Front matter
et se g dese Je fi Hi it paneer:
F,, gS ey "Sper
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2024 https://archive.org/details/papersongodlinesOOOOcath
PAPERS ON
GODLINESS
CATHERINE BOOTH
THE SALVATION ARMY SUPPLIES AND
PURCHASING DEPARTMENT
Atlanta, Georgia
Papers on Godliness Copyright © 1986 by The Salvation Army
ISBN: 0-86544-032-8
Printed in the United States of America First Printing, May 1986
About the Author by her grand-daughter Commissioner Catherine Bramwell-Booth When I heard that the Army Mother's books were to be reprinted I was overjoyed, and I congratulate The Salvation Army comrades who arranged this. They have again brought these books within reach of all Salvationists and others.
Catherine Booth was above all a lover of the Lord Jesus and also a courageous and daring spirit. I pray that those who read these books may receive a fresh vision of the true Army spirit. fothunenn Bramwell Rod London, England ae March, 1986
The Writings of Catherine Booth Volume I Aggressive Christianity Volume II Papers on Godliness Volume Ill Life and Death Volume IV Popular Christianity Volume V Papers on Practical Religion Volume VI — Highway of Our God Available through bookstores and Salvation Army Supplies, or through the Publisher The Salvation Army Supplies 1424 Northeast Expressway Atlanta, Georgia USA 30329
FOREWORD Through her writings— a major part of her remarkable ministry— the Army Mother, Catherine Booth, still has a tremendous impact on the development of the spiritual life of Salvationists and, indeed, upon Christians throughout the world.
The Southern Territory U.S.A. considers it a great honor to further perpetuate her ministry through the reissuance of this timely and timeless series of volumes that will strengthen us in the faith and in the fight to which God has called us.
May He richly bless these outstanding words from an outstanding warrior!
Andrew S. Miller
COMMISSIONER
Atlanta, Georgia March, 1986
. a a a _ oe
iW?
On @f (aga lt MWR, G4 ii
ii oti f wine:
— 1
| eres « ren ori Yes ro me Wye oD eit ite l 4, oe ae pegalteryGs w ee "ne * —elpyasi wt ; :
) tad eee rh ; , io > VET f 7 uel ou ana J oamine @ ho WD) - up ive ctw 4 DAN anit
rr - : jes Ais ev!
F; _ ee _ = Meh avin, it See al eee at: ee
on "0 (ooeduligs ik os yy Ma bQor
=a ¢
a. s .
* a
de USS 1 TEs oA CE, Be IN presenting another Volume of reports of my Addresses, I have only to repeat what I have said with respect to similar books before—Read, for the sake of getting more light and more blessing to your soul, and you will, I trust, partake of the good which many have professed to receive at the Westend services, wherein most of these words were first spoken.
I am well aware that, in such imperfect reports of, for the most part, extemporaneous utterances, often most hurriedly corrected, there may be found abundant ground for criticism; but, if this book may be the means of leading only a few souls to devote themselves more fully to God and to the salvation of men, I shall be more than compensated for any unfriendly criticism with which it may meet.
I have not sought to please any but the Lord, and to His fatherly loving kindness I commend both the book and its readers.
CATHERINE Boots, London, Nov. 10th, 1881
cing Wa Ie Savi anal ae a a ide oe vad ~ ead, 'Da? mh atey «| d @ « vow eae > : sold vert' buss ae hig a aah a@ 4!'
Im Bishe re ; » per 'ven Aisesapapuaang! * Ta ke Soul vale ©) , Semmes ipso tai aa"
Tr ee ao <a ana (ont wet ghia i f* mb! ~~ 'the Be - - .
(ip edt comegn bia g ry tine i ro = a ee ee PAbigtdtt es See rrr eno ~~ « Ife ep bali » reas. AE a = toot? ot Ui ath. of aN tahy Te ve iawn:
0 Wt ie © Vesela =" ee ee) eT : eG > 'i ar > seca ive 3 or 7 Pi Lea} . a "ug ef taught ly wee
CO Nee ee NaleS SAVING FalTH - = x a CHARITY - :
E A - !
CHARITY AND REBUKE
CHARITY AND CONFLICT
- -
CHARITY AND LONELINESS -
CONDITIONS OF EFFECTUAL PRAYER
Tou PERFECT HEART
- = How To Work FOR GOD WITH SUCCESS
ENTHUSIASM AND FULL SALVATION
REPENTANCE
- - -
ADDRESSES ON HOLINESS
HINDRANCES TO HOLINESS -
a cope? isan, veaant ro 0: wihegtk >. 4ieaad une vipneatt, 4 et ae Wont iets) Mt ° apts 5 noe Wey oe if Hive ¥/ 7 ah ath panera Wa
SAVING FAITH
the: ime = é' er ah Meee i 'gus ht or wins by ae WAAAY A oso wa ie Md rei ¢ . iF a Ady Ww nis j ey Pr -t<8 heer Wiig 4) h Pore } iy -'
' tad!
