danger among us, and yet it may become to some a very subtle danger.
or his wife considers his merits. It is a most subtle danger, and through it many an Officer's splendid spiritual career has come to an end, while he still went on in a perfunctory performance of his official duties, beating time, moving but not progressing, doing no vital and lasting work for God and souls; of whom it could be written, 'You have a name that you livest, and are dead.' I have met Officers who spent more time repining and complaining and inwardly rebelling about not being promoted than they did in studying and working and fitting themselves for the work that promotion would thrust on them. 'For men to search their own glory, is not glory,' wrote Solomon, but such men quite overlook such texts as that, and while they may attain the desire of their heart, they miss the glory that God gives. Personally, an awful fear has shaken me at times in the thought that a man may get in this world all the honour and glory that he seeks, and find in the next world that there is nothing further coming to him, like a man who draws his salary in advance and at the end of the week or month or year has nothing to receive. Abraham said to the rich man 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things'; and there was nothing due to him in that new world to which his soul had been so suddenly snatched away. He had not put first things first, and he who proudly scorned the poor beggar Lazarus at his gate now found himself an eternal pauper and beggar in Hell. 3. An Officer may gradually put his family first. It has been said that until forty-five a man says, 'What can I do to advance myself?' After forty-five he says, 'What can I do to provide for and advance my children? ' But to an Officer this may become a deadly snare. Sometimes it is the wife and mother whose ambition or anxiety overrides the sober judgement of the father and husband, and he bends before her insistence and falls from his splendid integrity and devotion to God's cause. Oh, the pity of it! 'He that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,' said Jesus. 4. A man may put his own culture first. This is not a widespread danger among us, and yet it may become to some a very subtle danger. Study, reading, travel, the cultivation of the mind and the gratifying of taste, may lead to the neglect of God's work and the drying up of the fountains of spiritual power. Personal culture is not to be despised,
but rather coveted. The better informed, the wiser and more cultivated we are, provided we are dedicated wholly to God and set on fire with spiritual passion, the more effectually can we glorify God and serve our fellow-men. It is true that 'God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; the weak things of the world to confound the mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.' But He also chose Moses, educated in all the learning of Egypt – Moses, the most cultured man of his age; and Paul, educated at the universities of Tarsus and Jerusalem, for the great work of the ages. Not many such has God chosen, because not often do such cultured men choose Christ and the Cross. But God can and does use culture, when dedicated wholly to His service, and we should not despise it, but covet it and take every legitimate opportunity to secure it. But woe to the man who puts it first in his thought and effort. God will laugh at him and pass him by and give his crown to some little illiterate nobody who loves, and trusts, and shouts, and sings, and knows nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and counts not his life dear to himself that he may win the souls for whom the Savour died. If we would put first things first, we must be ready at any moment to lay aside our books,our music, our studies, our business, our own pleasure and profit, to save souls. The Founder, on the train in Switzerland, was writing an article when members of his Staff called him to look at the Alps towering upward into the blue heavens, gleaming in white, majestic splendour, but his heart and mind were so absorbed with his work and the greater splendours of the spirit, and of redeeming love, that he would hardly lift his eyes from the work in which he was lost. Again and again I have had to practice this kind of stern self-denial in my world travels if I would keep first things first. Museums which house the symbols of a nation's history and the products of its genius and labour are a medium of culture. I once spent two weeks within two or three stone-throws of one of Europe's national museums, and passing it on several occasions, longed to run
in and spend some time among its strange and ancient treasures. But a mighty work of the Spirit was going on, my time was short, and hungry souls so thronged me, both in the Meetings and between Meetings, that I had to deny them or deny myself the pleasure and instruction I might have found in that treasure-house of science and art and natural wonders. To some it might have made no appeal. To me it did, but it was denied in order that first things might have first place, and any regret for my loss is swallowed up in the joy of my greater gain and the gain of those precious souls to whom I ministered. This demand that first things shall have first place in The Army and in religion is not simply a demand of the spiritual life, but of all life, of every profession and activity. The soldier must not entangle himself with the secular affairs of life. The lawyer must make law his mistress and give her his full devotion. The physician must put the profession of healing before all business or pleasure. The student must deny himself and hold everything secondary to his studies. The true lover must forsake all others for her who is enshrined in his heart's best affections. What, then, shall be first in our thoughts, our affections, our life? That must be first, the loss of which is the loss of all. To lose God is the sum of all loss. If we lose Him we lose all. If we lose all and still have Him, we shall in Him again find all. 