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INTRODUCTION .
There may be said, with some degree of
truth,that there are more books publ i shed than
are read , and yet, doubtless , such wi l l always
be the case,while the world st i l l hungers for
books . There are many books,but there i s
need of many more, and that o f such a kind as
the author of“My Life, Travel s and Sermons
”
has produced . We want l iving books,such as
express the heart experience of men—booksthat help to lead men away from the bondage
“
of s in and the flesh, out into the free l i fe that
belongs to the true chi ldren of God . We needbooks such as can demonstrate the poss ib i l ity
of l i fe in Christ and Christ in the l i fe, for every
manwho wil l accept the guidance of God as revealed in the Word of God .
'
We bel ieve it is
the mission of th i s little book to l ead men out
into the fulness of a sanctified l i fe, and as suchwe wish i t God-speed in its great work for theMaster .
REV.w. J. S IPPRELL , B .A.,B .D . ,
Principal of Columbian College,NewWestminster,
Briti sh Columbia .
F RANK COL EMAN, EVANGE L IST .
PREFACE .
This l ittle handbook has been written for al lclasses of people who love the doctrine offreedom
,and in i t I try to tel l my experience
so clearly,and in such s imple
,condensed form ,
that many may be l ed into the ful l l ight of
hol iness .I have not written this book that it shouldbe presented as a l iterary treat to men of letters , but as a
‘
help to the poor in spi rit ,” and
the hungry-hearted,those who long for
l ight , and have been hindered from receivingthe blessed experience of holiness . I bel ieve
that al l who wil l lay aside human standardsand opinion
,and be guided by the Word o f
- God alone,will be convinced that it i s the
blood-bought privi lege of every bel iever to
gain,and retain
,the glad experience of entire
sanctifica'
tion’
.
F . C . COLEMAN .
CONTENTS .
PART I .
MY L IFE AND TRAVELS .
1 . Happy Days of Chi ldhood
2 . Days of B oyhood3 . F rom Romanism t o Prot estant i sm4 . My Ca l l t o the Work
PART I I .
SERMONS .
The Grea t Day ofHis Wra th i s Come
Overcoming the World ”
The Crucifixion of the Old M an
He tha t F ea reth is not Made Perfectin Love”
The Bapt i sm of the Holy Ghost and
F ire ”
Preva i l ing Prayer
Glorify God in Your B ody
He t ha t is Fil thy , let him be F i lthy
S t i l l ”
Quench not the Spir it“The Chris t ian Ladder
MR . CoLEMAN’s M OTH E R .
CHAPTER I .
HAPPY DAYS OF CHILDHOOD .
My father , leaving the home of hi s chi ldhood , in Lower Canada , at a very early age , didnot return unti l hi s twenty-first year , when , tohi s great sorrow
,he found hi s beloved mother
dead and hi s father very i l l . Thi s i l lness provedto be his last , for in a short t ime he passedaway to the great hereafter
,l eaving two sons
to mourn his loss . There being no more tiesto bind him to his home , father again went
away . In the year 1863 my father marriedand settled in Toronto , in which city I wasborn . After my birth he moved to the country ,where the most of my chi ldhood days were
spent . Oh , the happy days‘
of childhood"Free ,without care, trusting enti rely to a kind fatherand fond mother"For in many respects , fatherand mother were kind and loving, and nodoubt loved thei r chi ldren dearly . Our
home had none of the refining influences o f
rel igion . Christ did not reign there . Myparents being French Roman Cathol ics , theywere not supposed to read the B ible , and , consequently
,were deprived of the knowledge to
be gained by al l who read it . The Sabbath
18 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
was not observed in our home . Much unnecessary work was done both by father and mother .The sound of the axe was often heard cuttingthe needed supply of wood , and often , whenthe neighbors came in , the day would be spentin playing cards
,and other amusements . The
most implicit obedience was required from mysister and me by our father
,wh ich was per
fectly right . But when obedience was not
granted,at the first bidding , oaths and curses
would ofttimes fol low . From my father I firstlearned how to play cards . O ften unti l midnight
,or the early morning, we would sit and
play together . While it i s true that father neverattended church
,and that I never saw him but
once on his knees in prayer,i t i s also true that
he was never seen under the influence of strongdrink ,
and he taught his chi ldren to be industrions and honest . I remember once
,when I
was quite young,going into a blacksmith’s
shop on my way from school,and carrying
from it , for a plaything, a small bit of i ron .
When my father found out what I had done,
he made me walk al l the way back ( a distanceof about a mile ) and came with me himsel f,to see that I made a proper confess ion . The
free country l i fe about us,and the happy love
of everything, inspired us , as my only si sterand I frolicked and played
,entirely sati sfied
with each other . When the bloom was on theclover, and the blue was in the sky
,and my
happy heart brimmed over in those happychildhood days , l ittle did I think that it was
20 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
heaven,and
,therefore, was a sinner . I felt
the burden of my sins so much that many nightsI sleepless ly lay with the th ought before methat I was unprepared to meet God . Playoftentimes became uninteresting and undesir
able,and thi s made me miserable .
One day I went to mother and asked her toteach me how to pray . She began then to
insti l into my heart and mind the doctrines ofthe Roman Cathol ic Church . I learned that al lProtestants were lost eternal ly
,and that only
Roman Cathol ics went to heaven . How gladI was then that I was born in a Roman Cathol ic
house . At her knee I learned “The Lord’s
Prayer,” “ Ave Maria
,
” “ Hail,Mary
,
” “The
Acts ,” and “
The Confiteor .
” Alas"none ofthese prayers brought rel ief to my troubledsoul . I then learned the Ten Commandmentsof God , as taught by the Roman Cathol icChurch , which are as fol lows :
I st . I am the Lord . Thou shalt have nostrange gods before Me .
2nd . Thou shalt not take the name of theLord thy God in vain .
grd . Remember thou to keep holy the SabbathDay .
4th . Honor thy father and thy mother .sth . Thou shalt not ki ll .6th . Thou shalt not commit adultery .
7th . Thou shalt not steal .8th . Thou shalt not bear false witness againstthy neighbor
.
9th .
Happy D ays of Childhood.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s
wife .
Ioth . Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s
goods .
You will notice that in these the secondcommandment i s omitted , and to make out the
ten the tenth i s divided into two parts .Now, the commandments , as found in the
20th chapter of Exodus , in our Bible , are asfol lows :
I st . Thou shalt have no other gods beforeMe .
2 nd . Thou shalt not make unto thee any
3rd .
4th .
graven image , or any likeness of anything that i s in heaven above , or that i sin the earth beneath
,or that i s in the
water under the earth . Thou shalt notbowdown to them nor serve them ; forI the Lord thy God am a j ealous God ,vis iting the in1quities of the fathers uponthe chi ldren unto the thi rd and fourth
gemration of them that hate Me,and
showing mercy unto thousands of themthat love Me and keep My commandments .
Thou shalt not take the name of theLord thy God in vain ; for the Lord
wil l not hold him guiltless that takethHis name in vain .
Remember the Sabbath Day to keep itholy . S ix days shalt thou labor anddo all thy work, but the seventh day
2 2
sth .
6th .
7th .
8th .
oth .
My Life,Travels and S ermons .
i s the Sabbath of the Lord thy God . In itthou shalt not do any work , thou , nor thy
son,nor thy daughter , nor thy manser
vant,nor thy maidservant , nor thy
cattle,nOr thy stranger that i s within
thy gates . For in sixdays the Lordmade heaven and earth
,the sea , and all
that in them i s,and rested the seventh
day . Wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath Day ,and hal lowed it .
Honor thy father and thy mother , thatthy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee .
Thou shalt not ki l l .
Thou shalt not commit adultery .
Thou shalt not steal .
Thou shalt not bear fal se witness againstthy neighbor .
To'
th . Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s
house,thou shalt not covet thy neighbor
’s
wi fe,nor his manservant
,nor hi s maid
servant,nor hi s ox
,nor lfls ass
,nor
anything that i s thy neighbor’s .
There are s ix addit ional commandments of
the church,which I wi l l give
,viz
I st . To hear mass on Sundays , and HolyDays of obl igation .
2nd . To fast and abstain the days command
3rd .
ed .
To confess your sins at least once ayear .
Happy D ays of Childhood. 23
4th . To receive worthi ly the blessed Euchari stat Easter
,or within the t ime appointed .
0
sth . To contribute to the support of yourpastor .
6th . Not to solemnize marriage at the forbidden t ime (meaning L ent ) , nor to
marry persons with in the forbidden degrees of kindred
,nor otherwise prohib
ited by the church , nor clandestinely .
The church teaches that the sacrament ofbapti sm cleanses from all original s in
,or what
Paul terms the old man ,” “ the lust
,
” “ theflesh .
Anxiously and di l igently d id I study thecatechism
,in preparation for my first confess ion ,
for there is no pardon without confession . To
confess,a priest i s necessary ; therefore , 1f no
priest,we are le ft without salvation , conse
quently no heaven . What an awful teaching,
to think that heaven i s gained by prayers , penance
,and money"But the way was dark and dreary ,When His face I could not see .
”
I then learned the formof confess ion . Onentering the confessional
,the sign of the cross
i s made,by placing the right hand to the fore
head,then under the heart
,then to the left
and right shoulder,saying at the same time ,
“
In the name of the Father,and of the Son .
and of the Holy Ghost . ” Then with bowed
head and downcast eyes,you implore the priest’s
bless ing in these words,B less me
,Father
,for
24 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
I have sinned,after which you repeat the
Confiteor , which i s as fol lows“ I confess to
Almighty God ; to blessed Mary , ever virgin ;to blessed M ichael , the archangel ; to blessedJohn the Baptist ; to the Holy Apostles , Paul ,and Peter
,and to al l the Saints , and to you ,
Father,that I have sinned exceedingly , in
thought,word
,deed
,and omi ss ion
,through mv
fault,through my fault , through my most
grievous fault . ”
This I S a long way to the Throne of Grace .
F irst the f rayer i s sent to the Virgin Mary,then to M ichael
,then to blessed John the Bap
tist,the Holy Apostles , Peter , and Paul , and
al l the Sa ints , and then to the priest . Thi s is
destroy ing the S cripture doctrine,which teaches
there is only one Mediator between God andman
,the man Christ Jesus
,
” and how wil l ingGod is “ to forgive us our s ins , and to
cleanse 11s from al l unrighteousness,
” and Heis the Propitiat1on for our sins ; and not forours only
,but for the sins of the whole world .
”
I . John 2 : 2 . It i s necessary to tel l the priest howlong it has been since your last confess ion . I fit be the first time of confession
,he must be
told ; after which the chi ld , whether male orfemale
,discloses to the priest all things con
cerning both his or her private or publ ic l i fe ,go through all the commandments
,from the
first to the tenth ; and also from the first preceptof the church to the sixth .
This undoubtedly gives the priest a great holdon his adherents . It has been said with truth ,
Happy D ays of Childhood . 2 5
by one writer,that one Roman Catholi c priest
has more power in a town than twelve Protestant ministers .In the first s ix verses of the fourth chapter
of the first Epi stle o f Timothy we read , Nowthe Spirit speaketh expressly , that in the lattertimes some shall
.
depart from the faith , giving
heed to seducing spirits , and doct rines of devil s ;speaking l ies m hypocri sy ; having their con
science seared with a hot iron ; forb idding to
marry , and commanding to abstain from meats ,which God hath created to be received withthanksgiving o f them which bel ieve and know
th e truth . For every creature of God i s good,
and nothing to be refused , if i t be received with
thanksgiving : for it i s sanctified by the wordof God and prayer . I f thou
,put the brethren
in remembrance o f these things,thou shalt be
a good minister o f Jesus Christ,nourished up
in the words of faith and of good doctrine,
whereunto thou hast attained .
Time went on ; a l ittle brother, and then al ittle s i ster, came to our home , and when mother
got them bapti sed,she allowed me to go with
her to church . This was a memorable eventin my young l i fe
,as I never before had the
privi lege of going,or of even seeing the priest .
We j ust went to his house . My mother hadtold me that i f I displeased the priest in any
way he might pronounce a great curse uponme . I
,therefore
,fol lowed her in trembl ing,
and,in my fear
,had forgotten to remove my
cap . The priest,looking down
,said to me ,
2 6 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
Take your cap off . This reminder so frightened me that I began tugging at the strings
,
but,in my fear and excitement
,I could not
untie them . At last , grabbing my cap by thecrown
,I dragged it over my head, breaking
the strings in my hurry . There I stood beforehim feel ing very guilty , and expecting everymoment to hear the awful sentence . However ,no more was said to me , and we went to thechurch . Leading me to a seat , my mother toldme to kneel there unti l she returned from having the chi ldren baptized , and there she found
me,kneel ing
,wi th my back to the altar, whichshe told me was a very wicked act . I wenthome
,feeling very sad that I was so s inful ;
and the eventful day , which I had looked for
ward to with much pleasure , had proved to bea fai lure .
I tried then , by learning all the prayers , ( ihcluding the rosary ) , that home and neighbors
could teach me, to get rel ief for my poor soul ,but without avai l . In talking to mother aboutit, she said I would be old enough soon to goto confess ion , and there have al l my sins forgiven . How eagerly I looked forward to the
time when this great burden of sin would be
removed"I was taught to look alone to thepriest as my guide , and was told that , after atime , I could take my first communion , whichwould be of much benefit to my soul . Gradual lyI became establ i shed
,and by the time I was
thirteen , I was a zealous and earnest defenderof the faith , and very bitter against the various
28 My Life,"Travels and S ermons .
CHAPTER I I .
DAYS OF BOYHOOD .
Unt i l I was thirteen years o f age,most of
my time was spent in attending the Publ icS chool . When I first commenced , at about theage of seven , I could not speak one word ofEngli sh , our conversation at home al l beingcarried on in French . S ince that time I haveoften looked back and pitied the young lady
teacher, who not only undertook to teach methe alphabet
,but also howto speak the Engl ish
language . I was cal led “ the l ittle Frenchboy at school by my teacher and,
the scholars .When the teacher wanted to cal l me up for a les
son she would have to do it by signs , not beingable to speak French hersel f . At recess theboys would gather around me and ask questionsin Engl ish
,while I would talk to them in
French,and then we would laugh together over
our inabi l ity to understand each oth er . I wasproud of my teacher
,and was
,I bel ieve , a
favorite of hers . She was very kind to me . Iloved to attend the school , and looked forwardto the time when I would be able to speak andread Engl ish . Some of -the larger boys usedto play tricks on me . One day they fi l led mydinner pai l with mud
,and although I was in
thisway deprived of my dinner, I never men
D ays of Boyhood. 29
t ioned the fact to my parents , lest they shouldkeep me home from school . More than onceIwas punished by my father for speaking Engl i sh at home . He did not understand thelanguage himsel f
,and he had no desire that
we should speak it,l est we should forget our
mother tongue . Yet I anxiously persevered in
its study,andwhen I knew the alphabet , and
could count from I to 12 , and from 12 to I , Iwas a proud boy indeed .
B efore I was a year at school you wouldscarcely know that I was the same “ l ittl e
French boy,” for I could speak the Engl i sh
language quite fluent ly . As I grew older andstronger
,des ires would rise up within me to
earn money of my own , and o ften I would
persuade father to al low me , on Saturdays , to
help the neighbors husk thei r corn . In thi sway I earned my fi rst pocket money
,which I
would always proudly hand over to mother,
while she in turn would spend i t in buyingbooks and clothes for me . At about the ageof ten
,while alone in the house one day
,I con
ceived the idea of adding to my accompl ish
ments that of chewing tobacco and smokingFather’s p1pe and tobacco were lying conven
iently on the window seat , so I first took a largechew of tobacco ; then I proceeded to l ight thepipe and have my first smoke . Mother di s
turbed me by coming in soon after, so I laiddown the pipe in a hurry, and swal lowed thetobacco I had taken . Feel ing drowsy soonafter
,I lay down by the fire and went to sleep .
30 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
I awoke in a deathly sickness . Mother wasalarmed
,supposing I had taken poison . So I
had,but not j ust the kind she supposed . The
house seemed to be whirling around,and I
clutched the floor in my anguish . Soon afterI recovered . It was at that time my father firstcommenced to insti l into my mind the evi l sof tobacco . He described to me the way inwhich he was led into the habit
,and warned me
faithful ly not to commence this evi l practice .
However,I thought I knew better than father .
Others around me used it,and I felt that I
would never be quite'
a man unti l I could carryaround and use a pipe and tobacco of my own .
When my father saw that I was not convincedby hi s arguments , he promised me a nice gunwhich he had, and which I was very fond of ,i f I would promise him never to use tobaccoagain . I promised , and I received the gun frommy father , and determined , in my own mind
,
never to use tobacco again . For some time Iremained faithful to my promise
,but as my
companions used it , the evi l habit graduallvfastened itsel f upon me , unti l almost before Iknew it mysel f, at the age of thirteen I was aconfirmed smoker . We moved
,in the year
1875 , to a nice l ittle farm near Sydenham , Oh
tario . Here I had my first experience in plowingand breaking up a fal low with a yoke of oxen .
The following year we again moved to a farmnear Harrowsmith . I was then nearly twelve
,
and was very anxious to earn money for mysel f.
One day when father was away,and I was out
D ays of B oyhood . 3 1
in the field working , a man ,who l ived abouteight miles away
,drove along , and wanted me
to engage to work for him for the summermonths . Without stopping to question whetherfather would be pleased or not
,I accepted the
man’s offer,and with l ight heart and fleet foot
I ran to the house,and a fter gathering together
a fewof my clothes , I bade mothe r adieu . Iwas soon driving along the country road alongside of my employer , feel ing very much a man ,and elated at the thought that I would soon
hold in my hand money that I had earned mvsel f .Home and parents were very dear to me , and
every Saturday night I,used to walk home ,
and never fai led to find father sitt ing up forme , even though ofttimes it would be nearlytwelve o’clock before I would reach home . In
that part of the country oxen were pr1nc1pallyused on the farm .
B efore I left the farm that summer,a Meth
odist mini ster conducted a series of revival services in a schoolhouse near by . My employer
being a Protestant,he and his family attended
the meetings . Not wishing to make mysel fconspicuous
,Iwent with the others , but re
mained outs ide . I would pass and re-pass thedoor
,l istening to the singing and occasional
words that would float out to me from thel ips of the preacher . My
'wages during the
summer had been eight dollars per month . In
the autumn I hired with another man nearerhome
,for the sum of thi rteen dollars per
32 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
month . My work was ploughing with oxen .
I was then thirteen , and was very large andstrong for my age . Part of that winter I attended school
,unti l the month of February ,
when a hotel-keeper near by persuaded myfather to al low me to work for him unti l thespring
,at which time my father promised me
that I should learn a trade . I accepted the
situation . Needless to say,I was del ighted ,
and sleep deserted my pi llow,as I lay making
bright plans for my future .
My heart felt ful l o f gladness as my father
harnessed the horse and we startedon our drive,
and as we chatted together, he gave me good
advice for the future . We soon arrived at thehotel . I imagine I can see him sti l l as he placedhis hand on my shoulder and said
,Frank
,be
a good boy .
”S imple words
,but howdear,
coming from a father’s l ips"My heart wentout to h im as never before , and I stood andwatched him unti l he vanished from my sight .Then came the new li fe amongst strangers .
Oh , the temptations that presented themselvesto me" Here I first tasted l iquor
,and first
felt the al lurements of a gay and godless l i fe .
From that time the desire for l iquor was uponme , and an equal desire for a sporting timeseemed to cl ing to me . O f course
,I though t
nothing of th i s kind of l i fe,as al l my friends
and acquaintances‘
followed, to a great extent ,after the same things .But Providence willed it otherwise than thatI should stay at this place
,for in a week’s time
D ays of B oyhood. 33
I got a telegram . Awful was the shock I re
ceived when I read of my father’s sudden death .
I immediately started for home . There I foundmother standing by the window weeping, and
the chi ldren cl inging to her .
Scarcely can I describe the hopeless sorrowwhich I felt when I looked at them and gazed
upon my father as he lay motionless in dea th .
My mother told me that when he was returningfrom the town of Napance , he had stopped atthe vi l lage of Odessa
,with the view of trading
hi s horse . A fter supper , when he was backingout of the shed, he said to a man standing near,Do you think that I made a good bargain"
”
The man answered , I guess you made abouttwenty dollars and in the act of laughing
over it,my father dropped . They carried him
into the hotel,and cal led in the coroner , who
pronounced him dead .
B efore taking him home they sent a lady
friend ahead to in form mother o f what hadoccurred , but when sh e went in and saw everything in readiness for father’s return
,she had
not the courage to tel l her . ,The fire was burning brightly
,the kettle steaming
,and the supper
was all ready and waiting on the table . Every
little whi le mother would look anxiously out ofthe window , wondering at hi s delay . Just aboutdusk they drove along with his body
,and when
they came to the door she glanced out of thewindow and remarked that he had come
,and
was bringing company .
with him . S ti l l the ladysat there unable to tell the awful news . But
34 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
j ust as the door opened , mother heard one of
the men say,
“Does she know yet"”
Then ,and not t i l l then , did the truth dawn upon herthat something had happened to him . But
after they had brought him in , mother couldnot bel ieve that l i fe was extinct . I t was thenext morning that I received the despatch .
