching out and reaching forth; the power increases by reason of use.

3. Finally, there is growth in the form of flowers and fruit. God no more intended His creatures to be barren and unfruitful in religion, than He intended plants to fail in bloom and fruit. How perfectly clear Jesus makes this in His Parable of the Vine and the Branches! Of the branch which abideth in the Vine He says that when purged it shall experience a certain progression. Observe the order, 'bear fruit—more fruit—much fruit', and 'fruit which shall remain'. Let us ask ourselves to which of these stages we have attained, and go on earnestly to a fuller fruitfulness.

If I had space to speak of the various kinds of Nature's growth, I should point out how some fruit is for human food, such as apples, oranges, grain, and vegetables. Some blossoms are for beauty and fragrance, and in other cases flowers and fruit appear to be chiefly for seed purposes; but with almost every plant and tree the best feature is its reproductive power; that is, fruit is produced whose seed is in itself, and so multiplies its own kind.

Is not that what God wants with us? Beauty and grace and gratification, certainly, for we must adorn the doctrine; but your sanctified fruit must have the seed in itself, which drops and takes root, and reproduces itself in the world around you. Remember my last word, 'Herein is your Father glorified that ye bear much fruit'; fruit now and fruit always; so that, like the trees planted by rivers of water, you shall 'bring forth fruit even in old age'.

Oh, help us, Lord, throughout our time

To test ourselves, by help divine,

To see what fruit we bear;

What promise are we making Thee,

As ripened souls we wish to be,

When harvest home draws near.

XVIII

The Inward Laws

'I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' (Hebrews x. 16, 17.)

The beginnings of religion lie in the desire to have our sins forgiven, and to be enabled to avoid doing the wrong things again. It was so with David when, in the fifty-first Psalm, he not only cried, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, and blot out my transgressions', but 'Wash me, cleanse me from my sin'.

Sin is a double evil. On the one hand, it creates a record of wrongdoing which has to be faced; on the other, it creates a disease in the moral system and spiritual make-up of a man. This disease creates desires for the evil thing, and so warps and weakens a man's force of resistance that when the temptation is presented, the inward craving asserts itself, and makes the man want to go into the temptation.

To deal with this complex character of sin is a greater problem than human ingenuity and skill are equal to. God, however, has solved the problem Himself, and His plan of Salvation is addressed to both aspects of evil. It includes, first, the forgiveness of sins; and then the introduction of a new governing force and the power to live according to the will of God. Both these things are set out in the verses quoted, although the order of statement is reversed.

Let me use two stories to illustrate the separate points. The one relates to a little boy who, having done wrong in his home, had been dealt with by his mother. Referring to it afterwards, the boy said, 'Yes, I knew mother had forgiven me for the wrong; but I saw in her face, although she did not frown, that she remembered all day what I did in the morning'. There are many, no doubt, who forgive in that fashion; but it is not God's way. He says, 'Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more'. He forgets as well as forgives.

An illustration of the other point came out in the personal testimony of an eminently religious man who, before his conversion, was addicted to horse-racing. He said that after his conversion he did not go to the race-meeting, but very much wanted to do so. Later, when the light came to him, he got his heart and mind sanctified; and 'Then', said he, 'I not only did not go, but I had no desires to be there; the Lord had taken the want to out of my heart'.

It is the knowledge of these two aspects of evil, and of the necessity for having the double problem dealt with, which causes us to lay such emphasis upon the 'clean heart' teaching. First, the forgiveness of the sins; then cleansing from the evil desire, and getting the power to live the holy life. This is the essence of our Holiness doctrine.

There are, as I have frequently pointed out, other things besides inner experiences connected with true religion; for instance, we read in this chapter of its outward tokens, such as witnessing for Christ, holding fast the profession or confession of our faith without wavering. That is very important. There is also the association with others who are of the same mind; 'not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together'. Combination and outward union seem to be within the Divine plan for extending religion. Stirring one another up to duty is also emphasized, 'exhorting one another', 'provoking one another to love and good works'; that is, helping each other in the things which make for the godly life. All these must be in us and abound, if we are to justify our religion.

But, after all, the vital thing about religion is its inward springs and connexions; the outer life inspired and regulated by the laws of God put into our hearts and written in our minds, reproducing themselves in the activities and relations of daily life.