'What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,' wrote Paul. 'Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, . . . for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.' And yet this poor man, persecuted, hated, hunted, stripped of all things, cries out to his brothers in like poverty: 'All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' Hallelujah! 'Seek Me, and you shall live,' is God's everlasting plea to you and me. 'Uzziah sought God' - and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper – 'he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God.' In these words what a grim, revealing glimpse we have down the long,
dim vista of three millenniums into the secret of that old king's glory and doom! And 'they are written for our admonition on whom the ends of the world are come.' Many years ago I heard the Founder, in an impassioned plea to his people to wait on God, cry out, 'Men are losing God every day, and I should lose Him if out of my busy life I did not take time every day to seek His face.' And in a letter quoted by Harold Begbie, he wrote: 'I wish I could have a little more time for meditation on eternal things. I must not let my soul get dried up with secular affairs, even though they concern the highest earthly interests of my fellows. After all, soul matters are of infinite importance and are really most closely concerned with earthly advantages.' If it was so with King Uzziah and with our revered Founder, it is so with us, O my comrades! These men, though dead, yet speak to us; and though they came back to us as Dives besought Abraham that Lazarus might come back with warning to his brethren, yet they could have no other message, they could not speak otherwise. They have spoken their final word, and to me, at least, it is the word of the Lord. 'When you said, Seek My face; my heart said to you, Your face, Lord, will I seek,' wrote the Psalmist. You, O Christ, are all I want, More than all in You I find. Let us pray!
Chapter 11; 'GOD IS FAITHFUL' A devout little woman wrote me a letter from Texas recently and said, 'My text for today is, " He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust (unrighteous) in the least is unjust (unrighteous) also in much " (Luke 16:10).' What searching words are these of the Saviour! They should give us pause. They should set us to searching and judging ourselves, and this searching should enter into all departments of our life, and this judgement should be as before God's eyes, it should be unsparing - far more so than our judgement on our neighbours. When we judge them we may do ourselves and them great harm and injustice, and bring on ourselves judgement and condemnation, for we are bidden not to sit in judgement on others. 'Judge not,' said Jesus. 'Who are you that judge another? ' wrote the Apostle. But if we candidly and impartially judge ourselves we may thereby do ourselves and others great good, and so escape the judgement of God, for if we would judge ourselves,' and so correct ourselves, 'we should not be judged,' Wrote Paul (1 Corinthians 11:31). 'Faithful in that which is least.' What are some of the least things? Jesus was talking about business and money. Are we faithful in the use of money? Of our own money, and of The Army's money entrusted to us? Personally, I have for many years felt that one-tenth of all I had belonged to God. Some have said to me, 'You have given yourself to God, why give Him your money?' A most distinguished Christian leader said that to me one day, and I confess I was deeply surprised, if not shocked. I ask others to give, and I should feel myself utterly faithless if I did not give freely to my Master's cause and to His poor as I am able. Are we faithful in the use of our time? Do we gather up the minutes for some useful employment, for prayer, for reading, for visiting? Some Officers and Soldiers waste much time after Meetings at night which they should spend in bed, and then they waste much time in bed in the morning when they should be up studying, praying, rejoicing, and attending to the duties of the day. Are we faithful in the matter of speech? Little words are slipping out through the portals of our lips continually. Are they words we should
say in the presence of Jesus? I was much struck recently as I read Psalm 12:4. God had a controversy with these people over their words, and they proudly and insolently replied, 'Our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?' 'The tongue is a little member,' wrote the Apostle James. Are we faithful in its use, or careless, thoughtless, foolish, wicked? For every idle, harmful word we shall have to give an account, we shall be brought into Judgement, said the Master. Oh, how important that we be faithful in our speech. Are we faithful in the use of eye and ear and hand and foot? Are we faithful with ourselves, with our hearts, our consciences, our imaginations? Do we live as in God's sight, seeking always to do the things that please Him, so that we have the sweet, silent whisper in our hearts – 'My beloved child in whom I am well pleased'? To 'the well-beloved Gaius' the Apostle John said, 'Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do' (3 John 5), and if you and I do likewise, some day a greater than John will say to us, 'Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things, enter into the joy of your Lord.'