AT »
i) a aby can & aye saa Me I e Gee tod?
POL? asl an bewll eee
TET) PL Uy Zi MRT davai bog, Jyede 3 SPEC OTR os « — "sayeyay ae oe pO Ope ORR ae or\iey Bgeae vp eet Tah vs AS eae ave Fal : ae oat tw OTR ae are are * MsiT ta 0nsah> | linet > ht mgs ® rae dl LRP ORE bl eet hort WV aan? ivits?
Oh Reig') Poo whoa c ola patho apnea ote y vom dust de ty j iY of tag Wey er np SAS . ie ihe tol eee teanied ba xf TTA em oth buy Vi > é j nan '
ARS t ee Te if? vere Te ye HO a ae UT Fe cae wt? Dirk g f Abst is.
Wa?
i eye? hy irae Oke" e 5 HID tf =e Po te My @ -! diy * i eas Bale die Viet tik ah Pill eg" ee — eat sy AW) | ius ayy rae eta Ay OE ai," aim Eis a{) His i ay togg tv De v i!
Tho] ryan es Tene ee dag A See "
SAVING FAITH
Acts xvi. 30, 31.—"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
THIS is one of the most abused texts in the Bible, and one which, perhaps, has been made to do quite as much work for the Devil as for God.
Let every saint present ask in faith for the light of the Holy Ghost, while we try rightly to apply it.
Let us enquire :— lst, Who are to believe?
2nd, When are they to believe?
3rd, How are they to believe ?
I. Who are to believe?
'To whom does the Holy Spirit say, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved?"
Now mark, I answer, Not to all sinners indiscriminately.—And here is a grand mistake in a great deal of the teaching of this age— that these words are wrested from their explanatory connexion, and from numbers of other texts bearing on the same subject, and held up independently of all the conditions which must ever, and did ever, in the mind and practice of the Apostles, accompany them ; indeed, it has only been within the last 69 or 70 years that this new gospel has sprung into existence, preaching indiscriminately to unawakened, unconverted, unrepentant sinners—" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."
It seems to me, that great injury has been done to the cause of Christ by thus wrongly dividing the Word of truth, to say nothing of the unphilosophical character
Saving Faith of such a course, for how can an unawakened, unconvicted, unrepentant sinner believe?
As soon might Satan believe.
It is an utter impossibility.
Thousands of these people say, "I do believe." My dear son, only a little time ago, on the top of an omnibus, was speaking to a man who was the worse for liquor, and using very improper language; trying to show him the danger of his evil, wicked course, as a transgressor of the law of God, " Oh!" said the man, "It is not by works, it is by faith, and I believe as much as you do."
"Yes," said my son, "but what do you believe?"
"Oh!" he said, "I believe in Jesus Christ, and of course I shall be saved."
That is a sample of thousands.
I am meeting with them every day of my life.
They believe there was such a man as Jesus, and that he died for sinners, and for them, but as to the exercise of saving faith, they know no more about it than Agrippa or Felix, as is manifest when they come to die, for then these very people are wringing their hands, tearing their hair, and sending for Christians to come and pray with them.
If they had believed, why all this alarm and concern on the approach of death?
They were only believers of the head and not of the heart, that is, they were but theoretical believers in the facts recorded in this book, but not believers in the Scriptural sense, or their faith would have saved them.
Now we maintain that it is useless, and as unphilosophical as it is unscriptural to preach "only believe" to such characters; and Christians have not done their duty, and have not discharged their responsibility to these souls when they have told them that Jesus died for them, and that they are to believe in Him! Oh! dear no.
They have a much harder work to do, and that
Saving Laith
is, to "open their eyes" to a sense of their danger, and make them, by the power of the Spirit, realize the dreadful truth that they are sinners, that they are sick, and then they will run to the physician.
The eyes of the soul must be opened to such a realization of sin, and such an apprehension of the consequences of sin, as shall lead to an earnest desire to be saved from sin.
God's great means of doing this is the law, as the schoolmaster, to drive sinners to receive Christ as their salvation.
There is not one case in the New Testament in which the Apostles urged souls to believe, or in which a soul is narrated as believing, in which we have not good grounds to believe that these preparatory steps of conviction and repentance had been taken.
The only apparent exception was Simon the sorcerer.
He was, as numbers of people are in great religious movements, carried away by the influence of the meeting and the example of those around him, and professed to believe.
Doubtless he did credit the fact that Jesus died on the cross. He received the facts of Christianity into his mind, and, in that sense he became a believer
—in the same sense that tens of thousands are in these days—and he was baptized.
But when the testing point came, as to whose interests were paramount with him, his own or God's, then he manifested the true state of the case, as the Apostle said, "' Thy heart is not right in the sight of God;" and nobody is converted whose heart is not right with God!
That is the test.