How my heart ached,as mother and I looked
upon him who had always been our comfortand stay . And to think that I had so shortlybefore parted with him and he seemed to beal l right . I shal l never
,no
,never forget i t .
I f I had only known then of the Saviour’spower to comfort in the hour of grief, how
gladly I would have gone to Him,and
,real ized
the words of the poet
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
Al l our sins and griefs to bear"What a privi lege to carryEverything to God in prayer"Oh , what peace we often. forfeit ,Oh , what needless pain we bear ,All because we do not carryEverything to God in prayer .
As i t was,I had to bear my trouble alone .
What was most crushing to us all was that hehad not made his Easter duties ; and was ,therefore, deprived of the right of being buriedin the Roman Cathol ic cemetery
.
During the last year of his l i fe,owing to his
having been troubled with rheumatism,we had
become greatly reduced in ci rcumstances,and
,
36 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
as motherwas very anxious to have me withher, and , to my great del ight , I got a situationin a grocery and dry—goods store .
That same spring,1878, Iwent\to con fession
for the first time . For the last month we hadbeen saying the Rosary , and as I had been at
tending church every night,conviction was
deepening on my soul . On Saturday eveningmy cousin came to me and said
, Say we goto confess ion to—night I consented
,and we
started for the church,but on my way I began
thinking about it,and the nearer I got the more
I dreaded the ordeal . By the t ime I arrivedthere I was so nervous I could hardly speak .
However,I made my way to a seat
,knelt down
,
and began to pray .
There I knelt for a long time , and a greatfear came over my soul . I began to watchthe men and women going to and coming from
confessmn . There seemed to be a great mysterypervading the place
,and I had not the courage
to go up when I thought of the hol iness o f it,and I such a vile and sinful creature in thesight of God . B esides
,I did not know what
the priest might say to me . But as I looked
I sawyoung girl s and boys , even younger thanmysel f
,going
,and I thought that i f they could
go,why not I" So I arose, and with great
solemnity made my way down the aisle tothe priest
,bowing as I passed the altar . After
making the usual preparation for the formof confession
,I,with great awe, unbosomed
my heart to him . Confess ionwas not such a
D ays of B oyhood. 37
trial as I thought i t would be . The p riest askedme a few quest ions
,and then gave me absolu
tion by waving h is hands gently over my head
and repeating a prayer in Latin . Then he said
in Engl ish,Go in peace and sin no more .
I arose , . and with a l ight heart retraced my
steps down the ai sle and went home rej oicingthat my sins were forgiven , and that what I
had been dreading for so long had proved.to
be but an easy matter .
I now began to prepare for first communion .
According to the teachings of the Roman
Church,the B lessed Euchari st
,under the ap
pearance of bread and wine , i s really the body ,blood
,soul
,and D ivinity Of Jesus Christ , that
i s,after the priest pronounces
,in the sacrifice
of mass , the words of consecration , though it
st i l l retains its usual substance , it real ly becomesthe very body and blood of Jesus Christ .The priest taught that Christ i s real ly andbodi ly present in two places : in heaven
,s itting
on the right hand of God , and in the tabernacleon the altar .The preparation for first communion isconsidered very sacred and solemn
,so with
great reverence and devotion I prayed,and
fasted , and went to confes sion , and did al l inmy power to make mysel f worthy of the reception of Chri st ; for it i s a great sacrilege toreceive Christ unworthi ly . I was also taught
that thi s would be the happ1est day in my l i fe ,i f I received the Euchari st worth i ly ; but themost miserable i f I received it unworthi ly . The
38 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
morning that I had looked forward to withsuch j oy and reverence at last arrived . It i s themorning of the Precious B lood . About fortyof us meet together, and walk , two by two, in
a long procession to the church . The girl swear long veil s over their h eads
,and are dressed
in white,symbol ical of innocence and purity .
The boys are dressed as nearly alike as possible . At last we are in the church . Then
at the consecration and elevation of the host ,every head i s bowed in prayer . I shal l neverforget the awful hush and sti l lness that pervaded
the church . At thi s very moment , the veryChrist
,body
,soul
,and D ivinity
,has come to
the altar . A l ittl ewh1le and the bel l rings ,wh ich i s a sign for the communicants to receive .
We go to the altar rai ls , two by two ,with bowed
heads and eyes cast down, and kneel reverently .
This was a very solemn moment for every
child , as we bel ieved that we real ly receivedthe Christ . I returned to my seat
,and the
service continued ; but when I left the churchI felt very much disappointed and sorrowful
,
as I was taught that Christ was only with me
while I was at the altar . A sad thought , thatChrist only abides with us for a short time .
Now I have learned to know that Christ,i f we
accept Him as our Saviour,will leave His
presence with us always . For in Heb . xi i i . 5 , 6,we read : Let your conversation be withoutcovetousness , and be content with such thingsas ye have, for He hath said, I wi ll never leavethee nor forsake thee . So that we may boldly
D ays of B oyhood . 39
say,The Lord is my helper , and I wil l not fear
what man shal l do unto me .
” And in the last
verse of the last chapter of Matthew it i s written : Teaching them to observe al l things what
soever I have commanded you; and lo , I am
with you alway,even unto the end of the
world .
The most of my spare time was now taken
up with looking after mother and the chi ldren ,for at father’s death ( I being the eldest o f thefami ly ) mother looked to me as her chief support and comfort
,and I was glad that I was
able to help her .The hours in the store were very long, and
it'
was often late at night before I could returnhome to my l ittle brothers and sisters . Natur
al ly I had a very weakwil l-power,and thi s
gave the enemy great power over me for evi l ;consequently I was often led to do -wrong
,and
then left in despai r . My mind at thi s t ime wasso much taken up with making money and get
t ing along in the world , that it took away , to’a great extent , the despondency I had on ac
count of so often fall ing . I bel ieve I would
have almost gone out of my mind,because of
my awful conviction of s in,had I not been so
interested in my home , and the getting of this
world’s goods . It was now two years s ince
my first communion . I began to lose al l bel ie fin rel igion . I saw the emptiness o f it al l
,and
I did not derive from con fess ion that which I
had expected . Th e consolation which I firstused to receive was fast leaving me
,and I felt
40 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
as though I was wandering in the dark . The
only glimmering of hope that I had was thatthe time of my confirmation was drawingnearer .
Now I thought that I would be made a per
fect Christian , and no more would I have thataching void
,but that confirmation would sati s fy
the hungering after righteousness , which wouldgive contentment to the inmost longing of my
soul . I now thought confirmat ion would bringa change over my inner li fe
,and looked forward
to the time when the good in me would pre
dominate .
The sacrament of confirmation i s permittedto be received before communion
,but , as a rule,
Cathol ic chi ldren receive thei r communion first .
The church teaches that this sacrament makesus strong and perfect Christians . The holyoil mingled with balm
,and blessed by the bi shop
on Holy Thursday,i s called chism . The only
preparation before confirmation i s to make agood confession
,and fervently pray that the
Holy Spirit of God might descend on you . I tis considered an awful s in to neglect being
confirmed , as in this sacrament the seven gi ftsof a l e Holy Spirit are received
,which are : Wis
dom , understanding , counsel , fortitude , knowledge, piety , and the fear of the Lord . You alsoreceive grace to confess the Cathol ic faithopenly .
After the bishop confirms you,he gives you
a stroke upon the cheek to recal l to your mind
D ays of B oyhood . 41
that confirmation strengthens you to suffer, andi f necessary to die
,for the church .
The long- looked- for day arrived . It I S morning . I had spent a sleepless night thinking ,
with mingled j oy and fear,of the great bless
ings I would so soon experience . I though t thatsoon I would feel God’s presence within me , thatIwas coming nearer and nearer Him
,for the
bishop i s cons idered to have more power withGod than the priest
,and I longed for the trans
formation which I thought would take place
in my soul .
Aswe went to first communion , so we wentto confirmat ion
, in a process ion to the church .
I can remember with what feel ings of holy
expectancy I knelt at the altar rai l ; howI feltthat the bi shop was near and I dare not l i ft my
eyes to look at him . I could see him as hepronounced a benediction on the first ch ild 1n
the row, and nearer and nearer he drew towardme . At last he stands in front of me and offers
up a prayer in Latin ; then he gives me a stroke
on the cheek , and he has passed on to the next .My heart ceases to beat , and I can think of
nothing . Presently the last chi ld i s blessed andwe return to our seats . The service of Mass
i s celebrated , and we are exhorted and encour
aged to continue in the faith . Itwas nearlytwo o’clock in the afternoon when I got home ,and I felt Very t ired .
Again Iwas disappointed , for confirmationbrought me nothing . The desire to do evi l wasas strong upon me as ever . A l l my hopes had
42 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
fal len to the ground , and , as before , al l wasemptiness in my soul . I came to the conclusionthat there was nothing in rel igion but forms andceremonies . Now I cal l them vanity and l ies
,
and bind the gospel to my heart . ” But as Iwas taught that thi s was the only rel igion bywhich a man could enter heaven
,I became
wholly resigned and made up my mind that
perhaps through the priest’s intercess1ons andprayers
,I might in some way enter heaven
,be
l ieving that this was the only open door .
Shortly after thi s I gave up my srtuation in
the store and went to work in a factory wherethe hours were shorter . One day as my chum
and I were passing the saloon,the saloon
keeper induced us to go in and have a game ofpool . One game
,h e said
,would cos t us no
thing My chum consented . I hesitated fora time
,but afterward j oined him. We found it
so pleasant that first afternoon that we soonwent again
,and soon all our spare time and
money-
went in the same way . After the firstday we were charged ten cents a game
,and
somet imes a game can easi ly be played in tenminutes . The day I stepped across the thres
hold of that saloon was the day that I started togo down into the darkness and blackness of hell .God only knows what a young man learns whenhe frequents such places . As time went on Ibecame one of the saloon-keeper’s favorites
,and
often was entrusted with the bar in hi s absence .
A shudder comes over me when I think of thesin and misery I beheld during my stay at thi s
44 My Life ,Travels and S ermons .
fluence of l iquor, l eaving his wi fe and familywith no means of support , but with the blackened memory of an unfaith ful husband , and
heartless father,who spent the money , so much
needed at home,to support in luxury the wife
and,children of another . Oh , dreadful thought"
I was the man who served him the stuff thathelped to send him— where -I know not .
I t was a common occurrence . fo-r young mento come into the saloon , perfectly sober ,withmoney in thei r pockets , and when all thei rmoney was spent— even before and perhapswhi le drunk— they would be pushed headlong
out upon the street by the rough hand of thesaloon-keeper . I have seen them lie as theyfel l thus for some time
,and watched the blood
trickle down the sidewalk from the cut in thei rheads caused by their fall . I t i s hard to makeyoung men who hold a good social position
,and
who walk up to the bar for the first time to takea social glass , bel ieve that they wi ll ever cometo this . Oh"young man
,i f you wish to remain
a man and retain your sel f-respect,and continue
to respect womankind as you'
now do,take the
advice of one who has watched the physical andmoral destruction of many .
S ince God has l i fted me up out of this sloughof misery and degradation
,my heart goes out
in a great longing,and pity
,to save
,if poss ible ,
the multitudes of young men who are takingtheir first steps in this downward road
,which
the devil has paved for the certain destructionof both soul and body . I would say to the
D ays of B oyhood . 45
young men,DO not do as I did and when
the saloon-keeper invites you in for a free gameof pool or for a treat , give a decided NO , and
pass on .
One day my factory employer came to meand sa1d ° Frank
,I want a man that I can
trust to stay in the factory at night to keepwatch . Would you l ike the s ituation" I
thought a while,accepted the offer , and gave
up the work in the hotel . I watched the factoryat night
,slept in the forenoon and put in the
afternoon according to my own sweet wil l .
A fter a time I found employment for myspare time in the factory . Here I worked , both
in the afternoon and night,for nearly eighteen
months,when I took very ill of measles , which
were raging in the town at that time . Our
whole family lay s ick . This was an awful t ime
for mother . Night after night she watchedover us
,and with affection I shal l always
remember her faithfulness and tenderness dur
ing this time of affliction .
Milo , my youngest brother, was a very smartchi ld
,and much beloved by al l who knew him .
He always came running to meet me when I
came home from work,with hi s l i tt le arms out
stretched and hi s l ittle face upturned to mine .
He was a child possessed of those cheery,inno
cent ways which become so endearing to olderpeople . In his l ittle cradle he lay
,and was very
i l l,but through al l we thought he would re
cover . One day a great change came over himHe waved his l ittle hands and seemed to be
46 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
trying to speak . We were al l about him as helay in his cradle , and as we watched him hequietly sank to sleep . After a wh i le we put himto bed
,and mother lay down beside him . She
being very tired fel l asleep , and when she awoke
he was dead .
How our hearts were again fi l led with sorrowand how we missed him"No more did wehear his cheery prattle about the house . Nomore did we hear the patter of l ittle feet coming
to meet us . E vervwhere about the house andeverywhere we went we found something toremind us of “ l ittle M i lo .
We buried him in the Cathol ic cemetery inthe holy ground
,with great confidence that he
had gone to heaven . Thi s was a great tie between us and eternity . Up to this time
,mother
and I wept a great deal over father’s suddendeath
,and the way in which he was buried
,and
because of his be ing deprived of the bless ingsof the Church .
When we first moved to Gananoque motherhad natural ly unbosomed her trouble to thepriest . He advised her to make a general confession to him of all the sins my father had
committed which were known to her, and toreceive communion for him
,for the Ohurch
teaches that the l iving can do penance and act
for the souls in purgatory .
At first a fter father’s deat h my wages werevery low . It took great economy to keep thefamily’s wants supplied
,for there were seven
chi ldren of us . Yet we deprived ourselves of
D ays of B oyhood. 47
many things to rai se money to have masses said
for the repose of father’s soul . We could notbear the thought of hi s suffering in purgatory .
It seems hard to think of this priest l iving onthe fat of the land
,with all the luxury and ease
it i s poss ible to get,wearing the best and car-1
rying a gold-headed cane , and taking money
from a poor widow for that wh ich he knew hecouldn’t give . A fter death the minister mavpreach
,and your friends may pray and persuade
themselves to bel ieve that you are in heaven,but
look to it yoursel f,brother
,
'
sister,that you are
sure of heaven . I beseech you,brethren
,for
Jesus’sake,to make sure that you are accepted
of Him . Rest not unti l you have received thewitness of the Spirit . Care not for the world
or what the world may think of you . Let people cal l you what they l ike
,but lose not your
immortal soul : For what wi ll i t profit a mani f he shal l gain the whole world and lose hisown soul
When I recovered from the measles I shortlya fterward gave up working in the factory , not
being very strong. I accepted a s ituation and
took charge of a bi l l iard- room,I being an ex
pert poo l-player . Few men in Gananoque couldbeat me . In this place I first commenced toplay for money . We would often gamble anddrink unti l nearly morning . Mother never feltsati sfied to have me out so late at nights
,but I
loved that gay ,wi ld l i fe . I made plenty of
friends , and felt happy while with them . Weoften went on excursions and h ad gay times
48 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
together in other towns . My mother at lastsucceeded in persuading me to leave the bil l iardroom . By thi s time I was wel l steeped in tobacco
,could drink freely, and was quite a gam
bler . Being out of work, I determined to seemore of the world
,so made my way to the city
of Ottawa .
When I arrived in Ottawa,fortunately I fel l
in with good company . I succeeded in gett ing
a good situation and boarded with an aunt , whowas very kind to me . I remained there foreight or nine months , when my grandfather andgrandmother
,who were both very old
,andwho
wished to vi sit my uncle in Norwood,asked
me to accompany and,assi st them on the j ourney .
I did so,and had a pleasant vis it at my uncle’s .
Shortly after I returned home . My two cousins ,whose home was in the vicinity o f Toronto , werevis iting in Gananoque , and persuaded me toreturn home with them . Thinking therewasa good prospect of making money
,I did so . I t
was a failure,however
,and I returned home
quite sati sfied with what I had seen of theworld
,and will ing to remain there . In the
spring I hired with a Protestant farmer forthe summer months . He proved to be a beauti ful Christian . Night and morning the largefamily B ible was brought out
,a chapter was
read,and prayer offered . I l iked very much
what I heard read from the B ible . I d id nothear much of the prayer
,as my prej udice would
ri se up to such an extent I would put my handsover my ears to shut out the sound . Neverthe
Days of B oyhood. 49
l ess,the good seed sown in my young heart in
that home has never ceased growing to thi s day .
One Sabbath I noticed that they had left theB ible on the window sil l . In the afternoonthey al l went out for a walk . Th i s temptationwas too great for me . I went quickly up to thewindow
,and taking the forbidden Book , hid it
under my coat,and ran to the barn , where I
hid mysel f in the hay loft and read eagerly al lafternoon . I forget now what knowledge I
ga ined ; but what I read took a great ho ld on
my mind . I was very much afraid that the peo
ple might return and miss the book, but to myrel ie f I found that they were sti l l away . I careful ly placed the book back On the window si ll ,leaving it in the same pos it ion as I found it , oras nearly so as I could .
When I returned home , the Holy Spirit , Whohad inspired that book I had been reading
,went
with me , and worked mighti ly upon me . Hegave me an appetite for this spi ritual food .
My soul was hungering and thirsting after the
truth . Oh , how I would have appreciated thehelp of a teacher , but dared not ask a Protestantfor instruction . L ike the two disciples going toEmmaus , my heart burned within me as Chri st
talked with me and revealed Himsel f to me .
And day after day, as I pondered these things
in my heart,I felt l ike the poetwho said
Leave me not to doubt and fear,Groping on in darkness drear .
”
Oh, howgood Godwas to me, when I was
My Life, Travels and S ermons .
groping in the darkness in my search of Him ;and the abiding , genuine peace of rel igion ,through what seemed to me then an accident , Inow look on as providential .While on these trips to the country
,I could
not help notic ing the great difference betweenProtestants and Roman Cathol ics by thewayin which they kept Sundays . The Protestants
seemed to keep the Sabbath so sacred, whilethe Cathol ics
,as soon as Mass was over, would
begin al l sorts of revel ry, such as playing cards ,fishing
,and any kind of recreation . Many
a time,when a viol ini st could be procured , did
we laugh and dance and chat al l afternoon,and
think nothing of i t . My ears were often of
fended at the awful swearing, for although
being thrown a great deal where there wasmuch profanity used
,such as at the hotel , I
never indulged in it much mysel f,and a dread
ful oath always made me shudder .Once when there were miss ionaries in thetown I had hopes of receiving a great deal of
l ight . Two Fathers opened special services inthe Roman Catholic Church . Five services atleast a day were held
,with the obj ect in view
of reviving people,bringing them out
.
to confession
, and making their Easter duties . Usual lywhen special services such as these were conducted , many who had become neglect ful wouldturn again
,and become reinstated .
The first of these serv ices was at 5 a m . forworking men , who could not leave thei r employment to attend the day services . Itwas
5 2 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
Romans : For they being ignorant of God’srighteousness , and going about to establ ish
their own righteousness , have not submittedthemselves unto the righteousness of God . For
Christ i s the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that bel ieveth . For Moses describeth the righteousness which i s o f the law,that the man which doeth those things shal l
l ive by them . But the righteousness which i sof faith speaketh on thi s wise
, Say not in thine
heart,who shal l ascend into heaven"( that i s ,
to bring Christ down from above ) or, who shal l
descend into the deep"( that i s , to bring upChrist from the dead ) . But what saith it"
The word i s nigh thee , even in thy mouth , and
in thy heart ; that i s , the word of faith , wh ich we
preach : that i f thou shalt confess with thy mouththe Lord Jesus
,and shalt bel ieve in thine heart
that God hath raised,Him from the dead , thou
shalt be saved . For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
,and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation . For theScripture saith
,Whosoever bel ieveth on Him
shall not be ashamed . For there i s no differ
ance between the Jewand the Greek : for thesame Lord over al l i s rich unto al l that callupon Him . Forwhosoever shal l cal l upon thename of the Lord shal l be saved .
”
I dearly loved to ramble about the woods atmy will . O ftt imes I would l ie by the creekunder a tree on the cool grass
,and l i sten to the
water rippling on the pebbles . I del ighted towatch the little birds flying from tree to tree
D ays of B oyhood. 53
and l i sten to them s inging in al l their joy andfreedom . And perhaps again whi le watching
the fleecy clouds floating in the blue sky I wouldl ie, and think , and think , and think . I specu
lated on what I would do when I became aman . I thought of the money that I wouldearn ,
and the money I would save . I imaginedwhat I would buy
,and the kind of people I
would associate with,and what I would
,do for
mother and the l ittle ones . At such times thewoods would seem so tranqui l and peaceful .
The l ittle insects and birds , and even the leaves
on the trees as they rustled in the breeze , seemedto be whispering joy, joy , joy, and peace , peace ,peace
,and I wondered why was not man so .
Whatwas thi s spi rit o f di scontent which layin man’s breast . Why could al l people not l ivein harmony and peace" Why had I not thi s
spi ri t of calm which seemed to be pervading
and fi l l ing everything except’
my own breast"I twas the result of s in . Th i s dreadful burdenof s in
,which was weighing men down , was the
cause ofmy discontent . Was there no remedy"
Was I to go on forever l ike this : saying beads,doing penance
,wearing scapulars
,making
con fess ion , and yet no rel ie f"I wondered i f Iwould ever get to heaven . I longed for heaven ,yet I knew that no s in would enter that place .