Chapter 12; THE BIBLE AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE I Man does not discover God. God reveals Himself to man. God seeks men before men seek God. God reveals His wisdom and power through nature. He reveals His Holiness through conscience. He reveals His hatred of sin through His judgements. He reveals His redeeming love through faith. We see the power of God in the starry heavens, the storm-swept sea, the flooding, rushing river, the lofty mountains, the flaming volcano, the devastating tornado, the silent forces resistlessly lifting mighty forests from tiny seeds, and holding them aloft in columnar strength and beauty against wind and storm from century to century. We see the wisdom of God in the marvellous adaptations of nature; the adaptation of the eye to light and colour, of the ear to sound, of the nose to odours, of the tongue to flavours, of the skin to heat and cold, of the thumb and fingers set ever so aptly against each other, of the organs of digestion, of peristaltic and cardiac action, of plant and animal, of man and woman, of mother and child. We see the redeeming love of God in Christ, in His works of pity and mercy, but most clearly in His atoning death on the cross. But all this manifold unveiling and revelation of Himself God sums up in His Word. He declares Himself in the Scriptures, and therein we see Him as though reflected in a perfect mirror. 'The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the Lord,' we read (1 Samuel 3:21). He declares His power, His wisdom and knowledge, His Holiness and righteousness, His mercy and everlasting love, His redeeming purpose and plan, in His Word. And this Word is vitally related to all satisfying and assured Christian experience. It floods the Christian with light. It reveals to him God's benevolent and passionately active interest in him; the way and spirit in which to seek God, and the condition of pardon, of purity, and of power. And when he has met these conditions, the Holy Spirit applies the words of Scripture to his heart with life-giving energy, so that that text in Proverbs is fulfilled in his experience: 'When you walk, it shall lead you; when you sleep, it shall keep you; and when you awake, it shall talk with you' (Proverbs 6:22).
Nature only partially reveals God, and the wisest of men stumble and falter in trying to interpret God through nature; but in the Word of God we find Him fully and plainly revealed to the obedient and trusting soul. But even the Scriptures fail to reveal God in all His beauty unless with penitence and faith men have drawn nigh to Him and been born from above and sanctified by the incoming of the Holy Spirit. The Book is in large measure sealed to unspiritual men. When Jesus prayed: 'Father, glorify Your name,' we read that a Voice came from Heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again,' and men interpreted the Voice according to their spiritual condition and relationship. 'The people that stood by and heard it said that it thundered' - a material interpretation, to them it had no spiritual significance. Others said, 'An angel spake to Him' - a spiritualistic interpretation. Only Jesus heard the voice of the everlasting Father. 'This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes,' said He. I only knew He spake my name. Where one heard thunder and one saw flame, One man will read the Old Testament and see nothing but myths, scraps of legendary history, folk lore, a record of dreams, bits of biography, exaggerated stories of fights, battles, and wars of semisavage tribes, and songs of a people slowly emerging from barbarism into civilization. Another will read it and discover God down among His wayward creatures in their racial childhood revealing Himself to them in dreams, visions, judgements, deliverances, special providence, and by His Word through His prophets, as they were able to bear The Great Unveiling, until at last the final and full revelation came in Christ. 'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son ' (Hebrews 1:1,2). Well may we pray David's prayer (I have prayed it a thousand times), 'Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.' And well may we covet the experience of the disciples: 'Then opened He the eyes of their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures' (Luke 24:45).