We would not undervalue the tables of stone, on which God with His own finger wrote the Commandments, and delivered them to Moses. We would ever prize the Blessed Bible, with its sacred records of the wonderful revelations of the Divine mind and purposes concerning men; for, in producing these, 'holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost'. How much more highly, however, do we value the Spirit of God writing upon the fleshly tables of the heart, bringing the heart and mind, not only into the knowledge of God's will, but into harmony with it, and planting and feeding the living principles which produce the fruit of good living!

It is worth while to inquire what are the laws which God undertakes to put into the hearts and minds of His willing children. In this connexion we think of the law of submission and obedience. Religion begins there. When seeking Salvation, either at the penitent-form or elsewhere, we went down, submitted ourselves to God, so far as we knew it, and declared that we would do what He wanted us to do.

We saw, felt, and accepted it as the settled thing for us that His will should be the governing law; that must go on operating all along life's way. Continuing to follow Him is as important as beginning to do so—'If any man will deny himself, let him take up his cross, and follow Me' That means continued submission to His government and conditions of service.

In the days of Christ's ministry a large number of people gathered around Him, but when they saw what was involved, 'they went back from following Him'. We must see that the surrenders of the sanctified life are not matters of a moment. There is a supreme moment when consecration lays its all upon the altar, but every day brings its own tests even to the most advanced among us. As in Abraham's experience, the birds of temptation and beasts of prey seek to destroy or defile the offering, and we have to hold on in our obedience, binding the sacrifice with fresh cords to the altar.

Now, we must not miss the point of the Apostle's teaching, which is, that when the law of God is stamped in the heart and mind, the spirit of the law prevailing within us makes us desire to obey and serve, and so we are empowered to sustain the claims of the consecrated life.

Then, there is the law of faith. It is spoken of in these verses. 'We are to draw near in the full assurance of faith'; that is, with the confidence that our approaches will not be in vain, because Christ has opened the way by His own Blood; and we believe that the provisions are at our disposal.

Now, faith is a law for the mind as well as for the heart. It is with the heart that a man 'believeth unto righteousness'; but there must be an intelligent perception of the facts and of the rightness of the truth; there must be an apprehension of the reasonableness of God's requirements before a man will happily submit, obey, and follow.

May I touch upon our own family sorrow in the death of a beloved son and Officer in India? Before my heart could rest in the will of God as exhibited in that bereavement, I had to reach the point of believing that a Father's hand prepared that cup, and that His will is the best, and His power and grace will make all things work together for good. The heart cried out in its agonizing pain and sense of loss; but, trusting in the Divine Love, rest and peace came to my bereaved soul.

And so, all along the consecrated way and line of service, it is when the law of faith is written in the mind, and becomes a settled perception or conviction, that the sanctified heart is able to find rest. 'By grace are ye saved through faith', is true at the beginning; but equally true is the word, 'Kept by the power of God through faith'; and the principle is that the law in the mind and heart constantly operates as we tread the appointed path of life and service.

I cannot leave the subject without touching specially upon one among other important laws which deserve our consideration; the law of love. Paul was quite right when, comparing the various qualities of Christian character he declared, 'The greatest of these is love'. 'Love is the bond of perfectness.'

Even submission and sacrifice are acts of joy when it is a case of love's surrender. The blessedness of service is great when love is the inspiration of that service, and great is the enduring power of true God-given love. The human will at best is weak; human supports are like reeds which bend or break when most needed; intellectual capacity or natural talents are valuable; but, after all, they only stand for so much in one's life; but 'love never faileth'. I cannot sufficiently commend to you this law of love in the heart; but, believe me, it sweetens life's sorrow, lightens life's burdens, and strengthens our powers of service and endurance.

How far does our experience harmonize with what has been said about the nature and conditions of true religion? which is only another way of presenting the blessing of Holiness. The new and living way of which the Apostle speaks as opened through the Blood of Jesus, is the only way to the cleansing fountain and the sanctifying grace. Let his words, therefore, encourage you to 'enter with boldness', to 'draw near with a true heart', a heart knowing its need, but believing the promises of God, and He will meet you and make these inward laws of Holiness and service your abiding experience.

XIX

Worry versus Peace

'Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' (Philippians iv. 6, 7.)