If Simon had been converted his heart would have been right with God, and he would not have supposed the Holy Ghost tould have been bought for money. ind Paul added, " For I perceive that thou
Saving Faith. art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity."
And what further did he say to him?
"Therefore at once believe?"
No; 'he did not.
" Repent, therefore, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee."
Repent first! and then believe and get this wickedness forgiven, and so we get a double lesson in the same passage.
This Simon was the only person we have any record of, as believing, where there is not in the passage itself, taken with its context, a reasonable and rational evidence, that these preparatory steps of conviction and repentance were taken before the teaching of faith, or the exercise and confession of faith.
Simon had this faith of the head, but not of the heart, and, therefore, it ended in defeat and despair.
Some have written me this week that they had believed.
They had been persuaded into a profession of faith, but no fruits followed.
Ah! it was not the faith of the heart: it was the faith of the head—like that of Simon's—and it left you worse than it found you, and you have been groping and grovelling ever since.
But do not think that was real faith, and that therefore real faith has failed, but be encouraged to begin again, and repent.
Try the real thing, for Satan always gets up a counterfeit.
Therefore, don't go down in despair because the wrong kind of faith did not succeed.
That shall not make the real faith of God of none effect—God forbid !
Look at one or two other cases—the 3,000 in a day.
Surely this is a Scriptural illustration.
Surely no one will call that anti-Gospel or legal.
What was the first work Peter did?
He drove the knife of God's convincing truth into their hearts, and made them cry
Saving Faith.
out.
He awoke them to the truth of their almost lost and damned condition, till they said, " What shall we do?"
They were so concerned, they were so pricked in their hearts, their eyes were so opened to the terrible consequences of their sin, that they cried aloud before the vast multitude, '"' Men and brethren, what shall we do?" He convinced them of sin, and thus followed the order of God.
Again, the Eunuch is often quoted as an illustration of faith; but what state of mind was hein?
Was he a careless, unconvicted sinner?
There he was—an Ethiopian, a heathen; but where had he been?
To Jerusalem, to worship the true and living God in the best way he knew and as far as he understood; and then, what was he doing when Philip found him?
He was not content with the mere worship of the temple, whistling a worldly tune on his way back.
He was searching the Scruptures.
He was honestly seeking after God, and the Holy Ghost always knows where such souls are; and He said to Philip, '" Go near, and 'join thyself to this chariot:" there is a man seeking
'Me; there is a man whose heart is honestly set on 'finding Me.
Go and preach Christ, and tell him to 'believe.'
That man would have sacrificed or done or lost anything for salvation, and as soon as Philip expounded the way of faith, he received it, of course, as all such souls will.
Saul, on his way to Damascus, is another instance.
Jesus Christ was the preacher there, and surely He could not be mistaken.
His philosophy was sound.
Where did he begin?
What did he say to Saul?
He saw there an honest-hearted man.
Saul was sincere, so far as he understood, and if, in any case, there needed
Saving Laith to be the immediate reception of Christ by faith, it was in his.
But the Lord Jesus Christ did not say one word about faith.
"Saul, Saul, why PERSECUTEST thow Me?"—tearing the bandages of deception off his eyes, and letting him see the wickedness of his conduct.
When Saul said, "Who art Thou, Lord?"
He repeated the accusation.
He did not come in with the oil of comfort; He did not plaster the wound up, and make it wholeina moment: but He said," Iam Jesus, of Nazareth, whom thow persecutest."
He ran the knife in again, and opened Paul's eyes wider, and his wounds wider, too, and sent him bleeding on to Damascus, where he was three days before he got the healing.
He had to send for a poor human instrument, and he had to hear and obey His words before the scales fell from his eyes, and before the pardon of his sins was pronounced, and the Holy Ghost came into his soul.
I wonder what Paul was doing those three days!
Not singing songs of thanksgiving and praise.
That had to come.
Oh! what do you think he was doing?
He neither ate nor drank, and he was in the dark.
What was he doing?
No doubt he was praying.
No doubt he was seeking after this Christ, who had spoken to him in the way.
No doubt he was looking with horror upon his past life, and, abjuring for ever his accursed antagonism to Jesus Christ, and to His Gospel.
Of course, he was bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, according to the Divine order—Acts xxvi. 20:
And then came Ananias and preached Christ unto him, and he believed unto salvation, and the scales fell off, and his mouth was filled with praise and thanksgiving to God.
Cornelius is another instance, but what was the state of his mind and heart ? We know that be feared God
Saving Faith
and wrought righteousness, as far as he was able.
He gave alms to the people, and prayed day and night.
That is more than some of you ever did, who live in Gospel times.
You never prayed all night about your souls.
No wonder if you should lose them!
Not half a night some of you.
But Cornelius did.
Oh, yes! he was seeking God.
He honestly wanted to know Him.