I ‘was told that the soul could be cleansed frommuch sin in purgatory , and that for mortal s inthere i s no escape from h el l . The mortal s insare these : ea ting meat on Friday , missing Mass ,murder, and the grosser s ins . I saw people
54 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
l iving good lives , and I wonderedwhy I couldnot l ive good l ike they did . My poor soulwaslonging for Jesus
,but I did not know it , and I
would l ie there in those woods until I wouldbecome sad
,my heart d isconsolate , and my l i fe
dark and helpless . I was very fond of s inging
and knew a great many songs . Very Often Iwould hear Protestants singing hymns . I some
times also heard them praying aloud , but wouldnever al low mysel f to l i sten to them , as I considered i t a great s in . Roman Cathol ics con
sider it no sin to take part in playing ball , fish
ing, dancing, and such amusements on Sabbath
afternoons,providing that they attend Mass in
the morning . It was a common thing for me
after I had attended Mass on Sabbath morningto return home , and after an early dinner, getout my boat and fishing tackle
,and
,with a suf
ficient supply of beer and whiskey,start Off up
the river with my young comrades to spend the
rest of the day in fishing,drinking
,bal l-playing ,
and such l ike . Some have said to me ,“ Mr .
Coleman , did the priest al low you to do thesethings"” I have always answered
,Yes , the
priest himsel f setting the example . Father
Kelly, our parish priest,when he went to S t .
John’s I sland to say Mass
,was known more thanonce to take part in the games played there onthe Sabbath , and itwas reported around that hehad been under the influence of strong drinkmore than once . When such priests are questioned about drinking whiskey
_to excess , the
answer invariably i s : Don’t do as I do , but
Days of Boyhood. 55
as I say . I might j ust say here , that in al lthe t imes I have con fessed to the pri est he nevertold me not to drink whiskey , but would alwaysask me i f I had been guilty of drinking to excess . I f not
,nothing more was said .
My brothers and s i sters were nowgrown upand earning money for themselves , consequentlydid not require so much of my support , and leftme with le ss responsibi l ity
,and I for the first
t ime since my father’s death sawmyway clearto learn a trade . I scarcely knew at first whatto go at . A cousin of mine came over one evening and asked me to shave him ,
so I having nothing better
,sharpened up an old case-kni fe
and went at it . At last I got through , and Ithink I enjoyed it much more than he d id
,as he
never wished to have it repeated in j ust the
sameway . Iwas so pleased with the succes sI had with my cousin that I decided barberingshould be my trade . In less than one year Ihad learned my trade
,and I set up a nice l ittle
shop of my own at Lansdowne S tation . At this
I worked very hard . O ften it would be two or
three o’clock in the morning before my workwas done . Saturdaywas always my hardestday , the shop being often thronged unti l Sunday
morning . I twas during this time that I first
met my wi fe . I got acquainted with her on the
twenty-fourth of May, and in the following
autumnwe were married . I had“ never beenknown to keep company with a young lady be
fore , and had never even been seen walking on
the street with one . Though my li fe had been
56 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
rough in many respects , I had never been wanting Iin respect towards womankind . No doubtI was very ignorant concerning the rules o fcourtship
,
' but nevertheless one evening shepromised to be mine . My wi fe being a Pro
testant and I a Cathol ic,she kindlv consented ,
after some persuasion , to be married by thepriest ; and on the first Sabbath the priest cameout to Lansdowne S tation to say Mass , I wentto see him about marrying thi s Protestant girl .He urged me very strongly to have nothing todo with her
,and gave me no decided answer
as to whether he would marry us or not . Ireturned to my shOp thinking very seriously ,and shutting mysel f up in my own room , knelt
down,and took my beads to pray to Mary , the
mother of God,and to the saints , desi ring
direction as to whether I should marry this ladyor not ; not des iring the curse of the church to
rest on me .
Whether the saints answered me or not, Iknow not
,but one thing I do know ,
that thelonger I prayed the more determined I felt inmy own mind that she alone should be my wife .
A decided next to write the priest a letter informing him of my deci sion . He answered myletter tel l ing me
,i f I was determined to
marry, to come to Gananoque , and that aftercertain conditions had been met
,he would
marry us .
On the twentieth of July, 1886, I being now
twenty-two years of age,we drove to Ganan
oque , a di stance of eight miles,to the priest’s
Days of B oyhood. 57
house .
'
He read to us the rules with whichwe would have to comply . F i rst we had topromise that i f chi ldren should come to our
home,we would bring them up in the R0
man Cathol ic fa‘ith . Another was that I wasnever to attend a Protestant service . Weagreed to these . There were many others , toonumerous to mention . I then went to confes
s ion . At confess ion the priest told me that I
could not have the blessing of the church onmy marriage . He would simply marry me as
aProtestant i s married . Soon M i ss Watt s wascal led to my side
,and she became my wi fe .
My wife’s parents were ve ry much opposed to
our marriage,for
,she be'ing a Protestant , they
feared that the difference of rel igion might
bring trouble to our home . A lthough my tradewas prospering at Lansdowne
,I st i l l seemed to
cl ing to Gananoque,as the re my young days
were principally spent,and there was the home
of al l my friends and acquaintances . So I' gave
up my bus iness and moved back to my formerhome . Here I bought a comfortable house on
S tone street,and secured a position as appren
tice in a spring shOp,where I remained
,for a
number of years . As our health was good,and
my wages afforded us a comfor table l iving,we
spent our spare time in a round of gaiety and
pleasure—seeking . Most of our eveningswere spentvis iting from house to house
,playing cards, danc
ing, and s inging . My wi fe , who was very fond
of this kind of l i fe,made it very pleasant for
me . For three years our l ives were spent in
58 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
this way—careless and happy, life was one roundof pleasures
,and in al l thi s t ime the only
thought that marred my happine sswa s thatmy wi fe was not a Roman Cathol ic . I nevermentioned thi s thought to my wi fe
,therefore
we never disagreed on religion or any other im
portant subj ect, and , as a natural consequence ,our l i fe was one of peace and happiness .
On the Sabbath we would leave home together
,go as far as the corner
,where we would
part,she going to the Methodi st Church
,and I
going to the Roman . The Methodist people
would usual ly be dismissed first,and my wi fe
would come and wait at the corner,near the
Roman Church,unti l I would come out and
j oin her . Then we would return home together . For a number of years my wi fe and Inever mentioned rel igion to each other : Veryoften my wife would come to my church with
me and wait in one of the pews wh i le I went toconfession . While at confess ion the priest
would particularly warn me not to attend anyProtestant church
,or rel igious meeting .
’
Itried to convince the priest that it might be better for me to sometimes attend the MethodistChurch , with my wi fe, so that she might comemore often to the Roman Church with me , andthat in this way I mightwin her over in timeto the Cathol ic faith . But the priest would not
permit me to do so,fearing so doubt that I
would be led astray . Although I never saidanything to my wi fe respect ing her rel igion , yetI felt anxious that she should reach heaven . I
60 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
chips . It was soaked with rain , and its leaveswere stuck together . I brought it into thehouse
,and my wife told me it was a B ible . The
covers were torn off , and al l Genesi s was gone .also nineteen chapters of Exodus . I looked atthe first page
,and there before my eyes were
the words,
“Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image ,” and I read on through the
commandments . I took this l ittle book homewith me
,and night after night I was lost deep
in the wonderswhich I found in it . Throughthe day
,while at my work in the shop
,I would
think of what I had been reading,and longed
to know for mysel f what the Cathol ic Bible wasl ike, as I could not help but bel ieve that theremust be a vast difference between the two books .
From Romanism to Protes tantism. 6 1
CHAPTER I II .
FROM ROMANISM TO PROTEST
ANTI SM .
One evening, which i s a memorable one to
me,we were out to a dance in a Cathol ic home ,
and my wife happened to notice a Roman Cathol ic Bible lying on the table . She opened it and
began to read .
’
Itwas that chapter where ourS aviour turns the water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee I not iced that mywi fe continued reading a long time ,
'
and notic ing
howsuddenly serious she had become , Iwondered at her thought fulness .On my way home , I asked her what she hadbeen reading .
“ Oh , she said,
“ I was j ustglancing through the Bible I sawthere . Iwasreading in the second chapter of S t . John ; and ,Frank
,that chapter reads j ust the same as it
does in our B ible ; what would you think ifboth B ibles were the same t " I felt somewhatindignant at the question , and at the thoughtthat there could pos s ibly be any compari sonbetween the two books . I thought that theCathol ic B ible must be so mudh the superior .
However, I said nothing, but determined in myown mind to have a Cathol ic B ible
,and convince
her some day of the vast difference therewasbetween the two books . For the next week
62 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
religion was the chief topic in our home . Wetalked much on the subj ect , but both tried , Ibel ieve
,not to hurt the other’s feel ings .
Going and coming from the factory,and while
busy at my work , my mind was fi l led with con
flicting thoughts . My l i fewas j ust as great amixture . One evening at the dance, anotherspent at the card table, and yet another thinking
and talking earnestly on the subj ect of rel igion .
Must this state of things continue"How shouldthey be settled" What wi l l be the end"Ianxiously asked mysel f . I must confess
, on
looking back now, that I was then in a stateof great spiritual darkness .
Oh, th e darkness,how it thickened ,
L ike the brooding of despair"”
And yet I bel ieve God was leading me . The
Good Sh epherd had come to seek and to saveme ; nor did He leave me unti l I was safewithin the fold . Before this
,my wife and I
had reached the deci sion to each have a largefamily Bible of our own ; but before purchasingthem my wife urged me to first borrow aCatholic B ible
,so that we might compare them ,
and i f they were the same s‘he economical lydeclared that “ one Bible would be sufficientfor both of us . ” I thought it a reasonablerequest
,and determined to borrow one at the
first opportunity . I would say here, that thoughBibles are sometimes found in Cathol ic homes
,
they are never supposed to read them, as thepriest is supposed to be the only proper interpreter .
F rom Romanism to Protes tantism. 63
My wi fe had given me to understand thati f I could find the Roman Cathol ic doct rine inthe Cathol ic Bible
,she would be a Cathol ic as
I was . So I borrowed a B ible and I searched ,and searched
,but could find nothing about con
fessing to the priest,or holy water
,or praying
to the saints . Nothing about purgatory ( thatplace of punishment in the next world ,wheresouls have to suffer before they reach heaven ) ,nothing about Mas s or transubstantiation . The
only difference I could find was that one saidRepent
,
” and the other Do penance ;” one
said,Veri ly
,veri ly , I say unto thee,
” and theother said , Amen , amen , I say unto thee, andI turned over lea f after lea f
,thinking that
at every page I would find someth ing aboutour doctrine
,unti l I reached the end , but closed
the book in despai r,feel ing that I had been
awfully deceived,and I made up my mind I
would not go to confess ion , or conform to anymore rules until I had received more light
,and
was convinced of the rights of rel igion .
The Church’s teaching i s to pray to the Virgin
Mary to intercede for us at the throne of mercy,and that she has great power with her Son Jesus ,consequently the most of prayers are offered toher . I could find nothing of the Virgin havingthis power .
In the second chapter of John, 3
-
5 , I readthat at the marriage in Cana of Gal i lee whenthey wanted wine
,Mary said to Jesus , They
have no wine .
” Jesus answered ,“ Woman ,
what Ihave I to do with thee"M ine hour i s not
64 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
yet come . You will notice she i s not referredto as mother , but our Saviour only says , Wo
man ,” and He cal ls God Father . Nor could
I find any place where He call s her mother .In the fi fth verse she tell s the servants to doas He bids them , and in the twel fth chapter ofMatthew , 47
-
50, we read , Then said one untoHim ,
B ehold Thy mother and Thy brethrenstand without desiring to speak with Thee .
But He answered and said unto him , Who i sMy mother"and who are My brethren"AndHe stretched forth His hand toward Hisdisciples and said
,Behold My mother and My
brethren"For whosoever shal l do the will ofMy Father Which i s in heaven, t he same i sMy brother, and sister, and mother . Though
al l reverence be due to her,and we honor her
as a good and saintly woman,and a woman
on whom the blessings of God rested,yet this
chapter proves to us the corrupt teaching thatthe Virgin Mary is any more sacred than anyother saintly woman . And aft er a careful study
of the Holy Scripture , we fai l to find a singlepassage which would cause us to
’
believe thi s
awful doctrine .
On the contrary,Jesus Christ i s the only
Mediator between God and man , for we read ,“ I f any man sin
,we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous .”There
fore,we wish to impress our readers with
the thought that thousands of people are beingdeluded by the teachings that they will get toheaven through the mediation of the Virgin
Mary .
F rom Romanism to Protes tantism. 65
You wil l see in the fi ftieth verse the possibi l ityof being on the same level with her in the s ightof God . The verse reads as fol lows : Forwhosoever shal l do the wil l of My Father Whichis in heaven
,the same is My brother , and s i ster ,
and mother . Reader,notice particularly the
clause,
“ Whosoever shal l do the wil l of MyFather, thus agreeing with another passage ,I f any manwi l l do His wil l , he shal l know of
the doctrine,
” and “Whosoever wi ll , let him
take thewater of l i fe freely .
”This verse
impl ies that we must be born again in order tobecome a brother
,s ister, or mother of Jesus
Christ, Who becomes our Elder B rother .
We find Nicodemus coming to Jesus by nightand receiving such instruction concerning thi snewbirth . We read in the third verse of thethi rd chapter of -John that Jesus said
,Veri ly ,
veri ly,I say unto thee , except a man
' be bornagain he cannot see the Kingdom of God
,and
in the explaining verse we read,Except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit , he can
not enter into the Kingdom of God,
”i.e .
,he
cannot become an hei r of God and a joint-hei rwith Jesus Chri st . Thi s being born again en
grafts us into the True Vine . John xv . 5 says ,I am the Vine
,ye are the branches . Th i s
i s theway we are adopted into God’s family ,and , brother, do not rest content unti l you havethe experience which we read
,of in Romans
vi i i . 16 :“The Spirit i tsel f beareth W i tnesswi th
our spi rit , that we are the dhildren of God .
”
Looking up , I said ,“ Wife
,I am no more
66 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
a Roman Cathol ic . I stepped going to Mass ,stopped going to confession, and refused toidenti fy mysel f with any denomination . I became undecided as to the real it ies of rel igion,and sank rapidly in despair, which was so greatI knew not whichway I should turn to obtainl ight . I t seemed as if no man cared for mysoul
,and gradually I sank so lowthat nothing
could reach me,and I felt more and more that
vain was al l earthly help .
My Sabbaths were principal ly spent on thei slands with my associates
,drinking beer, play
ing cards,playing ball , and such l ike . Home
lost its attractions , and as soon as I had hadmy supper
,after my day’s work was over, I
would go up town,trying to drown the awful
thoughts that pervaded my mind by walkingabout the streets and j oining in the revelry .
I hardly ever got home unti l hal f-past ten or
eleven o’clock, and then went to sleep l ike adumb brute
,without ever saying a prayer, and
arose the same way to confront the dangers of
another day without the blessings of God uponme . At the same t ime I tried to cheer mysel fwith the anticipations of the nearness of Chri stmas and New Year’s hol idays . We alwaysmade great preparations
,and indulged in much
joll ity and gaiety at this season .
At last Christmas had come and gone again,
and New Year’swas a thing of the past . Isank deeper and deeper in sin . One night
,
after a day’s sport
,I was making myway home
ward , walking very slowly and thinking over
68 My L ife,Travels and S ermons .
an evangeli st named Vermilyea , from Bel levi l le .
I h ad always despised these services , whichthe Protestants cal led revivals . ”
My wife had never urged me to attend theProtestant Church , but on this occasion she ihformed me of the meet ings , told me about thegood singing, and asked me i f I would l iketo go . After thinking it over
,I decided to
accompany her, intending to critici se and makelight of the whole service . B e fore I had beenthere long the Holy Ghost began to do Hi s workin my heart . The evangel ist preached from thetext, Go forward"” and pleaded with the people
,with tears in his eyes , urging them to give
up all and follow Jesus . Numbers went forwardand knelt at the penitent form . At last theservice was closed a nd we went home . I didnot make l ight of the service
,as I had intended
doing . Convict ionwas deepening in my soul ,the Holy Spirit was doing His work . In a
few nights I went again,and at the close of
the service the mini ster asked al l thosewho ex ~
pected to get to heaven to stand up . Everyperson in the bui lding seemed to ri se but me .
Just then the old Roman prej udice against theProtestant rel igion rose within me as it hadnot done for years . Someone -beside me j ustthen asked me the question
,Don’t you expect
to get to heaven"” .More through shame thananything else, I then rose to my feet . Nextnight being Lodge night I did not attend
,but
a few nights after thi s,hearing that the revival
services were about to close,I went to hear the
From Romanism to Protes tantism. 69
closing sermon . Thait service I think I wil lnever forget while I l ive . The evangel ist
preached with untold power . My wi fe, through
th e day , had made up her m ind to go forward
to the penitent form that night . Accordingly ,after the sermon was ended and the invitationgiven
,my Wi fe left my side and , with a number
of others who,l ike her, had decided to give up
all and fol low Jesus , made herway to the
penitent bench . S ti l l he continued to plead , andconviction seized upon my soul . My kneesseemed to knock together, and with this awfulconviction of sin
,there came a strong voice
within me bidding me go to the front . Withoutreal iz ing what Iwas do ing, I walked towardthe front and knelt down as a penitent s inner ,will ing to give up al l for the Lord . Iwassti l l very sceptical about the Protestant rel igion ,and as I sought pardon for my soul I offeredup a prayer to God after this manner : O God,i f there i s anything in thi s rel igion , give it tome"” There and then I fel t the burden rol lfrom my heart
,and I real ized that I was free .
Test i fyingwas a thing that I had always op
posed,but nowI stood before a large congre
gation,tel l ing them with j oy the glad news that
God had saved my soul . Before, whenever Iwas in a Protestant house and they began topray, I would put my fingers in my ears , so thatI would not hear them . NowI l i stened withjoy and gladness , and longed for the time tocome when I could rai se my voice to God inprayer and praise .
70 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
Some people have asked me whatwas thed ifference between having my sins forgiven atconfession
,and my sins being forgiven by the
Lord . My answer has always been that the
new birthwas so real that God left me withouta doubt that my s ins were forgiven
,and I have
never had a doubt since, whereas before I hadgreat efforts to make mysel f bel ieve, and sti l lI doubted .
I left the church feel ing as I had never feltbefore . Everything changed, as in a twinkl ing .
The streets , the houses , everything looked different . Everywhere I looked I sawnoth ing butjoy, joy, j oy . The trees , and al l l iving things ,seemed to say, Praise the Lord"” Homewas brighter now. I fel t l ike a newman ; anewl i fewas before me . I nowcommenced familyworship, and our first prayers were at our bedside . NowI would not say my prayers frommy book
, or on my beads , or make the s ign of
the cross . I had prayed so much from books ,and knew so many prayers by heart , that Ithought it would not be much of a task to prayaloud
,but I had hardly started before I found
it a great task , and I became si lent . The Lord
seemed to take my conceit from me, and let melearn that self must not pray any more , and God
must be All-in-All to me .My wife had gone forward with me, but had
not got converted . She, nevertheless, beganasking a blessing on our meals, and both our
l ives became holier.
The readerwi l l know that natural ly the news
MR . AND MRS . COLEMAN .
72 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
of my conversion soon spread itsel f al l aboutGananoque
,especial ly amongst my associates ,who were mostly Roman Cathol ics , and in a
short time it reached my old mother that I hadturned from the Roman Cathol ic faith and hadj oined wh at they cal led Heretics . ”
My mother wept bitterly , for she thoughtthat her boy had left the only true Church
,and
was lost eternal ly . There would be manyprayers and Masses said for my return to theRoman faith
,and for a short time mother treat
ed me with great kindness in hopes that I wouldreturn again , and I have always been under
'
the impression that the priest had been themeans of turning her away from me , forwhenI remained unshaken in my rel igion
,my mother
became cold,and di stant
,and final ly ceased to
recognize me at al l .The enemy troubled me grea tly with regardto my associates
,as I was converted in the
middle of a very gay career . We had been inthe habit of spending our evenings card-playing,and such like . I was afraid that
”
a party of
friends would come to our home to spend the
even ing in thi s manner,and I was embarrassed
as to how I would act under the circumstances .But the good Lord opened up thi s Jordan and
del ivered me, for they never came nea r me .
They must have heard of my conversion . Oh ,how good God was to me"Nearly al l myshopmates were Romans , and you can imaginethe commotion that would be rai sed as I enteredthe shop the next morning . Many that I met
From Romanism to Protes tantism. 73
on the street laughed and hooted me , and somecast a searching glance at me
,and some smiled
mal iciously . S ome seemed grieved at what they
th ought was my downfal l .I started my work as usual
,and it seemed
as i f I needed so much help from God to sustainme in those trying times . I must say God did
not fai l me on that morning ; He truly i s a
Friend that st icketh closer than a brother .
Our dinner hour lasted about an hour and ahal f . Before this I would always be back tothe factory in hal f an hour
,or less
,and I would
j oin the rest of the laborers in games,such as
pit ching shoulder stones,or horseshoes , and all
such games . But thi s day I stayed at homeand prayed that God would give me grace for
the afternoon’s confl ict and so j ust returned in
time for work at one o clock .