Before the full bearing and value of these verses can be realized, I think they require to be read several times over. Even if the sentences are read through slowly, just as they stand, a deep sense of blessing and rest steals into the soul; but the more deeply they are considered, the richer will the words be found. It would be almost correct for me to call this a New Testament commentary on Isaiah's beautiful verse, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee', for the ideas and their relation are very similar.

If we look at the various phases of this message, we shall see that they are very important. They imply, first, a perfect surrender or committal of oneself to God, based on a perfect trust; second, open access to God; freedom of intercourse; telling Him all about things which try and burden and distress us. We have also perfect peace; that is, quietness of spirit, rest of soul, deliverance from inward conflict, consequent upon God's keeping power through Jesus Christ. Read carefully this Apostolic message, and observe not only the different sections, but how they are connected, and how, in their completeness, they express a most desirable spiritual experience.

Included or connected with Full Salvation are certain blessings to which we generally refer, such as perfect love and purity, also that peace to which the Apostle here alludes, as well as a deep, settled faith in the saving purposes and power of God. But we do not always see that we may equally include deliverance from that undue anxiety which we call worry; and yet these verses certainly prescribe a cure for worry as well as other evils, and it may be helpful for us to look at that aspect of truth.

Many are tempted to regard this as an ideal condition, something to long for, and perhaps to aim at; whereas if the teaching of Paul here—in fact, of the Bible generally—is not a delusion, this is intended to be a realized experience; and I remind any who say that Salvation from worry is too high for us, that they have said just the same when we have talked about a clean heart, and Salvation from sin and sinning.

A thoughtful author has recently written a book bearing the title of 'Worry, the Disease of the Age'. He takes trouble to show that, owing to commercial competition, the increased desire for luxurious living, keeping up appearances, and other developments of modern days, heads of families and persons in responsible positions do a great deal of worrying. This writer then goes on to say: 'It is, however, more than a certainty that true religion is a cure for worry, a preventative of worry, and is utterly incomparable in its performance of these functions'. 'The religion which Jesus Christ taught in Galilee', says the same writer, 'is a casting of one's care upon the Lord, an acceptance of the ills and lashes of life with a settled faith that God is too good and wise to err or to be unkind, and that He will make all things work together for good to them that love Him'.

I know that a state of worry may arise from physical causes. Inflamed nerves, mental depressions, or hysterical fears, are, in many instances, quite beyond the control of the sufferer. With others there is an intense desire to do something or get something done; but I also know that, as with bad tempers, a good deal is put down to physical and nervous disorders which ought to be put down to lack of spiritual life and power.

Now, when I speak of Salvation from worry, I do not mean deliverance from nervous agitation or shrinking from physical suffering, although I do not know how to fix a point where God's gracious power is exhausted, even as regards these things; but 'worry' is that carking care, that undue anxiety about one's personal affairs which destroys peace of mind, burdens the heart, and often leads to distrust of God's love and power. From such things God's grace is sufficient to deliver.

Let me be plain, however, on one point. I think carelessness, recklessness, and indifference to possible happenings, is wrong. You hear persons say, 'Oh, never mind; what does it matter? Don't fash or bother yourself.' But such expressions often spring from pure selfishness, and sometimes exhibit a sinful disregard for the happiness of other people. Nothing makes it right to ease yourself at the expense of others, or to shirk burdens by shifting them to other shoulders. Some are clever at that, but such action may be positively sinful. On the other hand, God can deliver us from that anxious care and foreboding and unrest with which so many good people are afflicted.

Oh, my friends, can you not learn to come to God as the Apostle directs, making known your requests in 'prayer and supplication with thanksgiving'? for then 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ'.

We need far more trust in the providence of our Heavenly Father. What needless pain we suffer! what agonies of mind we endure! what clouds hang above and around us! because we do not trust Him in respect of the circumstances of life.

There are those even who are trusting God to forgive their sins and save their souls, who yet will not trust Him to carry them through a difficulty in ordinary life and association, or help them with their bread and butter. The fact is, they doubt God's personal interposition in the affairs of men; consequently, their affairs get muddled, and their hearts and minds are disturbed, often to distraction. No truth is more plainly taught than that God does interpose. 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.' 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.' 'Who is he that shall harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?' 'No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.'