He was willing at all costs, to do His will: consequently the Lord sent him the glorious message of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I might go on multiplying instances, but I must not delay. We have said enough to show who are to believe.
Truly penitent sinners, and they only.
This text is to a repenting, enlightened, convicted sinner.
Now, some of you are enlightened, convinced, and so wretched that you cannot sleep.
You do repent.
You are the very people, then, to whom this text comes—Believe, You are just in the condition of the gaoler, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," and now let us look what state of mind the gaoler was in.
We see, from the whole narrative, how his eyes had been opened.
The earthquake had done that.
Some people need an earthquake, before they get their eyes opened, and it has to be a loud one too,
The gaoler's eyes were opened, and he made the best use of his time, He was lashing their backs a little while before!
Talk about a change—here was a change.
"Sirs, what must Ido to be saved?
Iam ready to do anything, only tell me what?"
And when asoul comes to that state of mind, he has nothing more to do but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he came in trembling, and went down on his
Saving Fatth knees and washed their stripes.
When you get to that state of mind you will soon get saved, You will have nothing more to do but to believe.
You will find it easy work then, II. When is a sinner to believe ? When he repents ?
Here again I am going to answer some of your letters.
One writes: "I am afraid I do not realise my sin sufficiently.
I have no particular agony on account of sin, but I do see my whole life to have been one huge error and sin."
There is nothing more common than for souls to delude themselves on this point of feeling.
That gentleman confounds feeling with conviction.
He thinks because he has not this extreme agony which some have, therefore he is not sufficiently cenvinced, while the Holy Ghost has opened his eyes to see that his whole life has been one huge error and sin.
He is convinced that it has been all sin—not one isolated sin here and there abstracted from his life, but such a perception of his true character has he, that he sees his whole life to have been sin.
Surely, my friend, you are convinced.
What else but the Holy Ghost could have shown you THAT?
Now, the truly repentant soul first SEES sin ; secondly, he HATES sin; thirdly, he RENOUNCES sin. Now, let me try you by each of these tests.
Don't let Satan deceive you, and make you belie the exercises of your own mind.
Face the facts, and when you have come to a conclusion, don't allow him to raise a controversy, but stick to your facts, and advance from them, or you will never get saved.
Satan is an accuser of the brethren, and, I suppose, of the sisters too.
I will be as honest and as searching with you as I posssibly can.
I will not spare the spade, but when we have dug down and found the
Saving Faith
truth, stand on it, for Christ's sake, and don't let it go from under your feet, because Satan may try to cheat you out of your common sense, conscience, and convictions.
You see sin.
An entirely unawakened soul does not see sin; that is, in its true character, in its heinousness, in its consequences.
He admits that all people are sinners.
Qh! yes; but he does not see the deadly, damning character of sin.
He does not see what an evil and bitter thing sin is in itself.
Now, the Holy Ghost alone can open the soul's eyes to see this.
Without Him, all my preaching, or any other preaching, even the preaching of the angels, if they were permitted to preach, might go on to all eternity and it would never convince of sin.
If you see sin it is the Holy Ghost who has opened your eyes.
Praise Him, and take encouragement, my friend.
If God has thus far dealt with you, and opened your eyes to see the character and consequences of sin, does it not augur well that He desires also to save you from it? He has opened your eyes in order that He may anoint them with eye-salve, and cause you to see light in His light.
Now, have you got thus far?
You have told me that your life has been one great sin; others confess only to one particular form of sin.
Whatever it is, if you are convinced of sin, it is the Holy Ghost who has convinced you; therefore, thank God, and take courage thus far.
Further, the true penitent HATES sin; that is, his feelings towards sin are quite different to what they were in the past.
There was a time when you could commit sin almost without notice, without concern.
People do not realise the great change that has taken
Saving Faith place in them in this respect.
They are brought gradually to it.
Translate yourself back into your unawakened state.
How did you live then? The very things that now cause you such distress you practised every day, and they gave you no concern.
The things that horrify you now, in the very thought or temptation to them, you then were daily practising without compunction.
You had no hatred to, no dread of sin.
You were the willing bondslaves of Satan.
Now you are his unwilling slave.
Then you ram towards sin, now he has to drive you, and when you fall it is against your will.
You hate sin.
Now, mind, this is not being saved from it.
This is not saying you have power to save yourself from it.
In fact, this is the very difficulty personified by the Apostle when representing the ineffectual struggles of a convicted sinner.
The things you would not, those you do, and the things you would, those you have not the power to do.
Nevertheless, you DESIRE to do them.
There is the difference.
Once you did not desire to do them, and, perhaps, those who did were a pack of hypocrites, in your estimation.
Now you feel quite differently, and you struggle, and strive, and pray, and watch.
Some of you have told me so, and yet you say, "J am again and again overcome."
Of course you are, because you are not SAVED YET!
But don't you see, you DESIRE to be.
You hate the sin which enthrals you.
You struggle against it.
