Authoritative Life of General William Booth — The Spirit of The Army, Part 2
"_Here lies Judas Renegade_ "His grave has a desolate look.
The thorns and thistles grow over it.
The occupant has money and worldly friends, and many other things, but altogether he gets no satisfaction out of them; he is uneasy all the time.
There he is, dead in apostacy.
"There are any number of other graves.
It is interesting, although painful, to wander amongst them.
All, or nearly all, their occupants are held down by a heavy weight of ignorance, a sense of utter helplessness.
And all are bound hand and foot with chains of lust, or passion, or procrastination, of their own forging.
In the midst of these graves you live, and move, and have your being.
"What is your duty here?
Oh, that you realised your true business in this region of death!
Having eyes, Oh!
that you could see.
Having ears, Oh!
that you could hear.
Having hearts, Oh!
that you could feel.
What are you going to do with this graveyard?
Walk about it in heartless unconcern, or with no higher feeling than gratitude for having been made alive yourselves?
Or will you content yourselves with strolling through it, taxing its poor occupants for your living while leaving them quietly in their tombs as hopeless as you found them?
Heaven forbid!
Well, then, what do you propose?
What will you do?
"Look after their bodies, and feed and nourish them, making the graveyard as comfortable a resting-place as you can?
That is good, so far as it goes, but that is not very far.
Will that content you?
Decorate their graves with flowers and evergreens, and wreaths of pleasant things?
Will that content you?
Amuse them with your music, or the singing of your songs, or the letting off of your oratorical fireworks among their rotting corpses?
Will that content you?
Instruct them in doctrines, and rescues, and Salvations in which they have no share?
Will that content you?
No!
No!
No!
A thousand times no!
You won't be content with all that.
God has sent you into this dark valley for nothing less than to raise these doom-struck creatures from the dead.
That is your mission.
To stop short of this will be a disastrous and everlasting calamity.
"What do you say?
It cannot be done?
That is false.
God would never have set you an impossible task.
You cannot do it?
That is false again, for you have done it before again and again.
There is not an Officer here who has not called some souls from the dead.
Not one.
How many thousands--how many tens of thousands, in the aggregate, have the Officers present at this Congress raised from the graves of iniquity?
Who can tell?
"Go, and do it again.
Go, and look at them.
Go, and compassionate them.
Go, and represent Jesus Christ to them.
Go, and prophesy to them.
Go, and believe for them.
And then shall bone come to bone, and there shall be a great noise, and a great Army shall stand up to live, and fight, and die for the living God.
"THE SPIRIT OF PURITY "And now we come to the consideration of the message of the second Spirit.
Let us recall his words: 'O Officers, Officers, the Great Father has sent me to tell you that if you would be successful in your campaign against wickedness, selfishness, and fiends, you must yourselves be holy.'
"I come now to the task of showing, as far as I am able, what the plan of life is which God has formed for a Salvation Army Officer.
"What must an Officer be and do who wants satisfactorily to fill up the plan God has formed for him?
Of course, there will in some respects be certain striking differences in that plan.
But in the main there will be remarkable resemblances.
"The first thing that God asks is, that the Officer shall possess the character He approves.
"You might say the character that He admires.
The very essence of that character is expressed in one word--_Holiness_.
"In the list of qualifications for effective leadership in this warfare, The Salvation Army has ever placed Holiness in the first rank.
The Army has said, and says to-day, that no other qualities or abilities can take its place.
No learning, or knowledge, or talking, or singing, or scheming, or any other gift will make up for the absence of this.
You must be good if you are to be a successful Officer in The Salvation Army.
"Let us suppose that a comrade were to present himself before us this morning, and say, 'I am a Salvationist.
I want to be an Officer amongst you, and I want to be an Officer after God's own Heart; but I am ignorant of the qualifications needed.'
If I were to ask you what I should say to this brother, I know what your answer would be.
You would say, with one voice, 'Tell him that, before all else, he must be a holy man.'
"Suppose, further, that I appeared before you myself for the first time at this Congress, and were to say to you: 'My comrades, I have come to be your Leader.
What is the first, the foundation quality I require for your leadership?'
I know the answer you would give me.
You would say, 'O General, you must be a holy man.'
"If there were gathered before me, in some mighty building, the choicest spirits now fighting in The Salvation Army the world over--Commissioners and Staff Officers, Field Officers and Local Officers, together with Soldiers of every grade and class; and suppose, further, that standing out before that crowd, I was to propose the question: 'In what position in our qualifications shall I place the blessing of Holiness?'
you know what the answer would be.
With a voice that would be heard among the multitudes in Heaven the crowd would answer: 'Holiness must be in the first rank.'
"If this morning I had the privilege of ascending to the Celestial City, and asking the assembled angels in that mighty temple where, day and night, they worship the Great Jehovah: 'What position ought Holiness to occupy in the qualifications needed by Salvation Army Officers in their fight on earth?'
you know that angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, would join with the Seven Spirits that are before the Throne with one united shout, loud enough to make the ears of Gabriel tingle, and would answer, 'Place it first.'
"If I could have the still greater privilege of kneeling before the intercessory Throne of my dear, my precious, my glorified Saviour, and of asking Him what position this truth should hold in the hearts and efforts of Salvation Army Officers, you know that He would answer: 'Blessed are the pure in heart.'
Holiness comes first.