I know that distrust and doubt can erect all sorts of difficulties, and perhaps none is more common and specious than what is called by the sceptical men 'the logic of proportion'. This argument says, 'In a universe so vast, what is man? As a speck of dust is to a planet, and as a star is to the vast universe, so is man to the world in which he lives'. Well, it certainly is not strange that the mind should stagger at the thought of the Creator of the universe putting His hand to the management of the details of a human life. And yet God's truth in the Bible completely wipes out this so-called 'logic of proportion'.

Let us look at a familiar illustration used by our Master of God's minute care for those who fully trust and follow Him. One able man has called what I am referring to 'the doctrine of the odd sparrow'. Matthew records how, on one occasion, Jesus said, 'Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father'. But, turning to Luke, we find a slight variation in what Jesus said, 'Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God'. Now, do you see the point of Luke's putting of it? It is as if the dealer had said to the buyer, 'Look here, you want a farthing's worth of sparrows. Well, you can have two; but, if you will buy two farthingsworth, I will throw the odd one in for nothing'. Two for a farthing; five for a halfpenny.

But see; of that odd sparrow thrown in as hardly worth counting, Jesus said, 'Not one of them is forgotten before God. Not one shall fall to the ground without your Father. Are ye not of more value than many sparrows?' Now, in the light of that illustration, turn once more to the Apostolic message, 'Be careful for nothing', and I think you will find good reason for believing the promise, 'The peace of God shall keep your hearts through Jesus Christ'.

Before leaving this matter of worry, I suggest that we look well to find the cause of the trouble; for, alas! it is not unfrequently the case that care or undue anxiety arises from positive sin in the heart. Some of you worry in respect of your position in life as compared with other people's; but are you sure that some of this fratch and distress does not arise from feelings of envy, or jealousy, or discontent? Others may worry because of comparative poverty, but is it not often pride or ambition concerning yourselves or your children, and a desire to be level with your neighbours, which causes the trouble? You worry, perhaps, because people cross your purposes and upset your plans and irritate you needlessly; but is not the secret really that you resent interference, and want to have your own way? Now, before blaming your circumstances, I suggest you have a thorough self-examination, for it may be that the inward trouble is due to unbelief, selfishness, ambition, pride, or some other form of heart sin, and that evil must be dealt with before perfect peace can prevail.

May I come very close to you, and ask, Is it not true of some that, far from being kept by the peace of God which passeth all understanding, you are in a condition, an attitude of mind, which distinctly hinders the enjoyment of such a blessing? Some, I fear, have not got even as far as saying, 'Being justified by faith, I have peace with God'. There is some sin, some indulgence, which God is against; and as rebellion and peace are opposed to each other, you cannot have guidance and peace and spiritual blessings until you cast yourselves at the mercy-seat, and take Christ as your Saviour.

Again, it may be some point of controversy. Something in regard to your circumstances, or your consecration, or even your inward condition; you refuse or hesitate to obey God's call, and follow the light. God has not left you to yourselves, but the Spirit is grieved by your unwillingness; and the result is, that you have conflict in your hearts, clouds in your sky, and failure in your lives.

Take it from me, that you cannot have this deliverance which the Apostle describes, this keeping power and peace, unless the will of God is supreme in your heart. Controversy must be given up, the full surrender made, and then you must trust yourselves and your lives in God's hands. If this is done, and the Apostolic direction followed, then you will be able to sing—

XX

An Appeal and a Response

'I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me! And He said, Go.' (Isaiah vi. 8, 9.)

The incident with which these words are connected was a real mosaic in sacred history. You have the record of a vision which was not a dream but a revelation—a panorama of actualities. The background of this vision might well absorb our attention. The temple and the glory which filled it; the throne and Him who sat thereon; the seraphim, with their wings and ascriptions of Holiness. The atmosphere was, indeed, electric with the presence of God and the angelic host.

Isaiah, the solitary human figure in the scene, was overawed with the glorious majesty of the Divine character; shame at the revelation of his own impurity overwhelmed him. He rightly felt that he was a blot upon this temple scene, but the Divine touch of the living fire transformed him, and prepared him for that which was to follow.

Analyse this conversation, and you see three things standing in a most natural order:—

First. An Appeal sounds out: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'

Second. A Response is made to that Appeal: 'Here am I; send me'.

