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No man can read the Bible thoughtfully without either hating it or hating his sins.
Before we can be filled we must be emptied. Before we can have the ‘life more abundant’ we must die to sin. – Ancient Prophets
In cold weather men of all nations will gather around a stove in which there is fire, and so they will gather around Salvation Army officers and soldiers, and any others who are full of love. – The Soul-Winner’s Secret
Like a great bridge hung upon two buttresses, so The Army is buttressed upon God and man. – Ancient Prophets
Again, the man who is filled with the Spirit tolerates those who differ from him in opinion, in doctrine. He is firm in his own convictions, and ready at all times with meekness and fear to explain and defend the doctrines which he holds and is convinced are according to God’s Word, but he does not condemn and consign to damnation all those who differ from him.
When professing Christians bear hard upon backsliders, it is usually only a question of time when they themselves backslide.
It is not one text more than another, but a WHOLE BIBLE that blesses me, assures me, warns and corrects and comforts me. A hundred promises whisper to me. I never know when one of the promises – perhaps one that I have not met for days or even months – may suddenly stand before me, beckon me, speak to me tenderly, comfortingly, authoritatively, austerely; speak to me as though God were speaking to me face to face.
A mighty man inspires and trains other men to be mighty. – When the Holy Ghost is Come
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. – Ancient Prophets
I did not want to die for her, but to live for her. I wanted to put my arms around her, to comfort her, provide for her, protect her, bear her burdens, be her shield, and receive every blow of adversity or sorrow or misfortune that might befall her. I no longer thought of what she might bring or give me, but only of what I might give to and suffer for her. – Ancient Prophets
Many years ago, just after a tour that had taken me round the world, an old Officer asked me with a quizzical look: ‘Are you going to leave The Army ship before she sinks?’ I assured him that from a rather wide range of intimate observation I saw no signs that the ship was seriously leaking, or likely to sink, but that even if I did, as an Officer my business was to stick to the ship and do all in my power to save it, or go down with it and its precious freightage of the souls of men and women and little children. ‘The hireling fleeth when he seeth the wolf coming. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.’ And the true Officer gives his life for The Army and the souls who are in its keeping. – Ancient Prophets
Peace is the offspring of a faith that is ceaseless in its activity – an activity that is the most perfect, and the mightiest of which man is capable, for through it unarmed men have subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in the fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead to life again.
Spiritual leadership is not won nor established by promotion, but by many prayers, tears and confessions of sin and heart-searchings and humblings before God, and self-surrender and a courageous sacrifice of every idol and a bold and deathless, and uncompromising and uncomplaining embrace of the Cross and an eternal, unfaltering look unto Jesus crucified. It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves (Jeremiah 45:5), but rather, like Paul, by counting those things that were gain, loss for Christ. Hear Him: “What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ (Philippians 3:7,8).” That is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be not merely a nominal, but a real spiritual leader of men – a leader whose power is recognized in three worlds and felt in heaven, earth and hell.
There are many who are interested in the cause of Christ, and who are pleased to see it prosper in their corps, their church, their city, their country. But there are but few who bear the burden of the world upon their souls day and night, who make His cause in every clime their very own, and who, like Eli, would die if the ark of God were taken; who feel it an awful shame and a consuming sorrow, if victory is not continually won in His name. – Heart Talks on Holiness
A dead shepherd of the sheep. A dead watchman of the city. A dead teacher of the unlearned. A dead nurse of little children. A dead physician of souls. A dead ambassador of Heaven. DEAD! Moving about, but dead! Occupying an important place, and so excluding any other who might fulfill its functions, but dead! What could be sadder? What so ghastly?
I am a lonely man, and yet I am not lonely. With my Bible I live with the prophets, priests and kings; I walk and hold communion with apostles, saints and martyrs, and with Jesus, and mine eyes see the King in His beauty and the land that is afar off.
The Bible is God’s recipe for making holy people. You must follow the recipe exactly, if you want to be a holy Christlike person.