Gananoque i s a great Roman Cathol ic community . My wi fe was afraid to have me goout at night for fear of something happening
to me,for once or twice stones had whistled
past my ears,thrown , I have no doubt , by some
j ealous Church member .
Short ly after my conversion,I purchased a
Bible of my own , and finding it very inconvenient to find the places I wanted
,I e xchanged
it for one with a thumb index, and I began toattend the different Protestant Churches . I
usual ly carri ed my Bible under my arm . The
Roman Church put it down that I was not rightin my mind . O ften when the mini ste r wouldgive out his lesson and text, I would search , and
74 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
search,but would have to give up until I would
get home ; then my wife and I would find it .O ften I would ask the person sitting next tome i f that lesson would be found in the O ldor NewTestament . Some of the people beganto find out that I could not find the places , . and
many times I would see them watching me .
At last I got so that sometimes , after lookingover two or three pages , I would hold the bookopen in my hand and look down at the page,j ust as though I had the proper place . Thesewere my disadvantages because of no early
teaching and no Chri stian influence .
Many nights were spent studying the Bible .
Nearly every night I would attend some rel igious meeting, for my hungerwas so great afterrighteousness , and I felt I had been so longdeprived of spiritual ity , that I must hurry andcatch up the long-hidden knowledge . Sometimes I would hitch up my horse and drive tomeeting in othe rwces, often going as far astwenty miles . Oh
,howI would weep when I
read and heard of Jesus , as my first years weremostly spent in thisway .
Never wil l I forget the first evening I wentto class meeting . We had been going to publ icservices al l along
,and someone said
,
“ Whydon
’t you go to class meeting"
” I wonderedwhat that was l ike . Class meetingwas on
Tuesday evening, andwe made ourway to thechurch parlor . There were only a fewwhenwe first entered
,but gradually they kept coming .
In the meantime some strange thoughts
76 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
So I kept growing in grace , and in the know
ledge of God my Saviour .
After my conversion I had , with my wife;j oined the church on probation . A fter threemonths we were received in full connection bythe Methodist Church in Gananoque . Rev. Mr .
Hughes,a grand
,noble-hearted Christian min
ister,was pastor . These were the dayswhen
I endured hardship ; having lost al l my Romanfriends
,and not being very wel l acquainted yet
with my Protestant friends , I felt that I was ,in a sense , standing alone . None but Godknows how much Iwas helped by Rev . Mr .
Hughes and by the local workers of our church .
I spent most of my spare time in studying theBible and in secret prayer . I st i l l had al l theroots of the old carnal nature to battle with,which made it doubly hard for me . Th ere were
the roots of fear,anger , pride, etc . After I
became converted I came to the conclusion thattobacco was a fi lthy habit
,and that I must give
it up . I had been a heavy user of tobacco frommy boyhood . I both smoked and chewed it .I wi ll never forget the Monday morn ing I gaveit up . I fil led my pipe to the top, as usual , andhad my last smoke . It seemed to me that
tobacco never tasted so sweet as it d id to methat morning . After I reached the factory Ipromised the Lord that
,i f gracewas given ,
Iwould never use tobacco again . He took thedesire completely away from me .
My wife’s father told. me , about thi s time ,
of a great revival service going on down at
From Romanism to Protes tantism. 77
Lansdowne S tation , conducted by Rev .M r . Cummins
,assi sted by S i sters Birdsi'll and Mason .
My wi fe and I drove down to attend them , andremained over Sunday . Miss B irdsill conductedthe service on Saturday evening , along the l ineof Chri stian perfection . After the meeting wasover I had a long talk with her about the secondbless ing, and how to obtain it . I gave her myexperience along the l ine of conversion
,and
s he in formed me that there was a greater blessing for me
,such as freedom from slavi sh fear,
etc . that the carnal nature might be total ly destroyed, for we read in I . Cor . i i i . I , And I
,
brethren , could not speak unto you as unto
spi ritual , but as unto carnal , even as unto babesin Christ . You see, they are sti l l carnal and
yet in Christ . That i s where S i ster B irdsill
found me . You will notice in Romans v i i i . 6 ,For to be ca rnal ly minded i s dea th ; but to bespi ritual ly m inded is l i fe and peace . My read
er wil l notice that the carnal mind cannot getto heaven . I . John i i i . 8,
For this purposehe Son of Godwas mani fested that He mightdestroy the works of the devil In I . Thess .
2 3, we read ,“ And the very God of peace
sanctify youwholiy .
”
I seemed to feel the need of thi s bles singbecause of fear . I saw in I . John iv . 18
,Th ere
I S no fear in love , but perfect love casteth out
fear,because fear hath torment . He that fear
e th i s not made perfect in love . I knew I wasnot there yet . I had peace , but not perfectpeace ; I had j oy , but not perfect j oy . I hadn’t
78 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
that experience that the Apostle Paul had inI . Thess . v . 16
,17 and 18
, where I could re
jorce evermore,” “ pray without ceasing,
” andin everything give thanks . I sawi twas myprivi lege
, and I made up my mind to go forward
on Sunday morning, seeking the bless ing, and ,according to Romans xi i . I
,I presented my
body a l iving sacrifice to God, and God didnot turn me away . In less than one minuteall s lavish fear le ft me enti rely
,and I felt that
I could sav with the Apostle,He whom th e
5 0 1 sets free is free indeed .
”
I went home feel ing that I had an experiencethat I had never known before . I le ft my wi fein Lansdowne for a couple of days . Now comesa very memorable event in my l i fe . I got homevery late at night
,overj oyed at my great free
dom .
The next morning I went to work, feel ing
more j oyous than ever, and that evening I camehome
,and I was so taken up with thi s new
experience that I dressed myself up and.started
off to the meet ing and forgot to eat my supper .
I went to our meeting and told them what Godhad done for me
,and then went to the Salvat ion
Army barracks the same evening to tel l themalso . I prom i sed the Lord -when He
sanctified me that I would do this,and tel l
of the blessing I had received. The S ergeantwho was leading the meeting said that he hadnot received this bless ing
,so he got right down
on his knees among his people , sought andreceived the blessing . Finally
,I was appointed
F rom Romanism to Protes tantism. 79
to conduct a class meeting on Sabbath morning .
The reader wil l understand the feeling of in
abil ity that I had ou conducting a meeting on
such a short experience . I was hoping thatthere would only be a fewat the meeting. The
hour at last arrived,and I gave out a hymn ,
after which we had prayer,and then I read the
first Psalm . I was a l ittle nervous at first , but
the Lord gave me strength and encouragement ,consequently the meetingwas success ful
,be
cause of the presence o f the Lord . From thi s
time forth I had a keen desire to save soul s ,and would often speak privately with thosewhoknew not the Lord .
I remember one evening I met my brotheron the street
,while Iwas burdened for his
soul . We ta lked ti l l nearly eleven o’clock, and,to my great surpri se, he gave his heart to theLord a fewdays afterwards . I took him to
my home, and we had a pleasant time . I must
say here that he had no less to contend withthan I had ; he being much younger than I ,the world had a great hold on him . Many
times since I have seen him stand on the streetcorner, and sing and give his experience .O ften I mysel f have worked for God bytesti fying wherever I got a chance
,holding
meetings here and there, both on the street andin the field. Many of my old associates would
come to the meetings when Iwas going tospeak, and as soon as Iwas through they wouldleave the building . One day
,at the factory
,
the’
men began talking to me about the change
80 M31 Life, Travels and S ermons .
that had taken place in my li fe . In a short:time they surrounded me , and wanted me
'
to
return to my old rel igion . I told them I waswil l-ing to
,on conditions that thei r doctrine
could be found in their B ible . I al so said Iwould go with them to the priest’s home
,and
would take my B ible with me,and ask h im
where the apostles heard confession,and used
holy water,or took money for prayers
, or evensaid Mass
,for on the contrary
,Jesus sent them
to preach repentance . Jesus said Freely yehave received
,freely give
,
” and Th i s Gospel
i s without money,and without price .
”
I soon found out I was not wanted at thepriest
’s h ome . For a time the whole topic of
conversation was,Who can know their s ins
are forgiven"” and while these days were verytesting to my experience, the Lord was always
very present with me,and passage after passage
of S cripture would come to my mind to encourage me . Sometimes , on Monday nights , themen would coax me to go into the h otel tohave a social drink
,and go back to my old habits .
I have often thought since that that was a wol fin sheep’s clothing .
I went home several times to see mother, and
sometimes was led to read from the blessedbook . One day my wife went to see her andfound a big change in her . We think thepriest brought it about . She said to my wi fe ,Tell Frank never to darken my door again ,for i f he returns I shall scald him .
” At firstIwas under the impression that everyone would
From Romanism to Protes tantism. S r
be glad to hear of my new-found joy,but I
found it quite th e contrary . Whenever an
opportunity presented itsel f to me for work, I
never refused . Sometimes the minister would
be holding special services,and would ask me
to take a service for him ; consequently in thisway I could work for the Lord .
I used to work al l day and in the eveningshold services about three miles away . Here I
received much persecution , and often theywhoopposed me would come and try to disturb themeetings . Quite frequently they would throwth ings in when the door would open . The Lord
gave me grace to bear this , with many otherthings
,and through it all I never felt a move of
anger, or fear, or pride in my hea rt , for with
the Apostles,in the forty-first verse of
the fi fth chapter of Acts,I could rej oice
to‘
know I was worthy to suffer shamefor the Master’s sake . When I think ofwh at the Apostles suffered for the Lord , itmakes my offences very l ight . I might j uststate here the persecuti ons of the ApostlesMatthewwas martyred in a city of Ethiopia .
Markwas dragged through the streets of Alexandria
,Egypt
,t i l l he expired . Luke was hanged
on an ol ive tree in Greece . Johnwas miracul:ously delivered from a cauldron of boil ing oil
in Rome,and ban i shed to the I sle of Patmos ,
where hewas permitted to witness the wonderful apocalpytic vision , and i s probably the onlyonewho d ied a natural death . Paulwas beheaded ou Nero’s block without the gates of
82 My Life,Tm '
vels and S ermons .
Rome . James the Elderwas slain with thesword . James the Lesswas thrown from apinnacle of the temple and beaten to death witha fuller’s club . Andrewwas crucified on across in Armenia
,and preached to the crowd
ti l l he expired . Bartholomew was flayed al iveby order of a barbarous king . Thomas pen
etrated away to the interior of India , and theresuffered martyrdom by having a cruel i ron
thrust through hi s body . Through coming up
out of great tribulation , having washed our
robes and made them white in the blood of theLamb
,we shall pass through the gates into the
city,henceforth to serve close by the. throne of
God . My heart cont inual ly rose in prayer that
God would spare them a little longer, unti l theywould see the true Light .One evening
,when returning home from the
service, a shower of stones fol lowed me , and ,praise the Lord
,there wasn’t one touched me .
I simply bel ieved that God would protect me ,and according to my faith it was done untome . When the stones ceased to fly
,and I had
gone a l ittle further,I knelt down by the road
side and prayed,thanking the Lord for del iver
ing me .
After this I felt strongly impressed to go
and hold meet ings e ight or nine miles away,but felt my inabil ity to work alone . I prayed tothe Lord to give me help
,and He seemed to
direct me to a young manwho kindly consentedto help me . The name of thi s place was MarbleRock . I might say that at this place no rel igious
84 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
rose so high at th i s t ime that every church , hal l,and schoolhousewas closed against me . No
place was left but the open grove or street corner . Many times during the past year I hadavailed mysel f of these privileges , with markedsuccess .As I said before , this young man . kindly con
sented to help me in the services at Marble Rock .
We had one service on Sabbath morning aton a large hi l l . Many people came to
the service . Numbers , no doubt , through curiosity, others to make l ight of it . We hadmorning and afternoon service
,and a brother
Oddfel low kindly consented to let us have hishouse for the night service . Thi swas a memor
able service to me . After my fri end had
preached , I gave out a hymn , and we made thedamper of the stove our first penitent
‘
form .
Five souls knelt that evening at the altar, andcried to God for me rcy . On the Sabbath daysfor two years
,these services were cont inued
by us . My text bookwas the Canadian Hymnal .When I preached
,i t was general ly from some
such hymn as,There i s a fountain fi l led with
blood,or
,What a Friend we have in Jesus .
On this hi l l I first met Brother F rank Goff,his home being only di stant a fewmiles . I tseems to me that I can see him st il l , s itting atthe trunk of a large tree . He held up hi s handfor prayer
,des iring to be remembered . Some
time after this Brother Goff sold out his earthlypossessions and went out as an evangel i st .
Thousands have since been converted throughhis instrumental ity .
F rom Romanism to Protes tantism. 85
As people sawthe good work thatwas beingdone the opposition gradual ly decreased , and I
was given a schoolhouse to preach in .
One eveningwe were much disturbed by anumber of young men in our meet ing . I toldthem thatwe must have order . After the servicewas over a number of them laid wait forme on the road bywhich I usual ly reached myhome ; but the Lord took me home anothe r waytha t night . To God be al l the glory .
I sti l l worked in the shop , but spent muchof my time lin this kind of work . Final ly Iwasimpres sed to go and spend a week or two ingiving my l i fe
’s experience night after night .
No doubt you will know that I had some hardships to endure . On one occas ion , after securing a schoolhouse to del iver my lecture in , theRomans found out my intentions , and they suc
ceeded in frustrating my plans by having theschool closed ; but a committee kindly rented
me a hall , and after my lecture was del ivered
they refused to take pay .
Short ly after this a young evangel ist washolding a revival about twenty-two miles frommy home . I had been help ing him,
and on
S abbath morning I announced that I wouldreturn on the fol lowing Tuesday evening togive my l i fe’s experience . The night turned outrough and stormy , and the roads impas sable ,forcing me to stay at home . Afterwards Iwasinformed that this night a number of men hadprepared to mob me . I have always bel ievedthat God brought about this storm to protect me
86 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
from evil . Never before or s ince have I disappointed a congregation , and Iwas taught byGod that He could prot ect mewhen I workedfor His glory .
We used to have cottage prayer meetings in
different homes in the town , call ing ourselvesThe Praying Band .
” Many times , whenpeople have been seriously i l l
,they would send
for us and have us pray for them . Never will
I forget one Sabbath afternoon . While beinggreatly burdened for my own people , i t seemedthat the Lord revealed the lost soul s to me asnever before
,and I received from Him what
I had never yet experienced . I had never hearda sermon on the baptism of fire
,but I knew I
had ‘it . I felt i t in my flesh,and as a fire shut
up in my bones that I could not stay . Thi s mademe more eager than ever to work for the Lord .
I remember one Sabbath night Iwas manym i les from home, and being caught in a storm ,
I did not get back unti l eight o’clock on Mondaymorning, too late to go to my work . I did not
understand why the Lord al lowed me to losemy forenoon’s work
,but I found out afterwards
—He had something for me to do . A ladywas passing away
,and requested me to go
and see her as soon as I returned . She wantedme to pray and sing for her
,but the Lord took
her away, and I expect to see her some day .
I nowreceived word to go and hold revivalservices about eighteen miles away ; so I went ,and on the first Sabbath morningwe had verygood success . No less than four pro fessed
Fro/m Romanism to Protes tantism. 87
salvation at that meeting . I worked there forabout a week
,while the enemy sorely tempted
me to quit the work and go home . I
thought itwas the voice of the Lord,and I
gave up the work, and went home with my
mind ful ly made up to never take another service . I thought I would j ust go to meeting,
go home , and confine mysel f to that . I thoughtth e Lord did not wi sh me to do work in thatway, and that Iwas dishonoring Him . Myfather—in-lawfor a long time had been anxiousfor my wi fe and I to go and l ive on a farm withhim.
88 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
CHAPTER IV .
MY CALL TO THE WORK .
In a short t imewe moved on a nice farm in
Springfield , a distance of about s ixteen miles .Here I sunk mysel f seven hundred dollars indebt . I had made up my mind to let no one
know that I had been a worker,and presented
my letter of recommendation to the minister,that Iwas a member in good standing . For a
month or more I j ust went to church on Sundaysand once through the week . The Rev . Mr .
Robertson,whowas our minister, heard that
I had been in the habit of taking meetings ,and asked me to take work at once . He ap
pointed me to take the morning services at
Rock Port,and God wonderfully blessed me
and my hearers .We commenced farming in March, and were
getting along nicely with the work . The ownerof the farm retired to Brockvil le
,but t iring of
retired l i fe,returned and wanted us to give
back the farm . This I did not want to do, asI l iked outs ide work . I felt that Godwantedme to preach
,but thought tnat I could do i t
and work on the farm too. God soon made thatimposs ible
,and showed me clearly that He want
ed me in the Gospel work .
On the fol lowing twenty-fourth of May my
My Call to the Work. 89
wi fe and I drove out to see a friend , and on our
return our horse ran away and pitched us bothout of the rig. My wi fe received no inj uries ,but I had a couple of ribs broken , which mademe unable to do my work . We were milkingforty-s ix cows at the t ime, so in a fewdays afterthe accident my wi fe’s wrists began to pain ;the painwas so severe she could not sleep, and
in a fewdays more the hired man took sick,leaving my wi fe’s father to milk the forty-sixcows .
It seemed impossible at this time to hire a
man or woman . The owner of the farm stil lwanted it back , and offered to take everythingoff my hands , and give me one hundred dollarsfor the time Iwas on it . I accepted this offerand in a short time moved back to Gananoquein our own house again . In thi sway the Lordblocked myway for farming, and I felt moreand more convinced that He h ad called me intothe work, and yet I did not feel sure .
About six.
months passed away,and stil l the
cal lwas before me . At last I said , Lord,i f
i t i s real ly Thy will that I should go into thework , give me some proof .
” I prayed a greatdeal over this , so one night I said , Lord
,i f I
am to go into the work, give me a dream inwhich I am conducting a meeting .
” When Iwoke up I had been right in the work . The
devi l had tried to make me think I would havedreamed that anyway, so I said ; Lord
,Gideon
had the second s ign ,” “
and asked Him to let medream the same again . Again I dreamed of
90 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
conducting a meeting . In the morning I saidto my wife
,I have had a definite cal l to the
work,
” but at night I prayed again and said ,
Let not the Lord be angry, and I wil l speakthis once . I f You want me in the Gospel fieldlet me dream that same th ing over again . Inthe morning when I awoke I had been in ameeting al l n ight
,and since that t ime I have
had either to preach or go to h el l .
My reader wi l l remember that at the age of
fourteen I lost my father, and at the age of
twenty-six Iwas converted , losing a mother’ssmiles and affections , and nowI am leaving mydear wife for a whi le to preach the Gospelamong strangers . But I am standing on thatblessed promise
,Lo, I am with you a lway ,
even unto the end of the world .
”
I nowsaid to the Lord , Lord , i f Thou wilt
sel l my horse for me,I shal l start on Thursday .
I then left i t al l with Him , and on WednesdayHe sent the man to buy the horse . Thi s wasa very trying time for me , but according to mypromise
,I gathered my clothes up
,andwas
ready to leave by noon .
We had an early dinner,after wh ich we
prayed together . God only knew i f i t wouldbe the last t ime
,but
,prai se Him
,i t wasn’t . My
wife came with me partway to the station ,and on a big hi l l we kissed ea ch other good
bye and wept . We then parted , and I took thetrain for Aultsville
,where I had a standing
invitation to hold a m’eeting . I was al l of
seven months away from home,and in al l that
92 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
Afterwe reached Shawville, late on Saturdaynight
,we had a distance of about ten miles towalk beforewe reached our destination . Aswecl imbed the hil l s and walked through the val leys
on that memorable night,we would pass everyfewmiles a small log house .
Iwas much tried on account of the distancebetween the houses and the
,apparent scarcity
of the people . Surely, I thought , much cannotbe accompli shed here Finally we reachedhome . It had been announced that I wouldpreach three times on the Sabbath . In themorning servicewe had a small congregation ,a larger number in the afternoon , but at nightthe buildingwas packed to the door . The mystery to mewas wh ere the people came from .
Throughout that winter I labored in Claringtondistrict . Th e fol lowing spring I got a largeGospel tent and continued preaching throughthat di strict during the summer . As nearly as
I can remember,I received less than one hun
dred dollars for my first year’swork . Pre
vious to my going out on thi s work I hadearned good wages , sometimes earning as highas fourteen dollars per week ; so my reader wi llunderstand that Iwas not working for money .
When I consecrated mysel f to the Lord for
this work I had promised Him that as long asmy wifewas provided for, and I had the necessaries of l i fe— even though my food should bebread and water—I would not murmur .
While in Lower Canada my health becamevery poor ; so that Iwas unable to proceed with
My Call to the Work. 93
my work as formerly,and almost thought that
i f thi s should continue,I might have to give
up the work ; and yet it seemed too bad , as theinvitat ions for me to go and preach were numer
ous .Iwas informed by two servants of God ,
that i f I would look to God for health He wouldgrant i t to me . So I made known my desi re tothe Lord and asked Him to restore my health .
In a short t ime my healthwas perfect ly restored ,and with thankful heart I continued my work
with renewed vigor .
Revival work has been my choice , for the
Lord has bles sed my labors very much in
Throwing out the l i fel ine to danger- fraughtmen
,S inking in angui sh where we
’ve never
been .