Third. A Commission was given: 'And He said, "Go"'.

Now this conversation was not only important and imperative as regards Isaiah and his circumstances, but in its application to ourselves and our surroundings. I think we shall get some blessing and inspiration for duty if we consider the three facts as they stand.

1. The nature of the appeal was a very simple one. The Lord wanted a suitable representative to stand for Him among a sinful, backslidden people.

Isaiah was already supposed to fill that position—at any rate, on special occasions; but he was so much like the people themselves that in the ordinary way his religion had little weight with them. No doubt he felt the honour and privilege of being a prophet when a special message had to be sent, but he hardly realized the high purpose of his mission, and maybe his cry, 'Here am I; send me', was a pleading for another chance to better represent His Lord.

The same appeal, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' is sounded in our ears to-day. There are certain aspects which I would like you to note. It was an appeal based upon a great need. Then, as now, the people were without God; indifferent to His claims, few of them with any experimental knowledge of His Salvation, and, consequently, having no hope in the world. And in these respects God wanted a man who would arouse the people, assert His claims, and lead them back to His service.

Believe me, the world's need to-day is a deep and terrible one. I need hardly enlarge upon it. You know it, because samples of it are at your door and around you. But do not forget that the deepest need of the people lies in their lack of knowledge of God and that Salvation which, after all, is the panacea for human woe.

We live in days when the practical aspects of religion are most emphasized. The social conditions and physical needs of the poor people are regarded as affording a sphere for Christ-like effort quite as much as is the preaching of the Gospel. Bread, not creed; relief as well as pity; material improvements in place of missions and Gospel addresses and such-like are demanded on every hand. God forbid, however, that the doing of these things should be regarded as quite sufficient.

There are humanitarian considerations, and we must not ignore them. Squalor, poverty, debauchery, harlotry, oppression, war, and ignorance are existing evils which must have attention. We must not be so taken up with the souls as to neglect the temporal, social, and physical needs of our fellows. But the deepest wail of want and woe which comes from the world is not to be met by bread, or sovereigns, or sanitation, or education, or more equal conditions of life. It is the absence of God and eternal hope which gives the deepest and most sorrowful tone to the world's bitter cry.

This was also an appeal for human help. I do not know why God has so tied Himself up as He has, but it is a fact. Although angels are available, and the direct operations of His Spirit would be almighty, His plan is to get His will made known by one man telling another. Men to save men; men to help men; that seems to be God's method, and He appeals now, as before, 'Who will go for Us?'

2. The second point I named was the response to the Divine appeal: 'Here am I; send me'. Cannot that be repeated in various directions among us? Thank God for the responses already made, and but for which dark and hopeless, indeed, would be human hearts and places which have been illuminated by the light of God's Salvation. But, Oh, for more ready and larger responses to the appeal which is ever sounding in our ears!

Isaiah's response was a voluntary one. Some people are like the horse whom his owner said had only two faults; one, that he 'took such a lot of catching', and the other that 'he would not work when he was caught'. Others have to be disciplined and broken by trouble before they fall in line with God's will. But why should not every one who names our Lord's name cry out with a ready spirit, 'Here am I, Lord; send me'?

This was also a response without conditions; or, as we put it, an unreserved surrender, an unconditional consecration. It is a matter to rejoice over when men and women express willingness to do any service, but it is infinitely better when, coming up to the Divine altar, they say, 'Here am I, Lord; have your own way; do as you will with me; anything for Jesus—anywhere for Thee'. Have you got there yet? If not, let that be the advance which you make now, without further bargaining and reserves.

But this response came from a heart qualified to make it good. Ah! that is the secret of all successful service. Isaiah, cleansed, sanctified, and touched with Divine Fire, was a different person from the one who lay grovelling in the dust, and crying, 'Woe is me!' Up to that moment he was too much like those around him; but now, touched, baptized, and qualified, he was fit to be God's witness and agent.

That just touches the point where some of you are lacking. You need this cleansing, this 'unction of the Holy One', or you need it afresh in the face of the world's crying need. You hold back, you stumble and often fail; but why? The answer is, you need just what Isaiah got to qualify him for his mission. You must get this so as to be able to respond to God's appeal as he did.

3. Then I also spoke of the Divine commission which followed the response. Observe the process, 'Who will go?' 'Here am I.' 'And He said, Go'. That is still the line upon which our Lord acts in sending out His representatives.