One of the guards of my adolescent years, during those lonely periods after mother died, was the thought of a wife to whom one day I wanted to give myself as pure and unsoiled as I hoped to find her. When tempted to run after forbidden pleasures, that thought was one of the great restraints in my life – one of the supreme protective influences. I wanted so to live that I could open my heart and tell my wife my whole life without shame. – Quoted in Peace Like a River by Sallie Chesham
Marriage is a divine institution, is surrounded by divine sanctions, and should be entered into with a sense of its divine character and responsibilities and blessings, which, abused, can turn into the most fateful of curses; therefore, God’s blessings should be sought in every step that leads it. – Ancient Prophets
Those who are filled with the Spirit are tolerant of others who may differ from them in opinion or in doctrine.They are firm in their own convictions, but they do not condemn all those who differ. They are glad to believe that people are often better than their creed, and may be saved in spite of it. Like mountains whose bases are bathed with sunshine and clothed with fruitful fields and vineyards while their tops are covered with dark clouds, so human hearts are often fruitful in the graces of charity while their heads are yet darkened by doctrinal error. But Satan, under the guise of love for and loyalty to the truth, will introduce the spirit of intolerance. It was this spirit that crucified Jesus, burned John Huss at the stake, hanged Girolamo Savonarola, and inspired the horrors of the inquisition. And the same spirit blinds the eyes of many professing Christians. They murder love to protect what they often blindly call truth. What is truth without love? A dead thing, an encumbrance, “the letter [that} kills” (2 Corinthians 3:6). Truth is precious, and sound doctrine to be esteemed more than silver and gold. But love can exist where truth is not held in its most perfect and complete forms, and love is the one thing needful.
How fitting, how beautiful, that a day should be set aside by the nation and the nations to do honour to that vast army of delicate soldiers, infinitely greater in numbers than the men who fought in the Great War, that numberless host whose sentinel watch is never done, whose arms are never laid down, whose warfare permits of no discharge, and in which there is never an armistice until they fall on the field of battle – the great army of mothers.
We hail them today and do them honour. They are a sacrificial host, the great givers and sufferers of the race. We never see a strong man striding forth in his strength for whom some mother has not suffered and given of her strength. We never see a blooming girl with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes and bewitching curls for whom some mother has not gradually faded and given of her own bloom and beauty and youth.
They bleed that we may be blessed; they keep watch that we may take rest and sleep; they suffer and oft-times die that we may live. – Ancient Prophets
But can I be so confident for The Army? His guidance, His overruling Providence, His gracious and mighty deliverances in the past are unmistakable, are on record, known and read of all men who care to read. He has overshadowed The Army with a pillar of cloud and fire as surely as He did ancient Israel; He has gone before and opened the ‘two leaved gates of brass,’ as He did for Cyrus, and empowered Army Officers and Soldiers and made them more than conquerors, as He did the Apostles and saints of the Early Church; but do all these wonders of His favor and grace give assurance for the future? Is The Army sacrosanct? Are we favorites and pets of the Almighty? This leads us to the second point of dependence.
If God is for us, and I fully believe He is, does not that insure our future?
The future of The Army depends not only upon God – I say it reverently and in His fear – but also upon man, upon men, upon you and me and all who have to do with The Army… – Ancient Prophets
It is openness of spiritual sense that makes and characterizes spiritual leaders. A spiritual leader is one who lives in the Spirit, who dwells in such constant and intimate closeness with God that he and his Lord commune with each other, giving and receiving messages. He has such confidence in the report of his spiritual sense that when God gives him a vision, he is not disobedient unto it – when God speaks, he rises up and follows. He knows the voice of his Shepherd and that voice leads him on. – Quoted in At the Center of the Circle by John D. Waldron
1. If the future of The Salvation Army is to be spiritually radiant and all conquering, we must not simply endure the cross, but glory in it. This will arrest the world, disarm Hell, and gladden the heart of our Lord.
2. We must ‘by love serve one another.‘ We are following Him who ‘came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.’ We, too, must give our lives for others, shrinking from no service, holding ourselves ever ready to wash the feet of the lowliest disciple.
3. We must still prove our discipleship by our love one for the other. It is not enough to wear the uniform, to profess loyalty to Army leaders and principles, to give our goods to feed the poor and our bodies to be burned. We must love one another. We must make this the badge of our discipleship. We must wrestle and pray and hold fast that we do not lose this.
The Army is so thoroughly organized and disciplined, so wrought into the life of nations, so fortified with valuable properties, and on such a sound financial basis, that it is not likely to perish as an organization, but it will become a spiritually dead thing if love leaks out. Love is the life of The Army. ‘If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.’ But if love leaks out we shall lose our crown, we shall have a name to live and yet be dead. We may still house the homeless, dole out food to the hungry, punctiliously perform our routine work, but the mighty ministry of the Spirit will no longer be our glory. Our musicians will play meticulously, our Songsters will revel in the artistry of song that tickles the ear, but leaves the heart cold and hard. Our Officers will make broad their phylacteries and hob-nob with mayors and councilmen and be greeted in the market-place, but God will not be among us. We shall still recruit our ranks and supply our Training Garrisons with Cadets from among our own Young People, but we shall cease to be saviors of the lost sheep that have no shepherd.