You watch against it, and you are not overcome half so frequently, perhaps, as you were before.
People do not see what a great deal they owe to the convincing and preventing power of the Holy Spirit helping their infirmity, even now, to cut off and pluck out the right hand and the right eye,
Saving Faith
and bringing them up in a wailing attitude before God, like Cornelius and the Eunuch.
You, my hearers, some of you are following after God.
You are longing for deliverance, and striving against sin.
Take another illustration.
I don't mean that the soul has power to save itself from its internal maladies.
That you will get when Jesus Christ saves you, but I mean this,—Here is a soul convinced of sin.
Here is a man who is daily addicted to drink.
He is a drunkard.
He becomes convinced of sin.
Now, then, the Spirit of God says, will you give up the cup?
Then commences the struggle.
Now, the question is, Are you to teach that man that he is to go on drinking, and expect God to save him? Are you to keep putting before him faith, and telling him, " Oh! never mind your cup, but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved "—or are you to tell him, ' you
'must put away your sin, cut off that.right hand, and 'pluck out that right eye, renounce that drink for 'ever in your heart, in your purpose, in your will, and 'until you do, you cannot exercise faith on the Lord
' Jesus ?'
Here is another person addicted tolying.
He, when he is convinced of sin, sets a watch over his lips, that he may not offend with his mouth, and he does succeed in so guarding himself, or the Holy Spirit so helps him to guard himself that he does not lie as he used.
He is overcome now and then because he has not yet found the power, but he is resolutely, and as far as his will is concerned, cutting off this outward sin, and waiting in the way of obedience for full deliverance and salvation.
There is a servant systematically robs his master's
Saving Faith till.
He goes to a religious meeting and is convinced.
'Now,' the Spirit of God says, 'You must cut off that 'dishonesty.
You cannot come to this meeting night ' after night pretending to want to be saved, while you
'are going on every day robbing your master!
You 'must cut off that right hand, and give up that ' pilfering, and resolve that you will make restitution,
'and wait for Me in the way of bringing forth fruits 'meet for repentance.'?
You see what I mean.
Now, you are just here, some of you—you know you are.
If you are addicted to any evil habit, it is just the same.
Jesus Christ wants you to forswear that habit in your will, determination, and purpose.
You have not the power to deliver yourself from it.
You may struggle, as some of you tell me you are doing, but it overcomes you, and down you go.
He knows all about that, but He approves of the struggle, and the effort, and the watchfulness, and the determination, and when He saves you, He will give you the power, and then you will stand and not fall, for He will hold you up.
Now you know that you go thus far, and you know that at this moment if you had the power in yourself to extinguish the force of that evil habit over you for ever, you would do it without another moment's hesitation.
You say, 'Oh yes, I would indeed.
Would to God I had the power.'
That is repentance; that is GENUINE repentance.
Now, what you cannot do for yourself, He meets you just where you stand, and says,
'I will do it for you; I will break the power of that 'habit; I will deliver you out of the hands of the 'enemy; I will save you out of that bondage.
Only 'throw your arm of faith around me, and I will lift you 'up; J will inspire you with My Spirit; you shall
Saving Faith
'stand in Me and by Me; and what you are now 'struggling to do for yourself, I will do for you.'
Then you have got thus far that you hate sin ? ' Yes, I have.'
You have said it in your letters to me, and there are others saying it who have not written to me.
'Yes,' you are saying, 'I desire to be saved from it.
I 'would save myself this very instant if I could and 'never sin again." Would you? Is not that repentance?
What else is it, think you?
Suppose you had a disobedient and rebellious son, and he had been living irrespective of your law and will, wasting your money and trampling under foot your commandments.
Suppose he comes back, he sees the error of his course.
His eyes are opened perhaps by affliction, perhaps by want, or ten thousand other things.
At any rate he sees it, and he comes home and says, 'Oh! father, what a fool I have been ;
'how wicked [ have been. I see it all now—I did not 'see it when I was doing it.
I see my evil course, my 'sins that made you mourn, and turned your hair grey.
'Oh! how I hate it all.
I repent in dust and ashes.
'Father! I forsake it all! I come home to you!
What would you say? Would you say, 'My son, you 'have not repented enough.
Go! be gone! Wait till 'you feel it more!' No, your paternal heart would go out in love and forgiveness, and you would put the kiss of your reconciling love upon his cheek.
'Even so there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that REPENTETH!' as there would be joy in that family circle over the return of that wandering child.
But suppose that lad were-to come and say, 'Father, 'I do thus repent; I do thus forsake my sins; but there
Saving Faith 'are some companions who will follow me so closely that 'Tam afraid I shall again fall under their power, and 'there are some habits so terrible that I am afraid they
'will again conquer.
Let me, then, be always by your 'side.
You must strengthen me.'
What would you say ? Would you not say, 'Then, come in, my son; 'sit by me, live with me, and I will shield you—I will
'deliver you?