It was this that happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. His spiritual eyes were opened. He saw God in Christ; and the old Scriptures with which he was so familiar took on new meaning, so that he said, 'Whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope' (Romans 15:4). When he read the story of the wanderings of his people in the wilderness on their way from Egypt to the land of promise, and how they were overthrown and perished in the wilderness, he recognized God's displeasure and saw a warning example: 'Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. . . . They are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come' (1 Corinthians 12:6, 11). And to Timothy he wrote: 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). It was this that happened to Martin Luther as on his knees he painfully climbed the stairway in St. Peter's, Rome, when the still small voice sounded in his soul: 'Now the just shall live by faith.' Scales dropped from the eyes of his soul, God's kindly purpose and way of Salvation by faith was seen, and the Scriptures flamed with new and spiritual meaning, and became the passionate study of his remaining years. It was this that happened to Augustine, the brilliant young rhetorician and libertine of Carthage, as deeply convicted of sin and spiritual impotence, he walked in his garden. He heard a voice in his inner ear, saying, 'Take and read,' and taking up Paul's Epistle to the Romans he read: 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.' Instantly his inner being flamed with spiritual light. The chains of his fleshly lusts and evil habits fell off, the dungeon doors of his soul flew open, and he walked out into the broad day of God's
deliverance and Salvation, and the Scriptures henceforth were 'the man of his counsel.' The Word of the Lord to man came in searching experiences and travailings of spirit as God drew nigh to men and revealed His will, His name, and nature to them. It 'came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,' writes Peter; and he assures us that it is 'a more sure word of prophecy: whereto you do well that you take heed, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts ' (2 Peter 1:19-21). Ezekiel says: 'The word of the Lord came to me.' 'The word of the Lord came to me,' wrote Jeremiah. 'Now the Lord had said to Abraham' (Genesis 12:1). 'The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you' (Jeremiah 31:3). There has been much questioning and debate about the nature and extent of Biblical inspiration. Some Bible lovers maintain that every word was given by inspiration, while others have argued that the writers chose their own words in which to express the thoughts and revelations welling up within them. But a thoughtful study seems to plainly show that some of the words were given while others were chosen by the writers. Paul was troubled with a thorn in the flesh, and three times prayed for deliverance from it. Then Jesus spoke to him, and Paul gives us His very words, which translated read: 'My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' These words so assured and satisfied and inspired Paul that he cried out: 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.' There is no reason to suppose that these exact words were put into Paul's mouth. It is sufficient to know that the words of Jesus thrilled and cheered and inspired him into glad submission to the will and purpose of God in his affliction, and in his joy and satisfaction his heart overflowed
with devotion to his Lord and found verbal expression in these words. One day the Psalmist was so filled with the sense of God's forgiving love and provident care that his whole soul bubbled over in song, and he cried out: 'Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 'Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.' These words are the words of the writer, but they are written in the glad sense of all God's tender care and goodness and redeeming love, out of a heart that is inspired by the ever-present Holy Spirit to adoring worship and praise. The words are the words of the writer, but the rich experience and deep feelings and adoring wonder from which they flowed are the work and inspiration of the Holy One of Israel. Hallelujah! 'I know the Bible is inspired,' wrote a great soul-winner, 'because it inspires me.' And so it does to every one who, wholly devoted to Christ and simply trusting, is filled with the Spirit. It speaks as the very voice of God. God is in the word and 'the words . . . are spirit and life.' The manner and extent of inspiration may always be a matter of debate, but the fact of inspiration is the joy and strength of every 'twice-born' soul. II 'The poor you have always with you,' said the Master, and we must wisely and adequately minister to their pitiful and crying words. But it is equally probable that the feeble-minded and the weak will be ever with us. And Paul has exhorted and instructed us to comfort and support them and to be patient. But there is another class, the chronic seekers who, times without number, come to the penitent-form, who seem to be tramping, tramping for ever on an endless treadmill, who are with us and need wise and patient help as much or more than any other class of people. They have been to the penitent-form so often that many Soldiers and Officers have lost interest in them, and have but little, if any, hope for