In the autumn of 1897 I Opened a new churchin the suburbs of Shawvil le, and made my homeat Mr . Will iam McDole
’s . Never wil l I forget
the fatherly and'
motherly care I received from
that aged couple . I remained th ere s ix weeks ;after which I went home on a vis it, having beenabsent about seven months . I spent a pleasanttime at home, including the Christmas hol idays ,for about three weeks . I might say here thataltogether I spent about two years in LowerCanada and in the out ski rts of Ot tawa .
I remember whi le there a voung French lady
got converted . She was very dlever, and one ortwo of her brothers were priests . She bel ieved
that her friends were determined to convey heraway by stealth to the nunnery . Shewas notthen l iving at home , but was among Protestant
94 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
friends . When she wished to attend churchwe would form a body guard around her
,and
see her safely to and from the church . Shewasmuch afraid to be alone a moment and wouldwarn us not to leave her . One night her mother
came to the church and tried first to coax andthen to compel her daughter to leave her Pro
testant friends and return home with her . But
to return with her mother meant to give upJesus
,and she chose rather to Suffer affl iction
with the people of God than to enj oy the pleasures of sin for a seasonA Cathol ic man and h is wi fe were also
soundly converted to the Protestant faith . Hispeople strongly urged him to give up the Pro
testant faith,but it was useless to talk along
that l ine to him,for he had experienced the new
birth . About two years a fter his convers ionGod cal led him to the better land . I visited himon his deathbed and witnessed a scene I hopenever to see again . During his last days hisfather
,mother
,and friends visited him
,with the
determination,no doubt
,to persuade him i f pos
sible to renounce hi s newbel ief . The dyingman lay th ere very weak in body, but strong in
the Lord . A day or two after these things hisspirit had fled . His remains were taken to theProtestant church on the day of the fun eral .A large congregation assembled
,for he was wel l
known . The front seats , as usual , were l eft forthe mourners , but no mourners came . Hisfriends refused to pay thi s last mark of respect ,and so strangers buried him . As I witnessed
My Call to the Work. 95
thi s scene the thought strongly impressed i tsel fon my mind S ome day you wil l be treated in
l ike manner ; but I thought, what differencewil l it make as long as I have Jesus with me"
When thy father and mother forsake thee,then the Lord wil l take thee up .
”
I could relate many other instances i f t imewould permit . Oh, the glorious victory ofwinning thi s class of people from darkness to light"One such instance i s worth the work of a li fe
time .Next I went with my Gospel tent to a place
called Algonquin,and remained there for five
weeks . Numbers were converted to the Lord .
One young man,who attended our meetings ,
and made l ight of them afterwards , took very
i l l of typhoid fever,and in about twenty days
he died.
’During hi s s ickness he had a wonderful
conversion . After sending for me, I went intohis room , and he said , Oh
,Mr . Coleman , Iwas mean in that meeting in refus ing to yield
to the Lord"” He prayed very much , and Godpardoned hi s s ins . The last morning of hi sl i fe, he told the people that hewas ready to
die, and, holding up his hands , said , I see theLord coming.
” In the act of kissing our
Saviour he passed away . We think hi s con
vers ion and dying testimony brought salvationto his wi fe, and many others . All the next
weekwe had great victory . Wholle famil ieswere seen at the altar seeking salvation . Onelady converted in those meetings died shortlyafterward , from consumption . In the last week
96 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
or two that she l ived she did nothing but preachto al lwho came to see her . It was wonderfulto hear her"Even hardened sinners
,moved to
the heart , would leave her bedside with tears .
Another lady converted in the same revivalwasso bitterly opposed by her husband for attending
,that he locked the door on her one night
and she had to spend the night in the cellar .
She told afterward that when the morning sunrose she felt sorry . God had been with her inthat cellar as never before , and she had spentmuch of the night prevai l ing with Him in prayerfor the conversion of her family . When I lookback nowand think howvery l ittle i t was thatI gave up for the Lord
,and howwonderful ly
He has blessed my efforts in bringing many outof . darkness into l ight , I feel lost in wonder ,love, and praise . F rom Algonquin I went toForester Falls , and held a revival there . OneMonday evening, to my great surpri se , a fter Ihad dismissed the congregation
,a Presbyterian
friend said to the people, Be seated .
” When
all were seated he walked forward to the front ,carrying a large parcel . He opened it, andl i fting out a beauti ful fur coat , wrapped it aboutmy shoulders
,saying, Here
,Mr . Coleman
,
please accept thi s smal l gi ft from your friends . ”
My heart was fil led with thankfulness . Many
times since that coat has kept me warm andcomfortable, and Iwant to say to the dear people of Forester Fall s that I have the coat yet .My next revival was on the outski rts of Pem
broke,and from there I went to Beachburg .
My Call to the Work. 97
While I remained at Beachburg I l ived in thehome of Mr . and Mrs . Gracie The town hal lhad been provided for me, and I gave themthree weeks’meetings . Next I went to Shawvil le
,and from there home . After a short rest
at home I went to the outskirts of Carleton
Place,and held a revival of five weeks . God
gave us many soul s . One evening the hotelkeeper
,with a number of his fri ends , drove over
to our meeting . When the invitat ionwasgiven for seekers to come forward , the hotelkeeper came forward with the others . Hewasthe worse for l iquor . The next night , to the surprise of us all , hewas at the meeting in goodtime
,respectably dressed, and when the invita
tion was given , came forward again to the altar .That night he went home a converted man andgave up the business of sel l ing Whiskey entirely .
He became an establ ished fol lower of the LordJesus . Two years after thi s Iwas privi legedto hold meetings in Carfle ton Place . This man’s
home being only about eight miles distant,he
attended the meetings . I found to my delightthat hewas sti l l pressing on in the goodway .
In this second revival hi s W i fe became con
verted. So muchwas accompli shed in thesemeetings that almost directly one whole year’sworkwas open for me . For some reason or
other, perhaps because of my lack of ministerialqual ifications
,I general ly have people attend my
meetingswho will not attend the ordinary services . Thi s seems to be my field of labor . Inthe spring of 1898 I went home for the purpose
98 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
of having a rest,and of working a whil e to
make some money for mysel f and wife . Wewere in need of a fewl itt le things for the house ,and besides , we had a fewdebts we wanted toclear off. I had been home about a week whenB rother Frank Goff ,who had been laboring inM eaford, came to my home and asked me toreturn with him . Some money unexpectedlycame to our home which made it pos sible forme to leave home at once . I rode on my wheelfor a distance of two hundred miles or more ,and on a Tlhursdav'I arrived at Mr .D ean’s . They
welcomed me to their home . Bro . Goff had alarge Gospel tent . We first put it up on the 9thl ine, near Meaford . Beforewe had finishedthere we received an invitation to hold our nextrevivall at Clarksburg . When the news reachedClarksburg
,the opposit ion became so great that
the manwho had sent us the invitation mountedhis horse in the night and came over to tel l u snot to come . We simply laughed and said , I fthere are as many devil s in Clarksburg as thereare tiles on the roof, we wil l go anyway .
” Onereason why we were so much opposed in thisplace was becausewe had carelessly left homewithout bringing any recommendations w ith us .
On the next Sabbathwe commenced our revivalin Clarksburg . At first very fewattended .
S ome called us Spiritual i sts , others Dowieites ;and even the Chri stian ministers of Clarksburgwarned their people to be careful about attending these meetings .But with al l thi s oppos ition the Holy Ghost ,
100 My Life, Travels , and S ermons .
himsel f of the though t that he did not possessthi s real peace— f f the gi ft of God
’s love .
” Atlast
,he thought, I am going to get rid of thi s . ”
So he went out in the orchard and had a smoke .
But the pipewas not suffi cient to smother thesti ll, small voice in hi s hea rt. So he enteredthe house and inquired , Where is that hymnbook"”They gave it to him . He Opened the book ,and there before hi s eyes lay the hymn that hadso troubled him . He read it through , closedthe book
,and went outside much troubled . I
will soon get rid of thi s,” he said to himsel f , so
he proceeded to take two or three drinksthinking this would help him"But not so. Con
viction only deepened ; and I have heard him tel lmore than once that that nightwas a memorableone to him . The Holy Spirit so mightily trou
bled him that he wanted to come over to the
tent in the night . He tells us that before morning hewas in such agony of mind over his lostcond ition that it took four men to hold him inbed . The next evening he came to the tent, andj ust as hewas entering, I unknowinglywasgiving out that hymn that had so troubled him ,
Sweet peace, the Gift of God’s love .”
I want to say , dear reader, that itwas a greatvictory to see dear B ro . Smithson trembl inglymake hisway to the altar that night , with manyothers . He and hi s family have since becomeestabl ished Chri stians
,and have j oined the
Methodist Church . Many times s ince he has
102 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
found hisway to the pulpit , and has preachedto others the unsearchable riches of Christ .Ask him to-day what hi s favorite hymn is ,and he wi l l tel l you
Sweet peace, the Gift of God’s love .
In about four weekswe moved to Heathcote ,a distance of about five miles , and I remainedthere with Bro . Goff about two weeks , afterwhich I went home
,having important business
to attend to . When I had been home about aweek I received a letter from Rev . Mr . Moore ,of Thornbury and Clarksburg
,stating that the
Quarterly Board desired me to return and givethree revivals in the three churches on his ci rcuit . Some weeks after I retuined and gavetwo revivals , one in Thornbury and o-rie on thetown- l ine . In this reviva'l five of Mr . McCaus
l in’s family were converted .
“ One of them afterwards became a preacher, and I bel ieve God hasmighti ly used him in the conversion of s inners,and in leading bel ievers into the experience of
perfect love .The demands for me in other places were so
great that I did not remain on th i s ci rcuit for thethird revival
,but wen t to Tottenham , to assist
Rev . Mr . Large on that circuit . My first re
vival therewas at the Connor appointment .There I remained for five weeks , where Godgave me some very dear fri ends .
At my first service about seventeen were present
,but from night to night the congregation
increased,unti l the building was crowded to the
door .
104 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
So the good work of God went on . Afterthi s I returned to assi st Revs . Large andWallace , at Beaton , Ont . , where a goodly number were born again and received into theChurch . Thi s being the month of March, 1900 ,
I went home for a short rest , and in the montho f Apri l I returned to M r . D insmore’s home in
Clarksburg,where I made mysel f a large Gospel
tent and prepared for the summer’s work . InMay we set up my new tent in Mr . D insmore
’s
grove , and on Sunday , the 2 7th ,held the dedi
cation service . We have always bel ieved thatno less than twenty soul s were blessed that dav .
In that revival the power of God was mani festedas I had not seen it for years .
Fewof the services held there could be closedbefore twelve o’c‘lock at night .From there I moved to Mr . Hewgill’s grove .
Itwas a beauti ful s ituation . I placed my tentalongside a clear-flowing stream . The birdssang in the branches above me and the grass
beneath mewas l ike a carpet . I was there ass i sted by B rothers Norman McCauslin andFrank Hewgill, who had been converted in mymeetings recentl and had given their l ives
into this work . A fter la‘boring there for fiveweeks I moved to Duncan
,a place three miles
distant . Here I held the crowning revival of thesummer . As there was no church here , the religious services were held in a smal l Orange hall ,the English church minister and the Methodistminister preaching alternately once in twoweeks .
During our short stay in Duncan , I believe one
A GRO"P OF YO"NG PREACHERS .
106 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
hundred and forty souls experienced the newbirth
,and at the close Of thi s revival I felt
strongly impressed that this people should havea church to worship in . SO while a number Ofkind friends took down my tent and moved i tto Clarksburg
,wherewe were going to hold
ten-days’meetings,I went around among the
farmers,taking up a subscript ion for a new
church . Mr . A . McKewen headed the l i st bydonating the grounds and fifty dol lars . I met
with such a spi rit Of l iberal ity among the peoplethat I had very l ittle trouble in securing thepromise O f enough money to build a church .
The people felt that a church was needed , and
gave accordingly . SO the stakes were set'
for
the newchurch and the stone foundation laidthat fal l . At first the intent ion Of the peoplewas to build a frame church
,but after consid
eration they decided that it should be brick .
In the ten-days’meetings held at Clarksburgwe had three services a day through the weekand five on the Sabbath . This series of meetings wil l never be forgot ten by the Clarksburg
people . I took sudden'ly ill in the closing service, andwas carried from the tent in a semiconscious condit ion to the home of kind friends,who took care of me unti l I recovered . As itwas nowsomewhat late in the autumn, I put mytent away for the wint er months and went backto assi st Rev . Mr . Wash ington ,who was nowstationed on the Klineburg Circuit, near TO
ronto . We spent some rich times together inthe services and in visiting from house to house.
108 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
commendation from thi s district . At last Idecided to return with Mrs . Hall to Briti shColumbia .
I received from the different ministers thefollowing recommendations :
January 1sth 190 1 .
This certifies that I am acquainted with Mr.
Coleman, the bearer Of thi s document . For
about two years he has been holding Evangelistic services through these parts
,and through
hi s instrumental ity many have been saved .
I esteem him,as I think al l dowho know him ,
as a man of God,and a zealous worker in His
cause .M . L . PEARSON ,
Ex-President Toronto Conference .
Chairman O f the D i strict .Indorsed by H . MOORE
,Jan . 15 , 190 1 .
Pastor M . C.,Thornbury .
Inglewood,Ontario
,April 12 ,
1900 .
Bro. F rank Coleman held revival services forfour weeks in F ebruary and March last 1n Inglewood . They were marked by the presence andpower of God, and were fruit ful in good re
sults to the Church and to outsiders .Bro . Coleman has special gi fts for Evangel
istic work. The emphasi s with which he proclaims the doctrines and experiences, special lyemphasized by the success ful Evangel i sts andm inisters of earl ier Methodism , i s an el ementof great power, and thi s , together with j udiciousmanagement and a loving sp ir it, by the bless ing
‘
Of God,made the meetings a great success .
GEORGE WASHINGTON ,B .A . ,
Pastor .
My Call to the Work 109
Towhom it may concern.
We are l iving in an age which seems to demand special qualifications for a special work .
The more a person is engaged 1n special work,the more proficient they become 1n the same .
I t can be truly said Of Bro . F rank Colemanthat he 18 a man Of God, qual ified by God theHoly Ghost for the special work in which hei s engaged . He has labored with us in Beatonfor a period O f three weeks , and his work hasbeen blessed of God in the building-up Of thepeople and in the conversion of the s inners toChrist . We hearti ly commend our brother toany ministerwho may desire the help Of onequal ified for special work .
W . W . WALLACE ,
Pastor .Beaton
,Apri l 24,
On a brigh t S aturday morning in February ,Mrs . Hall and her l ittle gi rl
,Marj orie, and I
took the train from Thornbury to B riti sh
Columbia . We were five days and n ights on thejourney .
This wil l be a memorable j ourney to me aslong as I l ive . Whenwe reached Winnipegwe had to wait there for about six hours .While waiting I walked through the principalstreets Of the town , but itwas so cold I couldnot keep warm with two undercoats and a largefur coat on . As we passed over the prairies ,I was told by those famil iar with the routethat the paths Of the buffalo can sti l l be seen .
The mountains , while stil l one hundred miles
1 10 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
distant , could be plainly seen by us . When Iawoke in the morning, about two O’c‘lock,wewere in the mountains . Oh "~ those toweringpeaks , and yawning chasms Looking backward I could see the long train windingsnakel ike along the s ides of the mountains .Sometimeswe would enter a tunnel , and in amoment would be enveloped in total darkness .Then suddenly the train would dash out intothe bright sunlight . At lastwe reached theGlac ier House
,where the train stopped long
enough for the passengers to have breakfast .
Near this Glacier House there are thousands
Of acres of sol id ice and snow , and the waterrunning from beneath this field Of ice and snow
past the Glacier House , i s a beauti ful" sight . Ihad been told by Mrs . Hall that the weatherin British Columbia was warm , but it seemedto me the nearer I approached that country thecolder it got . The evening before we reached
NewWestminster, I looked out and sawthatthe trainwas covered with ice ; icicles werehanging from the s ides . Mrs . Hall remarked ,TO-morrow ,
about noon,we shal l be in NewWestminster . ” Wel l
,
” I thought,
“ theweather wi ll have to change wonderful ly i f it i swarm there . ” Sure enough ,we reached NewWestminster the next day . The sunwas shining brigh tly, and the weather seemed to meto be as warm as summer .I had intended resting a week after reaching
NewWestminster, as I felt tired from thej ourney . But
,
' on the fol lowing Sabbath , Iwas
1 12 M3: Life, Travels and S ermons .
After my tents were completed I left thecity for Chil l iwack, wh ere I had a standinginvitat ion to attend the camp meeting whichis annually held there . Before Iwas long th ereIwas in formed that I might expect to be askedto submit to an examination on doctrine
,before
the chai rman of the D i stric t . The Rev. Ebenezer Robsonwas present during the examination
, and he and the chairman , Rev . T. W . Hal l ,agreed that Iwas in strict a ccordance withtheir standards of doctrine . On thi s historicalcamp ground there are two large frame bui ldings , almost surrounded by a semi—circle of
smaller houses , consisting of two or three roomseach, where the people l ive during their twoweeks of M p l i fe .
One of the large buildings mentioned abovei s used exclusively for the Indians ,who assemble here sometimes in great numbers . I twasinteresting to see them, after the night serv ice ,s itting in circles on the ground around thei rcamp fires
,s inging, until a late hour, the sweet
songs of Z ion .
-I had the privi lege of preaching
to fihem twice while there,Mr . Crosby, the
M i ssionary to the Indians, acting as interpreter.Iwas privi'leged also to preach to the wh ite
people two or three times , and to take someof the a fter-meetings . We had a grand campmeeting. At the close I put up my Gospeltent in Chill iwack
,where, for four weeks ,we
had good meetings . S ince I had been out in
this work,I have nowhere met with greater
kindness thanwas shown me by the people o~f
Chil l iwack valley .
"My Call to the Work. 1 13
My next move was to Ladner , situated onthe Fraser River
,and ’ about fourteen miles
from NewWestminster . Thi s was a verybusy time both among the farmers and in the
fish canneries . S ome advised me to take ashort vacation unti l the rush of workwas over .Thi s I d id . During my vacation I made it mybusiness to visi t the different canneries . The
first I visited was at Point Roberts . I willnever forget the s ight . I think there were fiveor six large scows ‘ loaded with beauti ful redsalmon . I watched the Chinese and Japanese
laborers as they un‘loaded the fish and threw
th em into the large slaughterhouse . Each fish-is separately dealt with . First the head , tail ,and fins are severed from the body , then it i spassed to another man , who thoroughly scrubs
and washes it,under a constantly flowing
stream'
of water . The fish i s next conveyed
in loads to another part o f the cannery,where
it i s pressed into cans and the l ids soldered down .
This part i s al l done by machinery . These
cans are then carried in truck- loads to the largefurnace
,where the fish is cooked and each can
examined . I t i s then placed in the Warehouseready for market .I had always had my doubts about whether
canned fishwas clean or not , but since seeingthe way the work is done, al l
’ my doubts havebeen removed .
‘It i s only'
about once in four
years that the fish in the Fraser River are sonumerous as I saw them in the year 190 1 . I
have only described my visit to one of the many
1 14 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
large canneries buil t along the banks of the
Fraser . It was a real treat for me to see thehundreds of fishing boats dotting the surface ofthe F raser River . To give my reader some
idea of the multitudes of fish found here,I
might say that o ften these large boats are fil ledinside of an hour . The fish are conveyed by
scow-loads from the boats to the cannery .
I spent another part of my vacation diggingclams out of the beach , with the Rev. Mr . Scott .I also spent a short time at Engl i sh Bay , Van
couver . This i s a summer resort, ofwhich
many people avail themselves during the summer months . Here, while the weather i s warm ,
you can see numbers of both sexes in bathing
from morning til l night . I enj oyed the luxuryof a sea-bath many times mysel f while there .My vacation of two weeks being ended , I
proceeded to Ladner, where I held meetings fortwo weeks . The beginning of a good workwas done here . After promising them to re
turn I left for Vancouver, to assist in a tendays meeting .
A fter this I went to Langly Pra irie to assi stRev . Mr . Sharp . We had large crowds andgrand success . My home , while I was there ,was at Mr . T. Mutford
’s .
We next gave a week’s meetings at Tynehead . B el ievers were helped
,backsl iders re
claimed,and sinners converted he re . At our
last meeting held there every person was forward , not one unsaved person remained awayfrom the altar .
1 16 M y Life, Travels and S ermons .
My last revival was held at Fort Langly .
A few great victories were won here . Thi sfbeing the latter part of November, a
’
nd as'
I }
had now been away from home almost a year,
“
I began to make preparations to return for the '
Chri stmas hol idays .On November 2 3rd I took the boat for New
'
Westminster . When I reached there I founda letter awaiting me from Mr . McKewen,Duncan
,Ontario . My reader wi ll recol lect .
that this was the place where the crowning re
vival of my last summer’s Work in the East
“ took place,and where the people had given so
liberally towards the bui lding of thei r newbrick church .
The letter was from M r . McKewen,inform
ing me that thei r new' churchwas almost ready;to open , and that I should return and conductthe opening services . I sent Mr . McKeWen
,
word that I could be there for the open ing on:D ecember 8th . From there I expect to go homefor my
"
.Christmas hol idays .
When I took“ back over theyears , and thinkof the wonderfulway in which God has l ledme -out of darkness into l ight , ‘ I look upi to .