Thou shalt never cross this threshold 'without me.
I will live with you; I will hold you up.
And, as far as a human being could shield another, you would shield your son; he would never lack your sympathy or your strength day or night.
Your Heavenly Father lacks neither sympathy nor strength.
His eye never sleeps.
His arm never tires, and you have only to go and lay your helpless weakness on His
Almighty strength by this ene desperate leap of faith, and He will hold you up, even though there were a legion of devils around you.
Lastly, you RENOUNCE your sins, that is, in will, purpose, and determination.
You say, 'I never wish to grieve Him again.'
You sing it, and you feel it.
'I never want to grieve Him any more;' and if you could only live without grieving Him, you would not much mind, even if it were in Hell itself.
Is not that penitence ? You know it is.
You renounce sin.
You do not say, 'Lord Jesus, save me with this right hand, 'with this right eye; Lord Jesus, save me with these
'forbidden things hanging about my skirts.'
Nos you say, 'Lord Jesus, save me out of them.
Make me 'clean.'
That is penitence.
You see it.
You hate it, You renounce it.
Now then, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, Holy Spirit, reveal the simple way of faith.
You say, 'How am I to believe?'
Some
Saving Faith
despairing soul asked me this in large letters, ' How am I to believe?'
How does the bride believe in her husband when she gives herself to him at the altar?
She trusts him with herself.
She believes in him.
She makes a contract, and goes home, and lives as if it were true.
That is rairH.
How do you trust your physician when you are sick, as you lay in repose or anguish upon your bed?
You trust him with your case.
You commit yourself to him.
You believe in his skill, and obey his orders.
Have faith like this in Jesus Christ.
Trust. and obey, and expect that it is going to be with you according to His Word.
Instead of this, the faith of many people is like that of a person afflicted with some grievous malady.
A friend tells him of a wonderful physician who has cured hundreds of such cases, and gives him abundant evidence that this doctor is able and willing to cure him, if he will only commit himself to his treatment.
«he sick man may thoroughly believe in the testimony of his friend about this physician, and yet, for some secret reason, he may refuse to put himself into his hands.
Now, there are numbers like that with Jesus Christ.
They believe He could cure the malady of sin on certain conditions.
They believe He "is no respecter of persons."
They believe He has done it for hundreds as bad as they, and yet there is some reason why they do not Trust Him.
They hold back.
Now, what you want is to give your case into His hands, and say, 'Lord Jesus, I come as Thou hast 'bid me, confessing and forsaking sin.
If I could, 'I would jump out of it now and for ever.
Thou 'knowest I come renouncing i+, but not having power
Saving Faith 'to save myself from it; and now, Lord Jesus, Thou 'hast said, " Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no 'wise cast out."
I do come; Thou dost not cast me 'out; Thou dost take me; Thou dost receive me.
'Blessed, Holy Father, I give myself to Thee.
I put 'my sins upon the glorious sacrifice of 'Thy Son.
'Thou hast said Thou wilt receive me, and pardon 'me for His sake.
Now, I roll the guilty burden on 'His bleeding body, and I believe Thy promise, I 'trust Thee to be as good as Thy word.'
THAT Is FAITH.
'Oh!' said a dear lady, 'I do not feel it.'
No: you must trust first.
Mark, not believe you are saved, but believe that He does now save you.
"What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
That is the law of faith.
Believe that ye receive it, before you feel it; when you receive it, then you shall feel it.
God shall be true, and every man or Devil who contradicts Him, a liar.
Throw your arms around the crucified.
Take fast hold of the hand of the Son of God.
Put your poor, guilty soul right at the foot of His cross, and say, ' Thou dost receive; Thou dost pardon; Thou dost cleanse ;
Thou dost save, and keep using the language of faith.
I have seen numbers of souls step into liberty repeating those precious words in the first person, "He was wounded for (my) transgressions, He was bruised for (my) iniquities, the chastisement of (my) peace was upon Him, and by His stripes
(I aM) healed."
Keep using the language of faith all the way home to-night.
Go into your closet and say, 'I am determined to be saved, if there is any ' such thing as salvation.'
Resolve that if you perish,
Saving Faith
you will perish in that room, at the foot of the cross, suing for pardon, and you will get it.
I have never known a soul come to this who did not soon get saved.
Get into the lifeboat.
Put off from the old stranded wreck of your own righteousness or your own efforts; step right into the lifeboat of His broken, bleeding body.
Take fast hold, and resolve that you will never let go until the answering Spirit comes into your soul, crying, " Abba Father," and you shall "know" of a truth that you "have passed from death unto life."
The Lord help you.
Amen.
; .
= - - :
= f f , — i - <=
_ * b Loa iy; ' x .
= _ a _
-_ a
+ . - . 4
- = . ! t}
Colabed lied dk
at eid See — _ RT LR AE ee | he =
Cdabiseliuledige I I. CoRINTHIANS xiil. 18.— 'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
It must be a precious thing to be greater than FAITH, and greater than HOPE—it must, indeed, be precious!