them. But they are a challenge to our faith, our love and pity, our patience, our spiritual intelligence and resourcefulness. We must not let them perish in full view, and we must not let them slip away from view and perish in the night. They belong to us. They are our charge, and, if possible, we must win them and lead them into a joyful experience of Salvation and perfect love. We need to take ourselves in hand in dealing with them, for possibly their failure is an evidence of our weakness of faith, our lack of burning, compassionate zeal, or of our spiritual and mental ignorance, poverty, laziness. We need to do some sober, hard thinking, some real praying, and 'stir up the gift of God' within us, if we are to fathom their deep needs and help them. Personally, I fear that in many instances it is the faulty, hasty way they are dealt with at the penitent-form that in part, if not wholly, accounts for their miserable failures. A thousand times I have trembled for seekers as I have seen people dealing with them, who I have feared needed help themselves. In the old days, when my hearing was more acute, I seldom let any one leave my penitent-form without dealing with him myself. It was a great tax on my time and strength, but my heart would not rest in peace until I had done my utmost to lead each one into light, and into the sweet and assured rest of faith. I felt I must make full proof of my ministry, and I judged of its acceptance with God and its harmony with His truth, His principles and Spirit, by its fruits in joyously saved and sanctified souls. III 'Cursed be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully (negligently), and cursed be he that keeps back his sword from blood,' wrote Jeremiah. And 'He that wins souls is wise,' said Solomon. Several years ago I was campaigning in a splendid city in which is located the Territorial Headquarters of The Army for that country. It is a Salvation Army City. In it are many flourishing Corps and Army Institutions which command the respect and high regard of the citizens of both high and low degree. In two Corps in residential sections of the city I conducted Meetings which were largely attended, and in which people responded promptly to my invitations. Then I went to the down-town, Central
Corps at the Territorial Headquarters. Here, too, the crowds were large and attentive, but it was next to impossible to get any one to the penitent-form except as a result of the most dogged personal dealing and persuasion. To me this was a sore disappointment, for I always feel that if I preach the truth in love, luminously, pointedly, persuasively, with constant reliance on the Holy Ghost, the people will promptly yield to my invitations, and if they do not do so I feel the trouble must be with my spirit or manner of preaching. Almost invariably many do respond. But not so at this Corps. I had been there on two different occasions before when the people seemed much more responsive, and I wondered at the present hardness. After I had preached and poured out my heart on the people, Officers and Soldiers promptly began to 'fish,' but it was only after long effort that they would lead any one to the penitent-form. This continued for several Meetings, and I was greatly perplexed. I noticed that those who came did not seem to be broken in spirit. There were no tears, but neither was there any levity. Usually there was a hard, set look on the faces of those who came, which seemed to say, 'Well, if I must, I will, but I feel it is useless to come. Nothing will happen.' I noted further that as soon as one knelt at the penitent-form some Soldier or Officer would rush to his side and enter into conversation with him, and in a few minutes would look up and say, 'He is all right,' and the man would rise up with the same hard, set look on his face and take his seat. There was no tear in the eye, no light on the face, nothing that indicated that he had met with Jesus and found a great deliverance and peace. On inquiry I found that most of those who were coming to the penitent-form were well known to the Officers and Soldiers, and had been forward again and again. Loud trumpeting and singing in the Prayer Meeting may keep up a lively interest, but they sadly interfere with my hearing, so that it is most difficult for me to deal with seekers. (I wish we might have stringed instruments instead of brass in our Prayer Meetings.) I tried to find out how these people at the penitent-form were being dealt with, and I discovered that they were usually asked one or two questions, then they were told to obey God and trust, asked if they