Him in deep thankfulness . Andwhen I kneltwith my back to the altar
,when a
~
l ittle'
boy,"
“
unconscious ly, it seems to have'
been a'
blesséd
prophecy , for in the future I did turn my backupon forms and ceremonies
,the world and
darkness , and faced around to the l ight of God .
I can say that even thi s book has been a
great blessing to me already . In this great
Mi ' Call lo thework. 1 17
work that the Lord has given me to do , therehave been few thorns and manv roses along my
path:
I t i s with great pleasure that I think of al lthe people I have met , and from whom I havereceived such kindness . A lthough many havepassed away to the better ‘land , and many I shal lnever see again
,they al l h ave a warm spot in
my heart . "O memory,pricel ess gift of God"
I am determined to travel thi s way alone , i f Ishould have to,
and on the great JudgmentMorning
,when the dead come forth
,I shall
come forth with my garments washed in theblood of the Lamb .
Now,dear reader
,in conclusion
,I would
say, with the poet
I have tried many ways to the Kingdom ,
But thi s i s the best of them al l ;I t took all th e shrinking from Peter
,
And strengthened both S i las and Paul .
When fast in the stocks o f the pri son,
I fancy I hear them both say :Oh , the toi l s of the road wil l seem nothingWhen we get to the end of the way
.
’
When leaving B riti sh Columbia for the East,
I was given the fol lowing recommendations :
With pleasure I bear my testimony to themarked and continued efficiency of the laborsof Evangel ist B ro . F . C . Coleman during thepast ten months . His first series of meetingsin B riti sh Columbia was held on my circuit
.
Wh i le there, there were many remarkable con
1 18 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
vers ions,and several backsl iders were restored,
The most marked feature of the work amonguswas the sanctification of bel ievers , some of
whom received the conscious infilling of theHoly Ghost
, of Whose indwell ing as a definiteexperience they can testi fy to thi s day . Wehad al so a very blessed and widespread revivalamong the Sabbath S chool chi ldren . BrotherColeman is emphatical ly a man of ‘
one book .
’
His teaching 15 not only thoroughly evangel ical ,but intensely Wesleyan, being in perfect harmony with Rev . John Wesley’s Plain Accountof Christ ian Perfection .
’While B ro. Colemanis wel l qualified by the grace of God to be helpful to any pastor who wil l give him ‘right ofway,
’he i s especial ly adapted to be useful among
Methodists , as all of hi s presentations of doctrine are most surely bel ieved among us
,though
,
alas"seldom possessed and enjoyed .
J. P . BOWELL,
( S ecretary of the B . C . Conference,and former
pastor of the West End Circuit,New
Westminster . )
New Westminster,B C.
Dec . 2nd, 190 1 .
Towhom it may concern
This certifies that B ro . F rank Coleman hasbeen engaged in evangel i st ic work on thi s Distriet s ince last June . At our first meeting, onJune 29th, Bro. Coleman wi ll ingly submittedto an examinat ion conducted by Bro. EbenezerRobson and mysel f
, on the doctrines bel ievedand preached by him
,andwe found Brother
Coleman,as far as gone in his study , in strict
harmony with our standards of doctrine, his
120 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
good opportunity to observe the methods andstatements of doctrine o f B ro . Coleman
,and
cons ider his methods highly commendable andhis doctrines sound . B ro. Coleman’s work isdeep . sound , and spi ritual , and I have greatllopes of the stabilitv of the Christian l i fe of
those who have been led by the Spirit into newness o f l i fe through the agency of our brother .
Cordial ly submitted ,
Rev .w. J. S I PPRELL ,B .A.
,B .D .
124 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
The Apostle Paul said , Be not deceivedGod i s not mocked for whatsoever a mansoweth , that shal l he also reap .
”L et us look
for a moment at God’s deal ings with men inthe past . Let us turn to Genesis
,and
.see how
God dealt with humanity after they had beenfaithful ly warned by Noah to renounce their
wickedness .God’s wrath was poured out in the form
of water , and al l , save eight souls ,who hadnot defiled themselves , were destroyed . Let
us next vi sit the cities of the plains . We be
hold S odom and Gomorrah , thos e beauti fulcit ies
,and I imagine I hear the inhabitants say,
God is love .
”But I look again , and what do
I see" Fire and brimstone descending .upon
the defenceless heads and homes of the inhab
itants .
History states that in the past , fifty-two cities,
besides towns and vil lages , have been destroyedby earthquakes .When the I sraelites 'were j ourneying t0 ' the
Promised Land,t housands of
‘
them were destroyed
'
because‘
of s in .
I imagine I h ear my reader say,
"
Thosecalamities occurred in the old dispensatic
’
m.
’
We
l ive in a new dispensation; and these things
have been done away with .
”
Our Lord'
is the same ; He has not changed .
He is the same yesterday,to for
ever . Let me ask you to read the 9th chapterof Mark, where Jesus speaks of the worm thatdieth not , and the fire that i s not quenched , and
S ermons . I 2 G
then turn with me'
to the l 6th chapter of Luke ,
and there behold the rich man looking afar
Off,and pleading that Lazarus might be sent
with a drop of water to cool hi s parched tongue ,for he said , I am -tormented in thi s flame .
”
Turn again to Rev . 2 1 : 8, and listen to thewords of thi s God Of love , as He tel l s us -whatshal l .. become of the fearful and unbel ieving,and the abominable
,and murderers , and
whoremongers,and sorcerers
,and . idolaters ,
and a ll liars .”
God says ,“They ' shal l have
their . part in the lake which burneth with fire
and brimstone .
”
The great day Of God’s wrath i s not yet come .
John - the D ivine,' looking down through the
great telescope of l i fe,
“ saw the dead,small and
great, stand before God ,” waiting to receive
thei r sentence— some O f eternal happiness andothers O f eternal woe . God has greatly favoredus,
“by reveal ing to us, through the revelation
giventoQJoh‘
n,the t hings thatwi l l surely come
to Before us , dear ' reader, l i es the pictureo f the j udgment, placed there by the loving handof our God
,so
“
thatwe may -not be deceived :
In thi swe surely,
must appear . There,
. in mid
heaven,s its the Judge . A mighty angel spreads
the book Of ‘ God’s -
”remembrance . p palling
s i lence re lgns . Man, angel, and devil stand
motionless . Now from. the Judge the longexpected sentence fal l s u pon : the wicked
,and
from H is presence they are"dr iven into endles‘
snight
,to weep and wai l
"
for; evermore .
Those who received the sentence Of eternal
12 6 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
woe may weep for mercy , and methinks I canhear the cries of the eternal ly lost"The Judgenowto the righteous turns , and approves themthus : Come, ye blessed Of My Father ; inheritthe kingdom prepared for you from the founda
tion of the world .
”
Where are the wicked " Come and see .
There i s the burnmg pit , and from the fire I
hear,as it were
,voices saying, Have mercy
on me,and send Lazarus that he may dip . the
tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ,for I am tormented in thi s flame"” Across the
fiery gul f,over which angelic pinions never
passed , the damned see the heaven of boundlessand nightless glory
,which they have for ever
lost . The day of mercy has for ever passed,
and the reign Of j udgment has commenced .
Where are the righteous " Come and see .
Lead me, Thou I l lustrious One , to the Palaceof
'
the great King.
” What superb gates arethese These are the gates O f Z ion . Whatbeauti ful streets, and these j asper wal ls ; howgreat and high"Howcalm
,lovely
,and change
less i s the l ight of th i s c ity"These mansions,
oh, howvast and resplendent"These goldenstreets, how glittering"Wlhat river i s this
,
sweeping onward in maj est ic grandeur"I ti s the River Of L i fe which proceedeth out Of thethrone Of God and the Lamb . Oh
, howsweetlythose happy beings s ing as they
‘
compass thethrone of Him Who was slain for the redemption of the world , and howglorious nowap ~
pear the wounds , which He received on Cai
128 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
S ERMON NO. I I .
OVERCOM ING THE WORLD .
Whosoever is born of God doth not comm it'
sin .
”-I . John 3 : 9 .
Someone has well put the following questions
,with their wisely-drawn conclusions .
‘I fa man gets drunk , what i s he" A drunkard"I f he gambles , what i s he" A gambler . I f hesteal s , what i s he" A thief . I f he murders ,what is he" A
.
murderer .
'
Then i f he sins,
what i s he" Surely not,
a Chri stian"There can be no doubt that a great -many
people who to-day cal l themselves Christians,
are deceived by thei r own blindness . Theypick out the trust passages in their l ittle
marked,l i ttle—worn B ibles
,and lul l themselves
more soundly asleep every day,in a self-begot
ten assurance of mercy . Such people as these
Often find their way into our testimony meetings
,and Sunday a fter Sunday give an exper
ience something like thi s :“ I am thankful for
what the Lord has done for me . I know Iam very unfaithful
,but I want to do better ;
and I thank God for the good des ires He hasgiven me .
”Test thi s person
,and he has to
admit that he 13 not an overcomer SO far
from the B ible standard Of“ more than con
querors through Him That loved us,he i s a
l ittle less than conqueror . His temper i s great
S ermons . 129.
er than . hi s strength ; his fear wi l l only let him
testi fy Onconvenient occasions ; hi s pride pro
hibits him from recognizing all h i s acquaint
ances ; hi s mal ice succeeds in holding spite ;hi s stinginess keeps him from giving cheerful
ly ,and i t maybe he has secret s ins he wil l not
tel l you of. He may not have al l these fail ings ,but he that Offendeth in one point i s gui ltyof al l .
Who dares to say,I am
'
a Christian , a
member of the church of Christ— the bride,the Lamb’s wi fe
,arrayed in fine l inen
,clean
and white,
” and yet continue in his un-Christl ike actions"
,Who can say,
“The Lord is my
Shepherd,
” and then fol low the thief thatcometh up some other way”" Who can say,“ I consecrate mysel f to Jesus , and yet befound partaking Of the very fol l ies the worldloves". When Jesus said that His di sciples
were not of the -world,He meant it . Pure
rel igion and undefiled .before God and the Fa
ther does not consi st in doing as we l ike al lday, and asking . forgiveness at night ; itdoes not consist in Offering .
God what i s lefta fter We have satisfied the flesh ; but it i s thi sTo V i s it the fatherles s‘ and widows in theiraffl iction , and to keep himsel f unspotted fromthe world I t means Jesus first
,Jesus only
,
and Jesus always . I t means a heart for ever
closed to all but Him .
” Not one whit less thanthi s:
S eek ye first the Kingdom of God and Hisrighteousness ,
”1s a passage Often quoted , but
130 My Life, (Travels and S ermons .
l ittle practiced . Rea l ly,i t seems as i f i t were
anything but Jesus first .
Room,for business
,room for pleasure
,
But for Chri st,the crucified
,
Not a place that He can enterIn the heart for which He died .
True, many hearts wi l l offer Him some place,but on the unexpressed, though understood,condition that He keep si lent
,only when they
wish to display His virtue, or on such occasions
as they might be afraid to walk alone . Butsince our Lord wil l never take up any abodeunless it be free to Him, yea , and to Him
alone, i t may be that some fal se spirit of darkness
,trans formed into an angel of l ight,
”
has taken up his abode in such a heart, and ispers i stently singing his lul laby of “ Peace ,peace l”wher. there i s no peace .There i s a great deal of talk about faith inthese days
,but a great deal O f ignorlng that
“ faith without works i s dead, There i s a
great deal of talk about consecration , but veryl ittl e working at it . In the enthusiasm of great
conventionswe love to s ing M i ss Havergal’shymn
Take my li fe and let i t beConsecrated , Lord, to Thee .
Too often,we fear, thi s hymn is sung byprofessorswho use thei r 'lives, hands, feet, s i lver
,talents
,voices
,wil l s , hea rts, and love, al l
on their own business, and their own pleasure .
They say, Oh, for a thousand tongues to
132 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
. Under the direction’
of the Holy 'Ghost,we
bel ieve, we have been -trying . to write what ' aChri st ian is not ; and , under that same direction ,we want now to
'
speak of what a Christian ,
i s'
,
and we shal l j ust take S cripture for it .Jesus
says , Not everyone that saith unto Me,Lord
,
Lord , shal l enter into.
the Kingdom of Heaven ;but he that doeth the wil l o f My Father Whichi s in heaven .
”This can mean nothing less
than what it says . “ He that i s born of Goddoth not commit sm. Oh
,you say
, . thi s
harping about l iving W i thout sin .
” Yes, and
i t ~ i s the same harping all through the B ible .
God wil l have a people of clean hands,
”o r
He .will have no people at all . I, would
thouwert cold or hot , He says . Becausethou art luke-warm
,and neither cold nor hot ,
I wi l l spue thee out of My mouthA Christ ian
,we bel ieve
,I S j ust what John
Wesley said of a Methodist Onewhose onedesire i s the one des ign of h is l i fe
,namely
,to
do not his own wil l , but the will o f Him That
sent him. His one intention at al l t imes and inall places is not to please himself ; but ,HimWhom his soul loveth . . As he loves God, sohe keeps His commandments ; not only some
or most of them,but al l , from ~ the least to the
greatest . He is not content to‘keep the whole
law and offend in one but has,in al l
points ‘a conscience void of offence towardGod and toward man .
’ Whatever God has for
bidden,he avoids ; whatever God has enj oined ,
he does . It i s his dai ly crown of j oy to‘do
S ermons .,
133
the wil l bf God on earth , as it i s -done in heaven .
’There i s no lower state o f grace than
that of l iving without wil ful s in . We read ofno state lower than j ustification
,and certainlywe find no such thing as j ustifiable s in . Where
can the now—a-day professors find S criptureprinciple to back up their s inning religion" I tis
'
a wonder to common sense,and i s an error
for which they wil l smartly pay,unless they
repent before borrowed breath i s lent to themno more .
A fol lower of Jesus i s onewho knows something of -what it i s tO ‘ drink of the
'
cup'
that
He'
drank of ;'
to go with Him through the
garden,and keep with Him all theway . One
who loves to si t at Hi s feet and learn O f Him,
and 'who loves to go and do those things hehas learned ; He
Takes time -to be holy,
Speaks oft with hi s Lord ,Abides in Him . always ,And feeds on Hisword
Makes friends o f God’s chi ldren,
Helps thosewho are weak ,Forgetting in nothingHis blessing to seek .
’
A Christian bears. the fru it o f a Chri stian .
Every branch in Me that beareth -not fruitHe taketh away .
” I f a branch bear not th e
fruit Of the Spir it there is great’
reason' for
alarmf ~ The Husbandman a'lways finds the
134 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
fruit in its season when He comes to the branchthat abides in the vine .
A Christian ,we bel ieve, never owns.
anything— he i s only steward over his Lord’s possess ions . When occasion comes to spend moneyevery cent of i t goes with the blessing of God
upon it . SO far as he knows,he spends it j ust
as Jesuswould . He may make mistakes in
jiidgment, but is free from sin of the heart .
A great deal Of interest has been arousedover Sheldon’s idea l Christian
,and many have
smiled atwhat they term too good to be true,”
“impossible
,
” etc . But let the scorner
'
showus where Jesus preached a Christian l i fe at al l
that was anything less than Sheldon’s ideal
In His S teps .”
A Chri st ian has a single eye , and that fixed
on Jesus ; he has a miss ion in l i fe , and he can
not be stopped in it . O f course,i f he i s
stopped,he no longer goe s ahead , and wil l
only have to start again before he dare bearthe holy name of a di sciple of Him Who left
the glori es of His Father’s home to die on
Calvary .
A Christian i s Of a hospitable spirit . He
may know very l ittle of what men cal l wealth ;but hospital ity i s no form with him. I t i swhole-hearted , and does not come from thattrifl ing disposit ion that good-naturedly “ putsthe bottle to hi s brother
’s l ips —whether thatbottle has passed over the blood-stained bar ,or has been fil led in the kitchen at home, i tmatters not—but it comes from that spirit that
136 M y L ife, Travels and S ermons .
Take my intel lect— no talent of ' mine shal l belent to the enemy of souls .
Take my S 1lver and my goldNot a mite wil l I withhold .
Take my wil l ;'
no more shal l I ask,Would
I l ike to do thi s"” but -_always ,
“ I s i t Thypleasure"” The quest ion shal l not be
“
_Whith
er"” but only.
“ Whence"” Take my heart;no strange idol shal l have one word to say inits rul ing ; i ts door i s locked , and Jesus holdsthe keys .
Take mysel f,and I w il l be
Ever,only
, all for Thee .
”
I .wi l l abstam from al l amusements and habitsupon wh ich I cannot real ize God’s bless ing .
I .wil l follow the example o f Christ so closelythat I wi ll never be found anywherewhere myLord would not lead me ; never do anythingHe would not help me to do ; never withholdanything He would ask of . me ; n ever singany song that would, not be melody to Him ;never read any book that i s not in harmonywith the teachings of His book ; never harbora thought that my Master would be displeasedto findwhen He searches the heart and reins ;but “flee these things
,and fol low after right
eousness, godliness , faith, love , pat ience, meekness ; fight the good fight of faith ; lay hold011 eternal l i fe .
”S teadfast
,immoveable
, al
ways abounding in the work of the Lord .
”
S ermons . 137
l used to pray,Oh
,help me , Lord ,
That I may keep the narrow way ,And feed upon Thy l iving word ,And never
,never disobey .
”
And then I’d say ’twas all in vain ,I never could such vict
’ry gain ;
But when I le ft the world behind,
And came,in faith
,thi s grace to find ,
Down at His feet, and pleading there,I found that Jesus answers prayer .
138 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
SERMON No. I I I .
THE CRUCIF I"ION OF THE OLD MAN.
Knowing this,that our old man is crucified
with Him .
” —Rom .
Th i s old man is as old as Adam . He foundhis first home in the hearts of our first parents ,and ever s ince he has been a welcome guestto thei r posterity .
We would impress our reader with thethough t that be fore salvation can be obtained
thi s crucifixion of the old man must take place ,and for thi s reason so fewpeople receive thenewbirth . You wil l have some idea Of the old
mode of crucifixion among the Jews , and whatit meant to the criminal . There was noth ing
pleasant about it . O ftt imes he would weepand plead for d el iverance , and would never gounti l compel led . The old mode of crucifixion
among the Jewswas after thi s manner : F i rstthe criminalwas tied to the cross . Then the
first nai lwas driven in . Oh , howhe wouldgroan and plead for liberty Fewpeople couldstand and look on without being greatly moved ,even though it was the unanimous feel ing thathe should die . S ti l l , at the expense of al l this,the crucifixion went on . When the nai l s haveal l been driven into hi s hands and feet , the
140 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
crucifixion, they always obtain an unmistakableevidence of thei r acceptance . Thi s i s whatcauses people to rej oice and praise the Lordwith all thei r hearts . They have received anexperience they love to tel l about
,and , l ike the
Apostle Paul,they can say
,I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ . for i t i s th e power ofGod unto salvation .
You wi ll never find a clear witness of j ustification among people who ignore th is crucifixion . But they l ive in that up and down ex
perience
S ometimes trusting,sometimes doubting
,
lSometimes j oyful,sometimes sad .
This i s a sad state of affairs,under the
Gospel light,for men and women to be groping
their way in darkness,not knowing whi
'
t‘herthey go . I t i s very different from what theApostle Paul tried to preach after h is crucifixion on his way to Damascus .
We have two classes of people to deal with .
For instance, two come to the altar . One
ignores crucifixion . He wil l not cruci fy hisfear, and give hi s voice up to God in prayer .Then his pride comes up and says
,You can
not pray ; you wi ll make mistakes , and the people wi ll only make light of you .
” And so ittriumphs , and he does not get the bless ing .
And ”i f hi s spiritual adv isers have not a properconception of crucifixion
,they will advise him
to claim it by faith . They will turn over to
the Gospel s and quote passages such as,
“ He
S ermons . 141
that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out,or
,He that bel ieveth on the Son of God hath
everlasting l i fe,
” or,
“ Bel ieve on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou ‘
shalt be saved . Theyforget that thi s i s only part of the -plan ofredemption
,-so t hey advi se him to arise and
testi fy . that God has saved himby faith , andtel l zhim ‘
not - to doubt , but hold on , when hehas nothing to h old to . So he leaves the altarwithout the c rucifixion
;consequently without
salvation . Now,the individual t ri es to ll ive by
faith ,without the witness of his acceptance .
Watch ‘him in l i fe, and you will soon see thathis . life i s _no better , with
'
the exception of
being reformed from some of his grosser s ins .
He goes'
to church— not because he loves togo
,but he feel s i t to be hi s duty . You might
catch him in class-meeting sometimes,and
,i f so
,
you would almost gather from his looks that
he -was at a funeral . The fact o f the matteri s , he has no j oy , no peace, nor no sati s faction .
But by the t ime the clas s leader reaches himhe i s al l in a tremble
, but when urged to speak ,he ari ses and test ifies in an almost inaudibletone, and i s glad when it i s over . Some such
pro fessors take up family prayer, and some donot . We think it i s immaterial whether they
do or not , for we read in the Sacred Book thatGod does not h ear sinners
,but if any man be
a worshipper of God , him He beareth .
”
Yes , i f you have watched such a person , youhave al ready noticed that, at times , his temper
gets the better of him , and hi s fear triumphs ,
142 M31 Life, Travels and S ermons .
and so with all h is inward foes . To spiritualpeople this i s a sad sight .