—and just in proportion as things are valuable and precious amongst men, so much trouble and risk will human speculators take to counterfeit them.
I suppose that in no department of roguery in this roguish world has there been more time and ingenuity expended than in making counterfeit money, especially bank notes.
Just as wicked men have tried to imitate the most valuable of human productions for their own profit, so the Devil has been trying to counterfeit God's most precious things from the beginning, and to produce something so like them that mankind at large should not see the difference, and, perhaps, in no direction has he been so successful as in producing a Spurious Cuarity.
I almost think he has got it to perfection in these days, I don't think he can very well improve on the present copy.
This Charity—this love —is God's most precious treasure; it is dearer to His heart than all the vast domains of His universe— dearer than all the glorious beings He has created.
So much so, that when some of the highest spirits amongst the angelic bands violated this love, He hurled them from the highest heaven to the nethermost Hell!
Why?
Not hecause He did not value those wonderful beings, but because He valued this Love
Charity MORE.
Because He saw that it was more important to the well-being of His universe to maintain the harmony of love in Heaven than to save those spirits who had allowed selfishness to interfere with it.
So our Lord says, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven."
The day is coming when He will behold all the dire progeny of this first rebellion fall also.
Haste, happy day !
But, let us look for a few minutes at this precious, beautiful Charity, Let us try, first, to define it.
What is it ?
First.—It 1s Divine.
It must be shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost.
In vain do we look for this heavenly plant amongst the unrenewed children of men—it grows not on the corrupt soil of fallen nature; it springs only where the ploughshare of true repentance has broken up the fallow ground of the heart, and where faith in a crucified Saviour has purified it, and where the blessed
Holy Spirit has taken permanent possession.
It is the love oF God—not only love to God, but like God, from God, and fixed on the same objects and ends which He loves.
It is a Divine implantation by the Holy Ghost.
Perhaps some of you are saying, ' Then it is useless for me to try to cultivate it, because I have not got it.— exactly!
You may cut and prune and water for ever, but you can never cultivate that which is not planted ; your first work is to Get this love shed abroad in your heart.
It is one of the delusions of this age that human nature only wants pruning, improving, developing, and it will come out right.
No,no!
Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
If you
Charity
want this Divine love, you must break up the fallow ground of your hearts, and invite the Heavenly Husbandman to come and sow it—shed it abroad in your soul, I want you to note, secondly, that this love is a Divine principle, in contradistinction to the mere love of instinct.
All men have love as an instinct; mere natural love towards those whom they like, or who do well for them.
"If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?"
Wicked men love one another from mere natural affinity, as the tiger loves its cubs.
There is great confusion amongst professors of religion on this subject.
They feel sentiments of pity and generosity towards their fellow men, and they may even give their goods to feed the poor, and yet not have a spark of Divine
Charity in their hearts.
Saul, after God had departed from him, was not wholly destitute of generous feeling respecting his family and kingdom.
Dives in Hell had some pity for his brethren!
But neither of them had a spark of this Divine Charity.
Mind you are not deceived ; millions are!
Let us note one or two points wherein a spurious and a Divine Charity utterly and for ever diverge—disagree in their nature.
First.—Spurious Charity is selfish—is never exercised but to gratify some selfish principle in human nature.
Thousands of motives inspire it—too many to enumerate ; but we will glance at two or three.
We read in the context that a man might give his goods to feed the poor, and his body to be burned, and yet be destitute of true Charity.
Now, what an anomaly.
But we have wonderful
Charity illustrations that such a thing is possible.
How is it ?
Well, we will just specify two or three motives under which this might be done.
First, a man may do this to support and carry out a favourite system of intellectual belief of which he has become enamoured, just as men become absorbel in politics, or in what they consider the good of their nation, so that they will even go to the cannon's mouth to promote it.
Further, a man may do it in order to merit eternal life.
Paul did this when he went about to establish his own righteousness.
He tells us afterwards that self was the mainspring of all his zeal.
It was all his own exaltation; there was no Divine love; he was an utterly unrenewed, Christless, and selfish man at the very time he was doing this.
Or, it may be, in the third place, to gratify a naturally generous disposition.
I used to say to a generous friend of mine, when he was talking in a confidential way about his giving, and the delight it gave him, attributing it to Divine grace—I used to put my hand on his, and say, 'Hold! my friend; I 'am not so sure it is all grace.
You like giving 'better than other people do receiving.
Look out that 'you don't lose your reward through not taking the 'trouble to see what you give to; don't give your
'money to every scheme that comes across you.
'Remember that you are answerable to God for your 'wealth, and that God will demand of you HOW you
'have bestowed your goods.'
That is true Charity that takes the trouble to investigate relative claims, and tries to find out the best channels in which to give for God's glory and the salvation of men.