would do so, and when they said they would they were declared to be 'all right,' got on their feet and sent to a seat, as dead and hopeless, apparently, as when they came. In some instances where their weaknesses and failures were well known they were dealt with in a severe, unsympathetic way which seemed to me anything but helpful, and quite unbecoming from one who felt that he himself had been hewn from the rock and lifted out of miry clay. A sinner saved by grace must be careful how he deals with a fellow-sinner, lest, like Moses, he finds he has displeased the Lord. Finally, a Soldier came to the penitent-form, and not only threw himself down at the form, but on and over it in a way that seemed to me to indicate hopelessness. I took my Bible and knelt beside him, and I soon found out that he had come there again and again, that his trouble was fleshly sin, that he loathed himself, but felt powerless when temptation was on him; that he was eager to break away from his sin, but that he was its servant (John 8:34; Romans 6:16), its bond slave, and it mocked his struggles and good resolutions to quit it and be free. I felt, I saw, that hitherto he had been led to make resolutions and promises and told to trust in Christ, but that he had never been made to really see Christ as his Lord, his Redeemer, his Saviour, who was down with him on his battlefield, and this I felt I must make him see, and to this I set myself with prayer and full purpose of heart. I told him he had been trusting to the strength of his own resolutions, in which there is no strength, and that he would surely fall again unless he found the Lord. We 'are kept by the power of God through faith.' Faith is the coupler that links us on to God and His power. If the link fails the power cannot operate in us. We must believe, and keep on believing, if we are to be kept. He saw it. He felt he must have God's power, God's presence, else he would fall again and fall for evermore. When I was assured that he realized this, I then opened my Bible and said to him, 'You have made promises to God, now let us see what promises God makes to you.' And we read together: 'God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Romans 5:8). ' Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound' (5:20). 'Sin shall not have dominion over you: for
you are not under the law, but under grace' (6:14). ' If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' ('John 1:9). In these promises he saw God's love for him in spite of his sin, and his face began to brighten; and from lolling over the penitent-form hopeless and seemingly as spineless as a jelly fish, he began to straighten up; it was as though a new backbone were entering into him. Then I sought to show him how God promises to enter the battle with him against his sins and mocking, gripping habits, and we read: 'Fear you not ' (Isaiah 41:10). 'You have been afraid, haven't you - afraid you would fall? You are afraid now, are you not? ' I asked him. 'Oh, yes! I have been afraid and I am now afraid,' he replied. 'But listen, "Fear you not; for I am with you." 'This is God's promise to you, my brother. He says, " I am with you." Do you not see that you are not alone? He is on the battlefield, He is in the thick of the fight with you. In the darkness of the night, in the glare of the day, when alone or in the throng, He is with you. Do you not see it? Will you, do you, believe it?' And he began to see. "Be not dismayed." When temptation assails you, when the enemy comes mocking and threatening, you are not alone, my brother. "Be not dismayed; for I am your God." 'He is your God, call on Him, trust Him, and laugh at your foe in the name of the Lord, as the stripling David laughed at and defied Goliath. I will strengthen you." Hitherto you have fallen because you were weak, but see, read it, believe it, God says, "I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you." 'You wouldn't fall into your shameful sin if some strong, true, trusted friend were by your side, would you? And note, God is with you! and He says He will help you. Away with your fears! Yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness." 'Will you trust Him? Will you cast to the winds your fears and henceforth go into every battle believing that God is with you, that Almighty strength is pledged to you, that help is at hand, and that you shall be upheld? Will you lift your eyes to the Lord and trust instead of
trembling and quailing when the enemies of your soul assail you?' It was a joy to see my man. He looked, he read. Light burst on him and beamed in his face. He seemed to be looking into the face of God. He straightened up like a man. 'I see, Oh, I see! I will, I do trust Him,' and with thanksgiving he arose in the power of the Spirit, and through the remainder of that campaign he was radiant, and I trust he so remains to this day, and so he does if he obediently, believingly fights with the 'sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.' He saw the face of his Divine Kinsman, Redeemer, and heard the voice of the everlasting Father in the Word, and life and power and joy and peace flowed into him as he believed. How do we get acquainted with God? By the work of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts as we penitently, obediently believe. But what are we to believe? We are to believe what He has said - 'These things have I spoken to you, that My joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full,' said Jesus. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world through lust' (2 Peter 1:3, 4). If we want to be strong, we must live 'by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,' said Jesus, as the Devil thrust sore at Him. 'And when He had spoken to me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for You have strengthened me,' said Daniel (Daniel 12:19). And how was he strengthened? By the revelation of God through His Word. How is a little child quieted, assured, and filled with peace in the night? By the presence and word of father, of mother. And so we are assured, and made strong, 'made perfect and thoroughly furnished to all good works,' through 'all Scripture given by inspiration of God,' and brought to our remembrance and applied to our need by the Holy Ghost, as we believe. Let us feed our people with the sincere milk of the Word 'and they will grow thereby,' and they shall not tremble
before the face of any mocking foe, but 'one shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight.' While others debate about the inspiration of the Word, let us eat it, drink it, preach it, and live thereby, and we shall live in the power of 'an endless life.' Hallelujah! It is still, as in the days of Job and the Psalmist, 'sweeter than honey and the honeycomb' to those who believe and obey it, and 'more to be desired than necessary food.' The Bible Within that awful volume lies The mystery of mysteries. Happiest they of human race To whom God has granted grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch and force the way. And better had they ne'er been born Who read to doubt, or read to scorn. So wrote Sir Walter Scott. And when dying he said to his son-in-law, 'Bring me the Book.' 'Which one, sir? ' asked the son-in-law. 'There is but one,' replied the dying man. 'Bring me the Bible.'
Chapter 13; WHOM DO YOU TRUST, YOURSELF OR CHRIST? I have had experience enough to know that feelings do not count for much, and I do know that deep down in my heart there is a peace and sense of security that were not there when I was at your meetings last week. But I feel that my sense of security and faith are waiting to be tried before I can be quite sure of myself.' So wrote an exceptionally bright young comrade to me in a recent letter, and in those words are revealed a halting and mixed faith and a subtle temptation of the 'old Accuser'! Of course, our 'faith and sense of security ' are always being tried, and we should not ignore, but should quietly and confidently welcome such trial, for it is by the trial of faith that patience with the long, and often, stern disciplines of life is wrought in us and our character is perfected. James in the very second verse of his epistle begins with this common experience, and says: 'My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations (trials): knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. . . . Blessed is the man that endures temptation (trial): for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.' James gets happy over this and exhorts his brethren to 'count it all joy' to be tried. Not that the trial itself is pleasant, but the result is glorious. And Peter tells us that in the midst of our rejoicing over present Salvation through faith, we may, 'for a season, if need be, be in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried by fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ' (I Peter 1:6,7). So this young comrade's feeling that her ' faith and sense of security ' will be tried is reasonable and normal, but her phrase - 'before I can be quite sure of myself' - reveals the halting and mixed faith and the subtle Tempter. He is slyly turning her eyes and her faith from Jesus to herself. 'You can't be sure of yourself,' he whispers, and imperceptibly almost she looks at self instead of 'to Jesus.' We are never to be sure of self, but quietly, unwaveringly sure of our
Redeemer and Lord. We shall be tried, but we shall not be left alone. As He was with the three Hebrew boys in Nebuchadnezzar's seven-fold heated furnace, so He will be with us (Daniel 3:25). 'I am with you . . I am your God; I will strengthen you . . I will uphold you ' (Isaiah 41:10), is his ringing assurance. 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you' (Hebrews 13:5). 'There has no temptation (trial) taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it' (I Corinthians 12:13). Our blessed Lord Himself in the days of His flesh was 'in all points tempted as we are,' He is 'touched with the feelings of our infirmities' and He is 'able to succour us,' and He will succour us, if instead of looking to self and trembling in the presence of the mocking enemy, with his army of fears and doubts, we look courageously and humbly, in the name of Jesus, to our Father who is 'the Lord God of hosts.' We are to face our fears in His name, and rout our enemy by an appeal to the all-sufficient merits of the Blood shed for us, by glad testimony, and by a consecration that welcomes death rather than doubt and denial (Revelation 12:10, 11). 'Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us,' said Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 'but if He does not, we will not deny Him, we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image, O king.' We will burn, but we will not bow. 