"If, further still, borne on a burning seraph's wings I could rise to the Heaven of Heavens, and, like its holy inhabitants, be allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, where Jehovah especially manifests His glory; and if, prostrate before that Throne, with all reverence I should ask the question: 'What is the first and most important qualification a Salvation Army Officer must possess in order to do Your Blessed Will?'
you have His answer already.
You know that He would reply: 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.'
"What, then, is that Holiness which constitutes the first qualification of an Officer, and which is asked for by that Blessed Spirit of Purity coming from the Throne of God?
"In replying to this question I cannot hope to do more than put you in remembrance of what you must already know.
"I will, however, to begin with, take the broad ground that Holiness, in the sense in which The Salvation Army uses the word, means entire deliverance from sin.
I shall explain myself as I go along.
But I begin with the assertion that holy souls are saved from sin.
"You all know what sin is.
And it is important that you should, and that you should be able to define it at a moment's notice to whomsoever may inquire.
John says: 'All unrighteousness is sin,' That is, everything that a man sees to be actually wrong, that to him is sin.
Whether the wrong be an outward act, or an inward thought, or a secret purpose does not affect its character.
If the act, or thought, or purpose is wrong to that particular soul it is sin.
Whether the wrong be done in public and blazoned abroad before the world as such, or whether it be committed in darkness and secrecy, where no human eye can follow it, matters not; it is sin.
"To be holy, I say, is to be delivered from the commission of sin.
Is not that blessed?
"To be holy is to be delivered from the penalty of sin.
'The wages of sin is death.'
Holy men are fully and freely forgiven.
One of the evidences of the possession of Holiness is the full assurance of that deliverance.
Salvation from doubt as to this.
Is not that blessed?
"Holiness includes deliverance from the guilt of sin.
"Sin has a retributive power.
At the moment of commission it implants a sting in the conscience which, in the impenitent man, lights a flame, which, without the application of the Precious Blood, is never extinguished.
In Holiness the sting is extracted, and the fire is quenched.
Is not that blessed?
"Holiness supposes deliverance from the defilement of sin.
"Sin pollutes the imagination, defiles the memory, and is a filth-creating leaven, which, unless purged away, ultimately corrupts and rots the whole being.
"In Holiness all the filth is cleansed away.
The soul is washed in the Blood of the Lamb.
This is the reason for so much being said in the Bible, and in the experience of entirely sanctified people, about purity of heart.
Is not that blessed?
"Holiness means complete deliverance from the bondage of sin.
"Every time a sin is committed, the inclination to do the same again is encouraged, and those habits which belong to the evil nature are strengthened until they assume the mastery of the soul, and the soul comes more and more under the tyranny of evil.
"In conversion the chains that bind men to sin are broken, but the tendency to evil still lingers behind.
In Holiness the bondage is not only entirely destroyed, and the soul completely delivered from these evil tendencies, but is free to do the will of God, so far as it is known, as really as it is done in Heaven.
Is not that blessed?
"Holiness supposes the deliverance of the soul from the rule and reign of selfishness.
"The essence of sin is selfishness; that is, the unreasoning, improper love of self.
The essence of Holiness is benevolence.
Holy souls are mastered by love, filled with love.
Is not that blessed?
"It will be seen, then, that the Officer who enjoys this experience of Holiness will have received power from God to live a life consciously separated from sin.
"A man cannot be living in a God-pleasing state if he is knowingly living in sin, or consenting to it, which amounts to the same thing.
Let us look a little more closely at this.
"Holiness will mean a present separation from all that is openly or secretly untrue.
"Any one pretending to be doing the will of God, while acting untruthfully or deceitfully in his dealings with those around him, is not only guilty of falsehood, but of hypocrisy.
"To be holy is to be sincere.
"Holiness means separation from all open and secret dishonesty.
This applies to everything like defrauding another of that which is his just and lawful due.
"Holiness also means separation from all that is unjust.
"Doing unto others as you would that they should do to you, may be truly described as one of the lovely flowers and fruits of Purity.
"Holiness means Salvation from all neglect of duty to God and man.
"All pretensions to Holiness are vain while the soul is living in the conscious neglect of duty.
A holy Officer will do his duty to his Maker.
He will love God with all his heart--such a heart as he has, big or little.
He will love and worship Him, and strive to please Him in all that he does.
A holy Officer will love his neighbour as himself.
The law of love will govern his dealings with his family, comrades, neighbours--body and soul.
"That is a beautiful experience which I am describing, is it not, my comrades?
And you cannot be surprised that the Spirit of Purity should bring you the message that it is God's plan of life for you.
"Upon it let me make a few further remarks.
"Holiness is a distinct definite state; a man can be in it or out of it.
"Holiness is enjoyed partially or entirely by all converted people.
It can be enjoyed partially.
No one would say that every converted man was a holy man, and no one would say that every man who was not perfectly holy was not converted.
But I should say, and so would you, that every truly converted man is the master of sin, although he may not be entirely delivered from it.
"Then, again, Holiness is a continued growth in sincere souls.
With faith, watchfulness, prayer, and obedience, the power of sin diminishes as the days pass along, and the strength of Holiness increases.
"The line which separates a state of entire from a state of partial Holiness may be approached very gradually, but there is a moment when it is crossed.
"The approach of death is often all but imperceptible, but there is a moment when the last breath is drawn.
Just so there is a moment when the body of sin is destroyed, however gradual the process may have been by which that state has been reached.
There is a moment when the soul becomes entirely holy--entirely God's.
