HAS HEALTHY CONVERTS
They are described as "continuing steadfast in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship." A healthy mother gives birth to
healthy children, and a church spiritually strong will have strong and vigorous
converts. It is of incalculable value to have a good start in anything. This
is eminently true in religious experience. There is such a thing as being
wellborn spiritually. A feeble church, if she have converts at all, will have
feeble ones. She may have life and power enough to put sinners under
conviction and, perhaps, get them to a place of prayer, but she will fail in
faith and prayer to bring them forth, to get them to a place of victory.
A revival which does not greatly increase and strengthen the
spiritual vigor of the church is superficial. Much of the so-called revival
work is so shallow that the thousands of counted "converts" can not
be located in four months after the special services have closed. They can not
be found in the prayer-meeting. They are absent from the class-meeting. They
do not attend the Sunday preaching services. The only evidence of their
religious existence is the name on the church register. A union meeting of one
hundred days was held in one of our large cities, under the leadership of a
noted evangelist. Hundreds of persons signed cards and made profession of religion.
In a few months the converts were not to be seen. Indeed, the pastors
themselves confessed that their churches were in a worse condition than before
the special services. Another evangelist went to a certain city and began
preaching an old-fashioned, fiery gospel. His "pulpit manners" were
uncouth and objectionable. The truth itself was sent forth in great rugged
chunks, with edges and corners almost incapable of polish. Even the pastor was
disturbed. But the evangelist continued in the fear of God, and the Lord
vindicated His truth, sending power and conviction on the people until three
hundred and twenty-five souls made profession of salvation, joining the church
on probation. At the end of six months two hundred and seventy-five of this number
were received into full membership.
We read of strong converts at Thessalonica. Paul says of
them, "Our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power,"
and they "received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy
Ghost." They were such strong converts that though they had not been
sanctified wholly yet they were "ensamples to all that believe " and
their "faith Godward" was "spread abroad." What was the
secret of this vigor? Paul, himself a man filled with the Holy Ghost, began
his ministry among them by "reasoning with them, opening and alleging out
of the Scriptures." He had no stock of thrilling anecdotes; no
heart-rending deathbed scenes to stir up the people. He preached a gospel that
carried with it conviction for sin. It so stirred the conscience and so
effectively set in array the sins of the sinner before his eyes that souls were
eager to call on God for pardon. It was not Paul's "personal
magnetism" or eloquence that produced these results. He declared that he preached
through "infirmity of the flesh." "I was with you," he
says, "in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my speech was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and
of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power
of God." Paul denies that he is strong either in natural or acquired
ability. He is careful to say that he preached "in the demonstration of
the Spirit and of power" and for this very reason his converts "stood
in the power of God."
If the Pentecostal Church had such a thing as a
"minister's meeting" those who took part certainly did not meet to
simply deplore the situation, read papers and pronounce the benediction. Decline
in piety was felt to be a grave question. It was too serious a matter to be
dealt with lightly. The backslidden brother must be restored by those
"that are strong." Effective and divinely ordained methods must be
used. We can hardly imagine a member of the early church suggesting church
work as a remedy or preventative for backsliding. It was not thought that the
converts must have mission work, a Sunday school class, or a place in the choir
to hold them in the church. More probably the converts did not feel that they
needed to be held. Doubtless the question with them was "To whom shall we
go?" for, on the day of Pentecost, they "that gladly received the
word were baptized." Too many of the so-called "converts" of
today are coaxed and almost compelled to join the church. No wonder that they
have so little heart for real church work and very quickly drift by the law of
gravitation and consciousness of kind to their own company.
To be well-born spiritually means that the convert have a
clear, satisfactory witness of the Spirit with his own that he is born of God.
After this preliminary work of grace is completed in the heart, if he is
instructed and encouraged to "tarry until" he is "endued with
power from on high," he will continue steadfastly in the apostles' faith,
doctrine and fellowship. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is the only safeguard
against backsliding. Some one has said that "God justifies us that he may
sanctify us, and he sanctifies us that he may keep us justified." There
are few people living justified lives who are not also living sanctified
lives. We hear a great deal said about "sinning and repenting" among
Christian people, so-called. That there is much sinning among those who talk
in this way, we doubt not; but that there is much hearty repentance, we can not
believe. Repentance of sin means forsaking sin with no secret purpose of
remaining a sinner. This attitude of the soul God demands before he pardons.
God certainly has no more tolerance for sin in the heart or life of a Christian
than he has in a sinner. One would suppose that if leniency were granted
anywhere it would be in the case of those who do not know by experience what it
means to have sins pardoned. But God hates sin wherever found, and gives no
license in any instance for its committal or retention. We therefore believe
the number of those who thus forsake sin and repent of it every day to be very
small. They either give up in despair or seek and obtain a grace which keeps
them from sin.
"They continued steadfastly " in prayer. The Pentecostal
Church was not divided into praying and non-praying members. All of the
members were praying people, and prayer became such a fixed habit with them
that they were steadfast in it. There were offered no inducements to attend
prayer- meeting, such as cake, coffee, and a "short, spicy service."
Ah, no; they made no stipulations as to the length of their prayers. The lone
Man on the mountain deep in midnight prayer was ever before them. The Holy
Ghost taught the early saints what to pray for, and they received answers.
They "stirred up themselves to take hold on God." They knew how to
continue in prayer and "watch in the same." Baxter stained his study
walls with praying breath. Epaphras, one of the members of the early church,
"always labored abundantly in prayers." All members of the Pentecostal
Church do the same. If our fathers had known as little of the power of prayer
as many church members do today, some of our great religious bodies would never
have existed. If they had indulged in the practice of resorting to everything
else before calling on God, as is so common now, we would have had no great
denominations.
Someone asked an old saint what she thought of the new
minister, who had just delighted the body of his hearers with an eloquent
sermon. "I do not know," she answered, "I have not heard him
pray." The Pentecostal Church took everything to God. He must redress all
their wrongs, defend their characters, and protect their property. "Be
careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer . . let your requests be made
known unto God," was the exhortation ever ringing in their ears. They
lived in an atmosphere of prayer, and died praying, "Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit." There is a great demand in these days for a race of
moral heroes and heroines -- men and women who can withstand the surging tide
of worldliness and the spirit of compromise, and who can not be bribed, bought,
or brow-beaten into the desertion of the truth.
If the Holy Ghost was allowed to convict people for sin, and
they were taught to look to God for the witness of their salvation, instead of
relying on themselves, their feelings, the word of the evangelist, or the
opinion of the pastor, God would answer them from heaven and they would desire
no further evidence. They would then remain "steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord." Amen.
THE END