Don't you put down your generosity to the Holy Ghost if it is
Charity
not of that kind, for you will never see a bit of interest for it, here or hereafter—not a fraction !
A false Charity begins in self, and ends on earth.
Here is a mark for you to distinguish between it and God's Charity.
The Devil's Charity always contemplates the earthy part of man in a superior degree to the spiritual part; and here it exactly crosses and contradicts the Divine Charity, which always contemplates man in the entirety of his being, and always gives the jirst «mportance to the soul.
We have plenty of spurious Charity in these days.
The other day, when I took up a certain so-called "religious print," and saw some fulsome things it had been saying about a certain individual, lately dead,
I thought, really, would one ever imagine this to be a Christian paper, in a Christian country?
There is not the slightest recognition of a soul, no reference to the man's spiritual condition or his future state.
Here are one or two of the most ordinary human qualifications seized on, and made the most of, to make it out that he was something beyond his fellows; but, as to any recognition of a soul, or of a God who will judge him, of a Heaven or Hell, nothing!
Oh, people say, when speaking of Godless, and even wicked men 'You must be charitable, you must not judge.'
Satan does not care how much of this onesided charity there is; the more the better for his purpose ; it will make people all the more comfortable in their sins, and get them all the more easily down to Hell.
My friends, are you more concerned about relieving temporal distress than you are about feeding famished souls?
If you are, you niay know where your Charity
Charity comes from!
Don't misrepresent me, and say that I teach all of one and none of the other.
God forbid, for, if any man "hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"
But, on the other side, if he sees him spiritually famishing—dying for want of the bread of life—how dwelleth the love of Christ in him, if he does not minister to this spiritual destitution ? I know that real Christianity cares for body and soul.
Bless God, it does; but, always mind that it sets the soul FIRST.
I know the Master fed the multitude; but, before that, He had them with Him three days, trying to save their souls, and when they got hungry in the process, then He made them sit down and fed their bodies.
He always looked after the soul first, and so does every one possessed of Divine Charity.
Why? Because Divine Charity has opened his eyes.
He realises the value of souls.
He sees them famishing.
He sees them being damned, and he cannot help himself.
His desire to save them rushes out of him like a torrent; he beholds them, and he has compassion on them.
Try your Charity by this mark: Do you contemplate the dying, famishing, half-damned souls of your fellow-men?
Do you look abroad on the state of the world, and the state of the Church?
Do you think about it ? Do you go into your closet and spread it before the Lord, as Hezekiah and Jeremiah and Hosea did?
Do you look at it, and turn it over, and weep over it, and pray and cry, as Daniel and Paul did?
Try yourselves, my brethren, my sisters, by this mark.
Divine Charity is always revolving round that great
Charity
problem of infinite love.
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Oh, I can never get it out of my ears or away from my heart.
Oh, how I see the emptiness and vanity of everything compared with the salvation of the soul!
What does it matter, if a man dies in the workhouse— if he dies on a doorstep, covered with wounds, like
Lazarus—what does it matter, if his soul is saved?
It is your creed as much as mine, that the soul is immortal, and that the death of the body is only its introduction, if it be saved, to a glorious future of everlasting felicity, progress, and holiness.
Does the child remember how he used to cry over his lessons, when he becomes a man?
Does he remember all the little difficulties of his school days, when he is inheriting the fruits of them?
Just so; ten thousand times less important will be all our sufferings, trials, and griefs here, if we save our souls, and somebody else's.
This Divine Charity makes everything else subservient to the salvation of souls; it uses everything else to save and bless the inner and spiritual man.
Do you remember on one occasion, when the Master had fed the multitudes, and when they came to Him again to be fed, He said, " Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."
You would have said, 'Quite right; the people want to be fed; they are hungry.'
But do you hear the Divine lament that comes out in these words, that they were so spiritually obtuse that they valued the earthly bread more than the heavenly!
Give them as much temporal bread as you like, but mind you give them the spiritual bread first, for this is the characteristic of true Charity.
Charity Have you got this Charity?
Every soul knows whether it has or not.
People are so unphilosophical in religion; they talk about not knowing; but you can find out in two minutes whether you love God or yourself best.
Tell me that woman does not know whether she loves her husband or herself best!
Nonsense!
What is the proof ?—she seeks to please him, and is willing to sacrifice herself for him—in fact, merges her interests altogether in his.
Do you love God best?
Are you willing to forego your interests, and to seek His?
Have you this Divine Charity, born of Heaven, tending to Heaven?
If not, my friend, resolve you will have it this afternoon.
Begin to cry mightily to God for the Holy Spirit to shed it abroad in your heart; give up your quibblings and reasonings, and go down at the foot of the cross and ask Him,—' Come, Lord, and break up this poor,
' wicked heart of mine, and shed this beautiful, pure, ' Divine Charity abroad in it,' and then you will not, henceforth, seek your own, but the things that are
Jesus Christ's.