Reader, you wil l observe thatwe stated thattwo came to the altar for salvation . You cansee what the first got by ignoring crucifixion .
Now , the other compl ies with our text, and
crucifies the body of s in . When his fear risesup, he does not ‘let it triumph, but nail s i t tothe cross and prays ; and so with every inwardfoe . And when he has crucified hi s last inward foe, and, by prayer,
lhas prevai led,he i s
brought out into the l ight, and the in fal lible
witness has reached him . He needs no one'
to
tel l him to believe, for the Spirit bears witness
with 'his spirit,that he i s the Lord’s
,and he is
fi l led with joy and peace'
in the Holy Ghost .
He testifies because he is in love with his ex
perience.
Reader,watch this man also . Youwi l l soon
deite'
ct that he is nowunder grace , and he keepsal l hi s inward foe s crucified
, or suppressedIn fact, he could not retain his j ustification anddo otherwise . -
.You wil l find this young con
vert busy in the classroom and prayer-meetings .
He goes because hewould rather be there thananywhere else
, and he i s very act ive . He prays
because he loves to pray, and he is in love withthe fel lowship meeting. Notwithstanding allthi s
,he st i l l has his inward foe s to contend
with ; but the does not give over to one of them .
He has them all nailed to the cross, and, by
the grace of God, he keeps them there . Some
times he wil l detect two spirits within him .
144 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
with al l my heart , andwith andW 1th al l my strength , and my neighbor as mysel f . ” Then
,an d only then
,can you sing
Safe in the arms of Jesus ,Sa fe on His gentle breast ,
There by His love o’ershaded
Sweetly my soul shal l rest .
S ermons . 145
S ERMON N0. IV .
HE THAT FEARETH I S NOT MADE"1 PERFECT IN LOVE .
”
He that feareth i s not made pe r fect in love .
I . John , iv . 18.
There is no fea r in love , but perfect love
casteth out fear, because fear hath torment . We
suppose that among Christians to-day tlhere i s
no great er hindrance than slavi sh fear ; and
yetwe dare not say that they have never been
converted . We see fea r man i fest in mostly everyprayer-meet ing, especial ly i f people are askedto speak or pray . We think it is our privilege
to l ive in a much higher state of grace than
this . The Apostle John tel ls us that perfect
lovewill ca st it out , andwe know ubat noth ingelsewill cast out s lavish fear but the love of
Christ ; and whenwe see men andwomentroubledwi th thi s,we always come to the conclusion that the perfect love of Chri st has neverreached the i r hearts . I t i s with this class of
people , by the help of God’s Holy Spirit, thatwewish espec ia l ly to deal . We understand ,by a ca re ful study of the Word of God,
that
there are two works of grace plainly taught ;and it i s with the second work, and the Chris
tian privi lege of obtaining this great blessing,thatwe wish to deal . Thosewho profess to
146 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
have attained to this experience of perfect loveare greatly opposed
,as a rule ; because the
carnal mind i s enmity against God : for it i s
not subj ect to the lawof God , neit‘her indeedcan be and
,i f it is true that there are two
benefits in the atonement,the human heart w
’
i l lnever be satisfied with the first
,namely
,s ins
forgiven . When Ch ri stians ‘have never heardthe doctrine of hol ines s preached , they struggle
for years unsati sfied because of the carnalnature which sti l l remains ; not knowing howto get rid of i t . God promises to sati s fy thelongings of every soul . Are you ready , dearreader
,i f Christ should come to-day— th is mo
ment— are you ready, or do you feel that somepreparat ion i s sti l l necessary" Christ com
mands,Be ye also ready , for In such an hour
as ye think not , the Son of Man cometh .
” Ourloving Saviour never gave His fol lowers acommand which He did not intend them to
keep . It i s gloriously pos sible for us to l ive inreadiness for Hi s coming at any moment . The
question may be asked,Howshal l we prepa re
so that we may l ive in that state of continued
readiness" To the person who ’has the knowledge of sins forgiven
,and on _ whom
now rests no condemnation,I would say ,
under every circumstance,has al l s lavish
fear been removed By thi s term ,
“ slavish fear,” I mean a fea r that creeps
over us when called upon to pray or speak .
Oh"the thousands“
of Christianswho sufferthrough slavish fear
,not knowing that every
148 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
foe that be l ievers are troubled w ith . Some j usti
fied people are troubled with the roots of eviltemper, others with pride, some with selfish
ness, oth erswith j ealousy . There are manyother roots, too numerous to mention , that arein the hearts of j ustified people, but neverovercome them . We know that the patriarchs ,prophets, and apostles taught this higher l i fe .
Jesus meant nothing less when He said
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shal lsee God . Mult i tudes of people are ful l of
unbelief concern ing thi s great doctrine of perf .
feet love . They think that somehow,at the
hour of death , they wil l be perfected in love,and so obta in an entrance into heaven
,for most
people knowthat the B ible teaches thi s doctrineof hol iness, without wh ich
,no man shal l see
the Lord .
”—Heb . xi i . I 4 ; and we want toprove by the Holy Scriptures that it can be ohtained and retained in thi s l i fe . See Luke ,i . 74-75 : That
'
He would grant unto us , thatwe, being del ivered out of the hands of our
enemies,might serve Him without fear, in
hol iness and righteousness before Him , al l the
days of our l ives .” These passages ough t to
make it plain to any unprej udiced reader, thatitwas for thi s purpose Chri st came into theworld ; thatwe might l ive in the world in theenj oyment of thi s perfect love all the days of
our lives—not to be obtained at“ death , but now.Let us heed the Saviour
’s voice and obey .
“Be
hold , I s tand at the door and knock : if any manhear My voice, and open the door, I will come in
S ermons . 149
to him and wil l sup with him ,and he -with Me .
Dear reader, let us take a look through the
Holy S criptures, and prove, to our own sat isfaction
,th i s doc trine of perfect love . See Gen .
xvi i . 1 : God ca l l ing the patriarch Abraham intothis experience of perfection . God said to
him Walk before Me, and be thou perfect .”
This took place many years after his conversion
, for Abraham.was converted whena child .
You wi ll al so notice that Jacobwas led intothis great experience, after prevail ing al l n ight
with God in -prayer, about twenty years afterhis supposed convers ion . Let us hear whatDav‘id says about this higher _experiencePsalms l i . 2 , Wash me th roughly frommine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgress ions, and my sin15 ever before me.
”Can you see the two
works o f grace there"Transgress ions in theplura l number, and sin in the s ingular number,referring to the sin of the heart When the
sin of the h eart i s removed,then
, . and only
then, canwe say that our heart s are pure . On
a l itt le . further,in the tenth verse, David prays
for a clean heart, meaning the same thingperfect -
Jlove. Let us return to -Matt . -v . 8 :
Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shal lsee .God .
” Andwhen the heart. i s pure ,a ll im
puri ty i s removed . I t could not be otherwise .
The discipleswere led into this blessing aboutthree yea rs after the i r conversion ; for al l hol i
ness 'writers agree t hat, when the d isciplesforsook al l to fol low Jesus , they were accepted
150 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
of the Lord . I t i s true that there i s no placein the Holy S criptures describing the conversion of the disciples
,butwe think there i s
recorded something better . After the disc ipleshad been on probation three years
, on thei r return from a tour of preaching
,Jesus tel l s them
not to rejoice because of thei r succes s,but to
rej oice rather because their names were
written in heaven .
— Luke x . 20 . We do notthink that the names of menwho were s innerswould be placed
‘
in the Book of Li fe . In thefifteenth chapter of the Gospel of S t . John wehear our blessed Lord say : Nowye are clea nthrough the word which I have spoken
unto you. Abide .in Me . This impl ies
that they were already in Christ,and
yet they were not'
sanctified, or madeonel, and in the seventeenth chapter ac
cording to S t . John,Jesus offers up that beau
ti ful prayer for thei r sanctificat ion, or one
ness ; and over“
in the twentieth Chapter of theGospel by S t . John and twenty-second verse,the blessed -Lord
,breathing on His di sciples
says, Receive ye the Holy Ghost .” We bel ieve they then received the internal evidenceof thei r sanctification . The external evidenceof their sanctification i s found in the first
chapter of the Acts, where they tarried with one
accord for ten days for the baptism of fire .
This proves to us that Jesus’ prayer in theseventeenth chapter of John’s Gospel had beenanswered, wh ere He prayed five t imes for theironeness ; and the disciples, after receiving thi s
15 2 My Life, Trav‘
els and S ermons .
tion of it ,“
he experi ences a‘ total death‘
to -sin
and“an entire renewal in the love and image r
'
of
God, so as to re j oice evermore, praywith"out
’ceasing,
and in everyth ing to give thanks .Not that to feel all love and no s in is
’
a suffi
cient proof ; several have experienced thi s : for
a time
’
before thei r soul s were fully renewed ;None
,therefore
,ought to bel ieve that the work
is done ti l l there’
is added the test imony of the
Spirit, witness ing his enti re santification ,as
clearly as hi s j ustification . In conclusion,Iwant to g1ve my testimony, that , aft er having
l ived one year in the grace of j ustification , Iwas led into the bless ing of perfect love, thatcasteth out slavi sh fear.
S ermons . I 53
SERMONNo. V .
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOSTAND F IRE .
He shal l baptize you with the Holy Ghostand with fire .
”-Mat t . i i i . I I .
These words were spoken by the forerunner
of Chri st to His di sciples , tel l ing them what theChrist would do for His fol lowers . Wefear that many have a wrong conceptionas to what th i s bapti sm of fire
means . We bel ieve they‘
are honest in
their .bel ie f ; but for lack ,
Of careful study of
the Word of God, and because Of early teaching, they have been misled . We fea r therehas been a great
i
deal of mixing-up done, such
as ca l l ing regeneration sanctification,and sanc
tification the baptism of fire . Our hearts bleedwithin us,
whenwe hear express ions such as ,The discipleswere converted on the day of
Pentecost,”or
,they received the bless ing. of
hol iness on that day We consider this a
grave mistake . We have been ful ly convincedOf the great . necess ity of , getting out a sermon
on this irnportant subj ect . Having l ived underthis bapti sm . Of fire for nearly n ine . years , - and
having received it as a defin ite bless ing,welove to teach i t as such“ We thinkwh en people . .study the Bible , under , the Holy Ghos t ,along these l ines, they wil l agree with us .
154 My Life, Travels and S ermons.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghostand with fire Th i s qualification is for sou lwinning only . We think the disciples wereconverted about three years before the day of
Pentecost ,whdn they forsook all to fol lowJesus .D ear reader
, you may not agree with us as tothei r salvation at that t ime . To some it would
be more sati s factory i fwe had on recordthe words used by Christ when He forgavetheir s ins
,aswe have in other cases , such as
Thy s ins be forgiven thee"” “ Arise and
walk"” or , GO in peace, and sin no more"”Dear reader
, you wil l notice that after three
years’probat ion the Lord Himself said to them ,
But rather rej oice because your names arewritten in heaven .
”— Luke x . 20 .
Previous to thi s Jesus had sent them out topreach the Gospel
,and devi l s were subj ect to
His name . We could not bel ieve that God
would use menwho had no rel igion to preachthe Gospel . Again
,the fi fteenth chapter Of S t .
John’s Gospel wi l l prove to any unprej udicedreader that the di sciples were converted men .
Nowye are clean through the Word which Ihave spoken unto you,
”
( verse Moreover,they were ordained of God to preach .
“ I havechosen you,
and ordained you.
”
( verseThis proves to us that they were convertedmen ; yet they had carna'l nature to contend
with . On one o ccasion John, the beloved ,wanted Jesus to cal l down fire from heavenon a certain vi l lage lin S amaria .
“Lord,wilt
156 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
shut for fear of the Jews . Jesus came v-and
stood. in . thei r midst and breathed on them andsaid ,
“Receive ye the Holy Ghost"” Th is,we
think, is the internal evidence of their sanctification . Th en, after His ascens ion ,we find themreturning to Jerusalem with great joy,
andtarrying with one accord , in one place, for tendays , for the baptism Of th e Holy Ghost andfire . We would l ike to ask you,
reader,
“Wherecould -we find one hundred and twenty
,or even
twenty, in the churches O f to-day,who wouldtarry with one accord for even five days for thebaptism Of . fire"” We imaginewe can hearthem beg1nn1ng to make excuses, after tarrying
even for one day , such as :“ I must go home ;
my wi fe wi l l not know where I am . I want al lthe Lord has for me . Pray for me, that I mayrece1ve 1t as I go.
”SO he leaves , leaving one less .
After another hour two or three more ‘arise
and say : F riends,we cannot stand this ; 'we
are so burdened for the lost ;we think God can
baptise us 'as wel l preaching as staying here .
God -1s no respector of places . ” And so theyleave .
. Others continue making excuses , suchas :
:
“My fami ly i s in need of my presence andhelp . And they will quote S cripture, and
say : .He that doth not proy ide for ,h is own
house i s worse t han an infidel , and has alreadydenied the faith And they leave, request ingthe prayers Of God’s people that they mayreceive it as they go . But, thank God, i twasnot so with the disciples"They tarried ; untilthey received it . So does every sanctified man
S ermons . I 57
that knows i t to be hi s privi lege to be bapti sedwith the Holy Ghost and fire . YouWi l l observethat they had the blessing of oneness for, atleast
,ten days before the Day of Pentecost .
This wi l l prove to our reader that the bapti sm
Of the Holy Ghost and fire i s a blessing apartfrom sanctification .
“ And when the Day OfPentecostwas ful ly come , they were al l withone a ccord in
.
one place . And suddenly therecame a sound from heaven as Of a rushingmighty wind , and it fi l led al l the house where
theywere s itting. And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues l ike as Of fire , and itsat upon each of them . And they were al l fi l ledwith the Holy Ghost
,and began to speak with
other tongues , as the Spirit g ave them utterance .
”
He'
shall bapti se you with the Holy Ghostand with fire . In other words
,Ye shal l be
enduedwi th power from on high .
”This i s
not conversion, for the Lord does not bapti ses inners with the Holy Ghost and fire . Hej ust saves them from their s ins . Even thenHe does not baptise th em with the Holy Ghostand fire
,because they have slavish fear in thei r
hea rts , and would be l iable to quench the SpiritOf God, and to bring disgrace upon His cause .
I f‘fiyou s ti l l have the carnal nature to contendwith, such as pride
,hatred
,j ealousy
,anger
,
bigotry, malice, fear, temper, and doubt , youhad better go to the seventeenth chapter of
the‘ Gosp el Of S t . John , and the seventeenthverse, and let
'
your prayer be : Lord , sancti fy
158 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
me whol ly"” before you go into the upper roomto wait for the bapti sm Of the Holy Ghost andfire . 5 0 many come to our altars night afternight , seeking the enduement of power for soul
winning, but cannot receive it because Of unbel ief . We think when a man i s sanctifiedwhol ly he has fulness o f faith
,so that he can
say to that mountain : Be thou removed"”and it should obey him . And when he i s therehe has no trouble in seeking and Obtain ing thebaptism of the Holy Ghost and fire . Whenmen and women come to our altars seekingthe bapti sm of the Holy Ghost and fire
,and
begin to repent, .we think it i s evident that
they have inward foes to be destroyed . Sanctified people have nothing to repent of , fortheir hearts are clean . They continual ly praise
the Lord . The bapti sm Of the Holy Ghostand fire i s the equipment for soul-winning only .
God gives it only to those who have Obtainedpure hearts
,who would
,i f necessary
,tarry ten
days for thi s power . Jesus,the holy Son of
God,had a pure heart
,and before He went
out into His holy ministry He saw His need ofthis bapti sm of power .
“ And,10
,the heavens
were opened unto Him,and He saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove,and l ighting upon
Him .
”
(Matt . 3 : How much more oughtwe to feel our need of it"A great many saythis baptism is not for us
,but for the Son of
God only ; but Jesus said , With the baptismthat I am bapti sed withal shall ye be baptised
”
(Mark, 10 : You will Observe that the
160 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
them , l est they should make an error in grammar before their congregation . We would l iketo see such come up with us, by the way of the
disciples , through the seventeenth chapter of
St . John’s Gospel,into the upper room
,and
receive the bapti sm of fire for soul-winning .
We think i f they were carried away,under the
Holy Ghost,into the deep things of God ,
'
they
would lose sight of thei r manuscript, and feedtheir congregations instead of starving them .
We would not leave our reader under the im
press ion thatwe ignore education , but, on thecontrary
,we th inkwe cannot have too much of
it,when it i s sanctified .
D ear reader, in conclusion , we pray you
search the S criptures and see what are yourprivi leges in the Godhead , and embrace them ;
forwe can never have too much power .We see the masses in their blood ,
Condemned in sin to d ie ;Endue us with the power Of God,
To work and draw them nigh .
S ermons .
SERMON No. VI .
PREVAIL ING PRAYER .
And hast prevai led .
—Gen . 32 : 28.
History states that Jacob left hi s home abouttwenty years before this , -andwas convertedon hi sway to ‘his uncle s . (Gen . 28 : Heentered into a covenant with God, that if He
would prosper him so that he would come
back to hi s father’s house in peace, of al l
that God would give him ,
‘he would give Hima tenth . ( Gen : 28 : 20,
Notwithstandingall this, Jacob sti l l had hi s evi l nature to contend W i th, being sti l l a supplanter. . Nowheis on hi sway to 'hi s father’s home
,and he fears
that his brother may slay him ,so he causes hi swives and family
,and his cattle to pass over
the brook Jabbok, and he was le ft alone . And
there wrest led a man with him “unti l the break
ing .of the day .
”
(Gen . 32 : Jacob said,
I will not let Thee go,except Thou bless
me .
”The Lord demanded that he should con
fes s hi s old nature before He would bless him .
When he confessed,
-the‘
Lord changed hi s na2
ture, and hi s name from Jacob to I srael .
Z -We would impress'
upon our reader that
Jacob’sway i s the only rightway to
“
p revail;Unless men andwomen adopt that plan theyare never success ful in that kind of
‘work. We
162 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
fear that many of our profess ing Christianshave a very lowconception of what prayer i s ,much less prevai l ing prayer . We bel ieve there
i s a vast d ifference between saying prayers andpraying ; some times men do not prevai l when
they pray . You wil l observe that Jacob prevai led in secret prayer . We believe it i s notonly the privi lege
,but also the duty
,of every
Christian to preva i l w ith God in secret dai ly .
There should be a set time for secret devotion .
The world crowds hard upon us , and unlessthere i s a time sacred to God, i t wi l l al l bestolen from us by the cares of l i fe . O f al lthings
, our rel igious dut ies are most easi lyhurried out of their place . It was a customamong the Jews to prepare some sacred placein al l thei r dwell ings . I f we have no placeset apart
,the probabi li ty i s that the duty wil l
be greatly neglected . A short,s i lent pet it ion
when lying on our beds , or walking by theway, does not meet the case . God loves tohear us pray whenwe get away in secret
,and
in agony of soul cry mighti ly unto Him . Chri stused to do this . A grove, a mountain, or agarden were His frequented pla ces . And i fwehave no such place we will have no secretprayer
,aswe fear i s the case with many mem
bers of the church to-day .
Ezekiel wen'
t forth to the plain ; I saac made
a closet of the field ; Daniel , of the river side ;Nathanael
, of th e fig tree ; Peter, of the housetop. When you feel incl ined to indulge inneedless s leep
,cal l to your mind the image of
164 M3: L ife, Travels and S ermons .
M r . Wesley claimed he could pick them out
in his congregat ion,and so can any baptised
,
ministe r . Such people make i t easy for theminister in charge to preach . Itwas a verycommon thing in those days to have convers ions in every service
,and the people of God
were very much disappointed i f there were not ,and it caused a great searching of hea rtsamong them . We are praying that God willspeedi ly bring back the old-time prevai l ing
power .
Some professing Christians tel l us they donot know howto prevai l . Thi s i s an unmis
takable evidence that they have never been
converted ; for men who are converted knowhowto prevai l— at least for themselves . Th i smay appear to be strong language to some ;but it i s . high t ime the churches of to-dayshould be mighti ly aroused . The people of
to-day say that they have not time to pray .
They are more in love with temporal things
than with the things of God . This proves to
us that they . are worldly-minded . We coul dnot expect that class of people to preva i l for
others,not having prevai led for themselves as
yet . We understand that Mr. Wesl ey oncesai d : I have so much work to do to-day that
I shal l have to pray four hours to get i t done .”
This i s the spi rit of every man of God , the
more work he has to do, the more he prays .
This is j ust the opposite from the worldly man .
Our reader wil l gather the secret from this,that .the reason men do not prevai l i s because
S ermons . 165
they -h ave no salvation . Mr. F inney’mightily
stirred up the churches of his day'
along thel ines of prevai
vling‘
p rayer ; as' did al so Mr .
Wesley, and al l other Holy Ghost men in their
day, and you will observe thei r opposit ionwasgreat
'
b’
ecause of _ this ; We would leave out
reade rs under’
the impress ion that the devi lbit terly opposes prevail ing prayer, for i t alwaysmeans the overthrow of his kingdom ; and i f .
you W i l l pray unt i l you prevai l wit h God , you
may expect that all hell wil l be let loose upon
you. Because of‘
thi s strong,oppos it ion , men
'
do‘
not prevai l, but s imply say a few. words inprayer and arise . ‘Ne understand there is. a
vast difference between praying and prevai ling .