We sometimes dwell upon the 'Come's' of the Bible, quoting the Divine invitations for the encouragement of hesitating souls. May we not with equal force quote the 'Go's' of the Book as indicating the will of God concerning our duty?

You remember the Lord's 'Go' to Moses, when, appearing to him in the burning bush, God set out His plan for Israel's deliverance: 'I will send thee to bring My people out'. In the same manner the Lord gave Joshua his marching orders to 'Go over Jordan, and possess the land'. Paul had a similar experience when the Lord bade him rise and receive his commission to go to the Gentiles.

Christ's Parable of the Great Feast strikes the same note when the liberal host sent out his servants, saying, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled'. But the grand chord was sounded out by our Risen Lord when He said to His disciples, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature'. That is the commission given to us.

During successive years I have, on behalf of The General, had the privilege of commissioning from our International Training Homes batches of 400 or 500 young men and women who have been trained to be Officers of The Salvation Army. That is a grand annual contribution towards the world's Salvation. But the word comes not only to the leaders of God's hosts, but to every Soldier and follower of Jesus Christ who is consecrated to His service.

The Lord's 'Go' means different things to different people. To some, the Divine finger points one way; perhaps to a distant field, where millions lie in the darkness of heathendom, or to Army Officership somewhere. To others it points to spheres of testimony and work near at hand. The kinds of places and labour are varied, but the purpose is the same, and all who go out in obedience in God's name will find His almighty power behind them and blessings in their train.

I cannot direct you in detail, but in general terms I can say, Go where you know God wants you. Where the streams of sin are sweeping the people down to damnation and dark despair—go there. Where the poor people are being ruined by that cup which not only curses now, but at the last 'biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder'—go there. Where struggling souls are crying for sympathy and help—go there. Where the youth of our land are being polluted by depraved men and women among whom they earn their daily bread—go there. Where God seems unknown, or His claims unheeded for lack of living witnesses—go there. Go where you may lift up your voice for your Master; go where a helping hand or kindly words can minister comfort to depressed and hopeless hearts.

These thoughts have revived in my memory Scott's poem in which he records an ancient custom found amongst the traditions of Scottish history. A chieftain desired to summon his clansmen to war in great urgency. The shrill blast of the bugle called together his immediate followers, but those at a distance must be summoned by other means. Before sending out a swift and trusty messenger, the priest was called and certain rites which had been observed from time immemorial performed.

A cross was constructed from the branches of the yew tree, and then held aloft by the priest, whilst he pronounced awful curses on the men who, at the sight of the signal, failed to obey the summons of their chief. The cross was then held in the fire until it blazed, was again uplifted and fresh curses added; then it was plunged in the blood of a newly-slain sacrifice, and, smoking and reeking with gore, the charred and bloody cross was given into the hands of a swift messenger, who leaping away as an arrow sped from a bow, flies along the mountain-path, and, holding the crimson sign before the eyes of the clansmen, names the place of assembly, and passes the signal on throughout the borders.

I have no yew-tree cross, no bleeding sacrifice visible to outward eyes, but before the eyes of your souls, I lift up the cross of Calvary, charred by the fires of sin, and reeking with the Blood of the Divine Victim, and in God's name I charge you to go forth to rescue the needy souls of men.

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No. 5.—The Way of Holiness. By Colonel S. L. Brengle.

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No. 7.—Three Coronations. By Colonel Mildred Duff.

No. 8.—The Life of Oberlin. By Commissioner W. Elwin Oliphant.

No. 9.—Farmer Abbott. By Brigadier Margaret Allen.

No. 10.—The Warrior's Daily Portion.—II. By Brigadier Eileen Douglas.

No. 11.—The Life of Hedwig von Haartman. By Colonel Mildred Duff.

No. 12.—The Life of Gerhard Tersteegen. By Commissioner W. Elwin Oliphant.

No. 13.—The Life of Colonel Weerasooriya. By Commissioner Booth-Tucker.

No. 14.—Bernard of Clairvaux. By Brigadier Margaret Allen.

No. 15.—Harvests of the East. By Brigadier Margaret Allen.

No. 16.—A Kindled Flame. By Brigadier Margaret Allen.

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