'They loved not their lives to the death.' That is consecration, and that is a firm basis for unwavering faith. They were not trusting in themselves, but in the living God, and deliverance came. Hallelujah! It is the enemy of all souls who tempts us to look forward fearfully to some wholly indefinite trial that may never come, before we can walk in confident peace. Trials may come, they will come, but our Lord will be there with abundant grace when they do come, if, moment by moment looking to Him, we go forward in His strength. It is one of the 'wiles of the Devil ' (Ephesians 6:11) to haunt us with nameless, shadowy fears of tomorrow. It is his way to weaken faith and turn our eyes from our Lord. They may come, and they may not, but whether they come or not, we are not alone, and we must not fear,
though the temptation to fear may be present. 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field,' said battle-hardened, mocking Goliath to little David. 'You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield,' said David; 'but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand; and I will smite you, and take your head from you,' said David. The Lord was David's shield. He kept the Lord in front of him. 'I have set the Lord always before me ' (Psalm 16:8), he wrote long years after, and Goliath could not reach him without first encountering the Lord. And when the Philistine champion drew nigh to meet David, the lad ran to meet him, and slew him in the name of the Lord. That is the way to face fears and spiritual enemies and doubts and temptations. Face them 'in the name of the Lord of hosts.' Run to meet them, but put no confidence in yourself, only as you are 'strong in the Lord and the power of His might.' Paul knew, as few men do, what trouble and danger are. He said, 'the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me. But,' he added, 'none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus' (Acts 20:23, 24). And again he wrote, 'I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:38, 39). His confidence was wholly in the changeless character and love of his Lord, therefore he trembled in the presence of no man, nor any combination of trials that might overtake him. Hallelujah!
Chapter 14; A WORD TO THOSE WHO ARE GROWING OLD In one of my recent Meetings a dear sister, who has been serving the Lord and walking in the Light for many years, confessed with tears that her joy was not what it used to be. In her youth joys were rapturous, leaping up like springing fountains and singing birds. A verse of Scripture would suddenly stand out with its assuring message and fill her with gladness, and songs in the night welled up from her glad heart, but now she says she often has heaviness of spirit, and the way seems to get harder. And while she feels sure that she is accepted of God, yet she is not enjoying what she once enjoyed. God forbid that I should offer any false comfort or, through lack of faith, limit His power to fill us with the rapturous joys of youth as we grow older. But is it reasonable for us to suppose that this should be so? In youth as we waited on the Lord we found our spiritual strength renewed, and we 'mounted up as with wings of eagles.' In middle age as we wait on the Lord, we find our strength renewed and we 'run and are not weary.' In old age, as we wait on the Lord, our strength is renewed, but we must now 'walk and not faint.' None of the natural senses are as keen in old age as in youth. The appetite for food, the joy in society, the rapturous friendships of youth do not continue quite the same through the years, and may it not be so spiritually? It is true that the Apostle says while the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day. But is not the joy in some measure, at least, modified by the sobering experiences of the years? The river that started as a bubbling, leaping, laughing brook in the mountains, often rushing in torrents through narrow and precipitous ways, gradually widens and deepens and flows peacefully and without noise as it nears the sea. May it not be so in our spiritual life? Is not the river of God's peace flowing through the hearts of the aged a deeper and richer experience than the exuberant joys at the beginning of the spiritual life? The pressing infirmities of the flesh, and the gradual decay of memory and other powers, may account for some of the apparent loss of joy in those who are growing old. The enlarged knowledge of the malignant, massive, stubborn powers of evil may have a sobering effect on the mind which, if not watchfully guarded against and met with quiet,