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ATTAINMENT nearer to IDEAL, and EXPERIENCE nearer to POSSIBILITY.
( 2 ) Turning, therefore, to spiritual biography,, in which happily we are very rich, it is given to us to see the God of power at work, in the lives of men, and to learn how “fragile vessels of clay” have held the treasure which has shown forth the divine excellency. There have been individuals in all ages who have entered the experience of THE LIFE MORE ABUNDANT, and these have been persons of great diversity of temperament, and every variety of accomplish ment. Happily for us some of them have spoken about God’s dealing with them. I am now referring, not to what we speak of as CON VERSION, but to an experience beyond that, and in many cases entered into long after it. John Howe, in 1689, wrote on the blank page of his Bible in Latin these words: “I long, seriously, and repeatedly thought with myself, that besides a full and undoubted assent to the objects of faith, a vivifying, savory taste and relish of them was also necessary, that with stronger force and more powerful energy they might penetrate into the most inward centre of my heart, and there, being most deeply fixed and rooted, govern my life.” He then tells of how he himself entered into such a blessing. So was it with PASCAL, who, in a paper which has been called: “One of the most seraphic productions of human language,” describes his exalted experience, and in a tide of love and ecstasy cried, “JOY, JOY, TEARS, TEARS.” GEORGE WHITEFIELD bears testimony, that with pro longed prayer and self-mortification, he definitely sought fulness of blessing, and found it on the day of his ordina tion. JONATHAN EDWARDS was no visionary, but he received a vision which made him the power he was, and this, as he affirms in his works, at a period later than his conversion: “Once as I rode out into the woods for my health in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contempla tion and prayer, I had a view that was for me extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and His wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. The grace that appeared so calm and swbet appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception, which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; which kept me a greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I. felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to lie in the dust and be full of Christ alone; to love Him with a Holy and pure love; to trust Him; to live upon Him; to serve Him; and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.” From this “baptised- intellect” has flowed incalculable blessing to the whole Church of God. And what shall we say of DAVID BRAINERD, whose intimacy with God was such that the record of it has made his diary a religious classic, through the reading of which WILLIAM CAREY, HENRY MARTYN, and ROBERT MUR RAY McCHEYNE were led to fuller consecration of life and service? Further illustrations of experience of that N. T. Revela tion with which we began may be found in the records of WILLIAM C. BURNS, JAMES BRAINERD TAYLOR, CHARLES G. FINNEY, FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, and many more. Brethren, speaking for myself, there is a something there I want to know more about, a something that brings
We do well to' consider our Message and the Method of its presentation, but a perfect understanding of the one, and application of the other, can be of little avail if we ourselves are not in the innermost secret of the Lord. Our principal equipment is not in the accumulation of knowledge, even the best knowledge, valuable as that is, but in a relation to and attitude towards JESUS CHRIST which will make us, | quite apart from our ministry, a divine power among men. I want to realize that Christ is calling me to an expe rience which will not only clarify my mind but purify my heart, that will invade the innermost places of my soul, cleansing my motives, and taking control of the very springs of desire; in short, to know what it is to be “Filled into all the Fulness of God.” But why should we wish this grace? Surely not for selfish indulgence, but for sacrificial service. III. Service ( 1 ) The power of our ministry will depend upon the state of our heart. Our compassion for men will be determined by our experience of the love of Christ;, and our success as ministers of the Gospel will be to the extent of our appro priation of the Divine resources. SAVONAROLA was not the preacher he was by reason of natural gifts, for it is said he lacked almost all the gifts of the orator. We must look deeper for the secret of his power. JOHN TAULER, great theologian an,d preacher that he was, did not rise to the full height and grandeur of his calling until after he had retired from his pulpit for two whole years to seek in retirement that spiritual enduement to which he had hitherto been a stranger. And D. L. MOODY told a Glasgow audience many years ago of such a crisis in his own life and ministry. He told of how he cried to God for power, and these are his words: “Well, one day in the city of New York—oh, what a day! I cannot describe it; I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say God revealed Himself to me, and I had an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. “I went to preaching again. The sermons were not dif ferent; I did not present and new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you would give me all Glasgow. It is a sad day when the convert goes into the Church and that is the last you hear of him. If, however, you want this power for some selfish end, as, for example, to gratify your ambition, you will not get it. ‘No flesh,’ says God, ‘shall glory in my presence.’ May He empty us of self and fill us with His presence,” . • .. BRAINERD, who “in the shade and the cool wind” was wet with sweat as he prayed, “drawn out very much for the world,” and grasping “for multitudes of souls, so preached that scores of stolid hard-hearted Indians were bowed like grass before the mower’s scythe.” ( 2 ) Temperamental gifts determine much, yet the Scriptures lead us to believe, and many saints bear witness to the fact, that each of us may, much more than ever yet, be con formed in inward experience to our outward standard, and may so know Christ as to be at all times among men “the great power of God.” , Why tarries the much-needed and longed-for visitation of grace? Perhaps if we look into our own hearts we shall find it is because we have as yet failed to comply with the Divine conditions. (Continued on Page 117)
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