Prevail ing is a continuation of prayer unti l
you have received the infal l ible witness thatyour prayer i s heard . Reader, you have not iced
that j‘
iafter praying a certain length of t ime theimpress ions have been very strong to stop.
These ; impressions nearly always come fromthe enemy . I f you ,
wil l j ust pray on t hrough
that da rk cloud,even though the enemy sorely
tempts you to stop, you wil l soon know what
it is to prevai l with God, whether it be for
yoursel f or for others ; and th e oftener youprevail the easier
'
it becomes .Reader, have you ever thought of the greatvictory _ Jacob got when he prevai led" Youwill observe that even his wives were not permittecL to be with him We think that preva iling prayer implies being alone with God ,
separated from our nearest and dearest friends ,
166 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
and there praying unti l we can feel that heaveni s very near, and communion very sweet .
We have strong faith that Jesus cannot say
nay to us . Abraham had the secret of prevai l ing prayer when he prevailed for Lot , inSodom . (Gen . 18th chapter . ) The Childrenof I srael
,being in bondage in Egypt
,prevailed
with God for del iverance (Ex . 3 : and Godsent Moses
,and it was a great victory to them
that obeyed . We would not forget Joshua ,the great prevai ler
,whose faith enabled him
'
to command the sun to stand sti l l ('Joshua 10 :
Elisha prevai led and received a doubleportion of the Spir it ( 2 Kings 2 : Hezekiahhad fi fteen years added to his l i fe because ofprevai l ing prayer ( 2 Kings 20 : 1 Solomon ,in answer to prayer, caused fire to come downfrom heaven
,and consume the burnt offerings
and the sacrifice ; and the glory of the Lordfilled the house ( 2 Chron . 7 : I saiah ,through prayer, received an experience that
enabled him to say ,“ Here am I
,Lord
,send
me"” ( I sa . 6 : Daniel,in answer to prayer
,
was del ivered from the den of l ions (Dan . 6th
chapte r ) . Chri st,
“being in an agony,prayed
more earnestly , and His sweat was as it weregreat drops of blood fal l ing down to theground .
”
(Luke 2 2 : The disciples,after
praying for ten days , prevai led (Acts“ And what shal l I more say" For the timewould fail me to tel l o f Gedeon , and of Barak ,and of Samson , and of Jephthae ; of David al so ,and S amuel
,and of the prophets ;who, through
168 My Life,Travels and S ermons .
SERMONNO. V'
I‘
I .
GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY.
Therefore glori fy God in your body .—I .
Cor. 6 : 2
Our text is a command , andwe think thatGod expect s us to Obey it as careful ly as thoseother commandments
,namely
,Thou shalt not
steal,
” “Thou shalt not kil .1
”There are
fewpeoplewho ever think Of glori fying Godin thei r bodies . Once they make a profess ionOf religion they think they can indulge in al
most anyth ing, even at the expense of dishonoring themselves and the cause of Ch ri st . Peacewith God. through Christ , evidenced by a l i feof holy labor for God’s glory , and the goodof others
,secures the highest possible happiness
in this world . And , as a test Of al l our indulgences in eat ing
,drinking
,dressing, amuse
menlts, d ivers ions , enterta inments ,“
or recrea
tions,we should use '
the words of our textThere fore glori fy God in your body and inyour spi rit
, Wt'h are God’s .” Some peop l e
never think that they dishonor God by attending the fancy ball, where the cotil l ion, quadri l le,waltz , polka, and minuet are elegantly per
formed by superbly dressed and scented gentlemen tripping the l ight toe with the hal f-dressed ,
S ermons . 169
l ight-heeled ladies , reel ing and whirl ing to the
enchanting sound of music t i l l the dead of night
or: early morning“ Ballrooms find ample work
for divorce courts ; floods of tears have fol lowed,
the wake of publ ic, fancy , and fashionable bal ls .Hearts ; bleeding and bru ised , have there re
ceived their deadly wound . When the sexesmingl e in such dances
,real modesty gradually
withers ; true virtue, the virtue Of’
the heart ,s ickens . and dies
,and from
'
i ts ashes loftenspring the rscoffer and sc
'
orner Of humble piety .
Performers Or defenders of mixed dancing,
i f they have anything at al l to: do with rel igionand attend any
‘
of our'
churches , will be at least )
lukewarm ; but more probably those of whomthe .Church “i s ashamed , and over whom it
mourns , as‘
lovers Of the world more than lOVersOf God , and Often stumbl ing-blocks t o others.
D epend upon’
it,the truly godly
,the earnest ,
consistent workers in our Sunday S chool s andchurches , those Who have experienced a changeof . heart , and try to tread in the steps Of themeek and lowly Jesus
,who s igh and cry overthe sins of the people
,will never be found
defending or pract icing dancing.
'
We cannotglorify God in our bodies and conform to theworld . Are they not amongst the worst of
men, the most c orrupt in heart and l i fe, thatdevise these dancing part ies"Loose in moralsthemselves , they have little “ regard for the
mora ls of others , and a midnight revel withvifomen i s a sensual gratification j ust adaptedto thei r sensual n ature . In nine ca ses out of
170 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
ten,thi s i s the true origin of al l ball s and all
dancing parties ; and it i s sad to see howwomen are so willing to be caught in the trap .
I f these officious gentlemen had to dance by
themselves i t would be a j ubi lee dance—oncein fi fty
,
years . D ear reader,have you ever
noticed that these devisers of polkas and j igs
have hitherto been consistent in one thing . Ihave never heard of them propos ing to Openeven a charity ball
, or any other danc e, with
prayer,imploring God’s bless ing to rest richly
upon them while they dance . They have not
yet dared to insult heaven by such an impiousact . You never heard them prais ing God, or
speaking of the cleansing blood of Jesus . I fHis name is mentioned at al l it i s used in blas
phemy . Oh , howcanwe glori fy God in our
bodies and attend such places"And here isour point
,Ought any of our Sunday S chool
scholars or teachers , any making a profession
of rel igion in any of our churches , to sanction ,by their presence
,or defend in any degree ,
what they cannot and dare not ask God to
bless"” Arewe not commanded to glori fy
God in our bodies and in our spirits , which areHis , and are the Obscene , mixed , midnigh t
dances of the present day, to His glory"I fthey are not, what is our duty respecting thembut to shun them
,under whatever pretext they
are devised,in whatever place they are held ,
as insulting to al l true modesty , degrading to
womanly dignity,and dest ructive of al l true
piety" Jigs and psalms , polkas and true pray
172 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
us that M i riam danced,that D avid danced
,
that they danced when the prodigal son re
turned . We admit that M i riam did dance,
and said as shewas dancing,S ing ye to the
Lord, for He hath t riumphed glorious ly"Herjoywas boundless for the great del iveranceGod had wrought for long-oppressed .I srael .David and the elders of I srael went to bring
up . the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out
of the house of Obed-Edom , to the tent hehad pitch ed for i t in Jerusalem
,that mysterious
s acredA‘rk
,the vis ible symbol of God’s presence ,
and so great was hi s joy that he dahced beforei t
,with al l hi s might . And the dancing men
tioned at the return of the prodigal sonwasindicative of joy at the return of the lost one .
The Bible says there i s a t ime to dance, butthe dancing mentioned in the Bible was clearlya rel igious exerci se
,an outburst of exuberant
gladness and gratitude for great bless ings sentof God
, or a solemn act of pra ise ; but -never
performed by the mixed sexes , and never in thenight ; and they were regarded as wicked and
in famous personswho perverted dancing fromits sacred use . But ' thosewho try to make theBible sanction thei r fol ly, will perhaps remem
ber the cost of one dance mentioned in the
fourteenth of Matthew . When Hero'
d’s birthday came, i t seems to have been kept up, l ikemany st i l l are, in revel and riot ; and the daughter Of the wicked Herodias ‘pleased Herod by
casting aside her modesty and dancing beforehim, unti l he promised with an oath to give
S ermons . 173
her whatsoever she would ask , and she , beingbefore
°
instructed of her mother,said
,Give me
here John Bapti st’s head in a charger . Herodsent and beheaded John in the prison
,and
thus the prophet and preacher in the wi lderness,
he that bapt i zed the world’s Redeemer in Jor
dan,and
,according to Chri st
’s own testimony,
the great est man born of woman,was cruel ly
murdered at the instigation of thi s dancing
daughter of a W icked mother . D epend upon
it,th i s atrocious event i s not recorded as a mere
link in the biography of John ; i t is a great
moral lesson,teaching us that the most fiendish
cruelty can lurk in the breast of hal f-robed
gaiety,and that the dance of one may cause
another to weep . I f there i s a place in theworld when the lust of the flesh , the lust of the
eye,and the pride of l i fe, may be seen in ful l
bloom,i t i s in the ballroom . Some say, There
can be no harm in parlor dancing at home,”
but thi s is only the int roduct ion ; for ofttimeswhen a young person lea rns howto dance it i shard to tel l where they wil l end, for some of
the lowest on our streets took their first downward step in th e parlor dance, at home .
”
174 My L ife, Travels and S ermons .
S ERMON NO . VII I .
HE THAT I S FILTHY,LET HIM BE
F ILTHY STILL .
He that i s fi lthy,let him be filthy sti l l .
Rev . 2 2 : 1 1 .
Filthiness becometh not the house of God,
much less our bodies , which the B ible declares
are the temples of the Holy Ghost . Knowye not that ye are the temple of God , and thatthe Spiri t of God dwelleth in you"
” I . Cor . 3We think that our text dwell s especial ly
on filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit . We
have no direct command in God’s Word,pro
hibiting the use of tobacco among profess ingChristians
,but we think that
,indirectly
,God’s
Word teaches that the use of tobacco will keep
precious soul s out of heaven ; for God says ,He that i s fi lthy
,let h im be fi lthy sti ll . ” Do
not think,precious reader
,that God wil l admit
a fi lthy man among those who have washedtheir robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb , for when Christ’s precious blood
reaches the h eart,it wi l l cleanse him “ from al l
filthiness of'the flesh and spi rit , perfect ing
hol iness in the fear of God .
” We do not thinkit strange to see tobacco used freely in barrooms, and such places ; I bel ieve that bar
rooms , whiskey , and tobacco are inseparable ;
176 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
the ear, such as inabi lity clearly to define sounds
and the annoyance of a sharp,ringing sound ,
l ike a whistle or a bell ; ( 5 ) in the brain, sus
pending thewaste of that organ, and oppress
ing i t i f it be duly nourished ; ( 6 ) of the nerv
ous fi laments and sympathetic or organic ne rves
l ead ing to deficient power in them and to over
sec retion on those surfaces—glands—over
which the nerves exert a controlling force ; ( 7 )in the mucous membrane of the mouth, causing
enlargement and soreness of the tonsils, smok
ers’ sore throat , redness , dryness, and occas
iona l pee l ing-off of the membrane , and eithe r
unnatural firmness and contraction or spongi
ness of the gums ; (8) on the bronchial surfaceof the lungs ,when that is already irrita ted , sus
ta in ing the irri ta tion and increasing the cough .
J . H. Kellogg,MD in Health Science
"
l eaflets, No. 16,says Chemists , botanists .
and physicians unite in pronounc ing tobaccoone of the most deadly poisons known . No
other'
poison ,with the exception of prussic
acid,wil l cause deat h so quickly—only th ree or
fOur minutes be ing required for a fatal dose to
produce its ful l effect . The act ive principle of
tobacco, that i s, that towhich its narcotic and
poi sonous propert ies are due , is nicotine—a
heavy, oi ly substance ,which may be separated
from the dried lea f of the plant by dist illationor in fusion. The proport ion of nicotine varies
from two to e igh t per cent—Kentucky and
Virginia tobacco usual ly conta ining six or seven
per cent . A pound of tobacco contains , on an
S ermons . 177
average, three hundred and e ighty grains of
this deadly poison , ofwhich one-tenth of a
grainwill kill a dog in ten minutes . A caseis on record in wh ich a manwas killed in thirtyseconds by th is poison .
”
Hottentots use the oil of tobacco to kil lsnakes—a single minute drop causing death as
quickly as a lightn ing stroke . It is much usedby gardeners and keepers of greenhouses to
destroy grubs and noxious insects—its propersphere of use fulness. One of the greatest
curses of the day among our young people is
cigarette-smoking.
The samewriter, in speaking of cigarette
smoking, says We should remember that
there always is present in cigarettes n icotine, a
far more deadly poison than opium. Yet nico
tine is not the only poison present in the c igar
ette. The tobacco prepared for ciga rette-mak
ing has to be ground small. and so the bet terquali ty of leaves are never used . The refuse
of the manufacturer is doctored up to the re
quired flavor by the addition of rum and vari
ous drugs . especially opium. Thewrappers inwhich this ground-up tobacco is rolled are
supposed to be rice-paper. but , as this is expen
sive and a cheap subs titute can be made by
bleaching a very common grade of paperwithlime , and then treating itwith a preparation
of essence of lead. many brands of cigarettes
are thus encased. The result of holding th is
kind of paper between the lips is very harmful
to the lin ing membranes of the mouth , throat ,
178 M3: Life, Travels and S ermons .
and nose . The boywhose father has been asmoker can often smoke a cigarette without
any inconvenience whatever,and , even i f at
first s l ightly nauseated by it,the sickness and
headache soon wear off. I t i s an easily- formedhabit . The use of cigarettes does not leavethe strong odor on either the clothes or breaththat tobacco in pipe or cigar does . I t i s therefore an easily-concealed habit . Children canindulge without the knowledge of thei r parents .It i s an inexpensive vice
,and
,therefore, within
the reach of chi ldren . There i s sad reason tofear that many a cent or s i lver piece intendedfor the Sunday S chool collect ion-plate, finds itsway across the counter of the grocer or tobacconist in exchange for the cigarette .
”
D r . J . N . Nelson , of Danvil le, says Cigarette-smoking is dangerous because of the fact
that much of the smoke is filtered through theair passages and lungs
,every whiff leaving on
them a deposit of nicot ine,which is a very
deadly poison . Five years ago the only sonof a wealthy New Yorker died at twelve yearsof age of excess ive _cigarette-smoking . The
physician asked the father i f he might not examine the remains . Consentwas given , andthe bodywas taken '
to Bellevue‘
Hospital . Itwas found that the throat bronchial tubes,and
even the smallest air cells,were perfectly black .
They were covered throughout with a depositof nicotine .”
We are ashamed to confess that,with
astounding rapidity, the cigarette habit i s
180 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
your bodily health, and, in the end, may cause
you to lose your soul .
TOBACCO—A PARABLE .
Then shall the kingdom of Satan be likenedunto a grain of tobacco seed, which , though ex
ceedingly small , being cast into the ground,grew
,and became a great plant, and spread its
leaves rank and broad, so that the huge andvi le worms found a habitation thereon .
I t came'
to pass in the course of time that the
sons of men looked upon it and thought it beauti ful to look upon, and much to be desired to
make lads look big and manly . So they did put
forth'
their hands and did chew thereof . And
some it made sick ; and others it caused to
vomit most filthily .
And further it came to pass that thosewhochewed it became weak and unmanly, and said ,We are enslaved
,and cannot cease from
chewing it .” And the mouths of al l that wereenslaved became foul
, for they were seized witha violent spitting
,and did spi
'
t,even in ladies’
parlors,and in the house of the Lord of hosts,
and the saints of the Most High were greatlyplagued thereby . And it came to pass
~ that
others snuffed it,and
'
they were taken suddenly
with fits , and they sneezed with a mightysneeze, insomuch that thei r eyes were fi l ledwith tears
,and they did look exceedingly si l ly .
And yet others wrought leaves in rol ls,and did
set fire to the one end thereof, and sucked ve
S ermons . 181
hemently at the other end thereof, and did lookvery grave and cal f- like, and the smoke of thei rtorment ascended up forever and ever . And
the cult ivat ion thereof became a great and
mighty business in the earth, and the mer
chants waxed rich by the commerce thereof .
And it came to pass that the saints of the MostHigh defiled themselves therewith , and even the
poor,who could not buy shoes, nor bread, nor
books for thei r l ittle ones , spent their moneyfor it . And the Lord was greatly displeased
therewith,and said :
,Wherefore thi s waste
,
andwhy do these l ittle ones lack for bread,and shoes , and books" Turn nowyour fields
into corn and whea t,and put th i s evi l thing
away, far from you, and be separate, and de
fil e not yourselves , and I wil l bless you andcause My face to shine upon you .
”But with
one accord they al l exclaimed We cannotcease from chewing, snufiing,
and puffing ; weare slaves .”
182 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
SERMON No . I".
QUENCH NOT THE SPIRIT.
Quench not the Spirit . — I . Thess . v . 19 .
Our text impl ies that there i s a danger ofquenching the Spirit of God . We think thatD aul was much afraid of this among his people .
I f therewas a danger then , howmuch the people of our day should guard against it . Wethink that our text appl ies not only to theChristian , but also to the unconve rted . Everylost spirit in hel l has been gui lty of thi s awful
crime of quenching God’s Spirit . We knowthat God the Holy Ghost came all. the wayfrom heaven to earth
, to convince men of
s in, of righteousness , and of a j udgment to
come . But the puny arm of rebel l ion is raised
and humanity says to God, its maker : wewill not have Thee reign ove r us . The
Holy Spirit of God does not leave, but worksin other ways . Holy Ghost sermons arepreached by Christian min i sters and evangelists . People feel that God’s Holy Spirit i s dealing with them
,yet they resi st .
There are numerous other ways in whichGod deals with the conscience of men . Sometimes the idol of the home is taken
, or someother calamity overtakes them, and they arecompelled to think . I have said in my evan
184 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
what caused them to covet these offices . You
will find that God in the newdispensation “has
made us unto our God kings and priests .Rev . v . 10 . In this dispensa tion it i s the privilege of al l to have and to be led into al l truthby Him
, on condition thatwe do not quench,or grieve Him .
—Joel i i . 28 : “And it shal l come
to pass a fterward that I wil l pour out MySpirit upon al l flesh .
”See Acts i i . I 7,where
Peter refers to the above pas sage while preaching to the Jews at Jerusal em .
Christians should ever remember that God’sSpirit is easi ly quenched, and cannot remain inthe heart except He
‘ reigns there . Whenwetalk of being led by
'
the Spirit of God , we donot mean thatwe are led by every impress ion .
So many make a great mistake right here .
They think that i f they do not obey every voicethat comes to th em, they W i l l be gui lty ofquenching the Holy
‘
Spirit . John the D iv inesays : B eloved
,bel i eve not every spirit
,but
try the spirits whe ther they are of God .
I . John iv . 1 .
The enemy of al l souls haswon many a victory righ t here . He comes l ike a flash andleaves almost as quickly . I f the impress ion isfrom God’s Spirit
,it wi l l be in accordance with
the S cripture and with a sanctified j udgment .Any impre ssion, therefore, which i s not in ac
cordance with S cripture and a sanctified j udgment, must be rej ected as from Satan .
Howcanwe distinguish the voice of God
from that of the enemy,and be always sure"
S ermons . I85
Th i s i s whatwe are going to try and makeplain to all our readers by the right Spiri t .
I t i s in the power of the enemy to approacha soul as an angel of l ight . Unless the individual i s wel l fortified with B ible t ruths
,he
will suffer many defeats . We would say toour reader — Never be in a hurry to obey im
press ions,but “
try the spirits wh ether they areof God . There i s a way out of al l these difficulties to the ful ly-surrendered soul . I wouldrepeat, ful ly-surrendered , because i f there i s anyreserve of will upon any point, i t becomes al
most impossible to find out the will of Godin reference to that point
,and therefore the first
thing i s to be sure that you real ly do purposeto obey the Lord in every respect .
There are two special ways in which God re
veal s His wi l l to us through the S criptures ,and by means of the direct voice of His Holy
Spiri t making impress ions upon our hearts andour j udgment . The first of these i s the guid
ance to be found in the B ible . When our Fa
ther has written out for us a plain direct ionin the B ible
,He wil l not of course give us a
spec ial revelat ion in regard to that thing . I fwe fai l to search out and obey the S cripturerule when there i s one, and look instead for
an inward voice,we will open ourselves to the
deceptions of sa tan, and he wi l l not be slow totake a dvantage of us and bring us into error.
Whenwe find ourselves in any difficulty concerning guidance
,the first th ing we should do
i s to find out what our heavenly Father has to
186 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
say to us about it ; but i f after careful searchwe are not able to distingui sh the voice of
God from that of the enemy , the only thing wecan do i s to commit the whole matter to theLord in an absolute surrender . Say
“Yes , Lord ,yes
,only show me Thy wil l . I am eager and
will ing to follow wherever Thou dost lead .
”
Then trust Him absolutely to guide . He wil l
sure ly do it . Take , for instance , t n 10 : 3
He calleth His own sheep by name and leade
'
th them out”
; or, John xiv . 2 6 :“The Com
forter,which is th e Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in My name, He shal l teachyou all things , and bring al l things to your re
membrance,whatsoever I have said unto you” ;
or, Jas . i . 5-6 :“I f any of you lack wisdom
,let
him ask of God,that giveth to all men l iber
ally and upbraideth not ; and it shal l be givenhim .
” As soon as the world ceases to quenchthe Holy Spirit o f God , that moment she wil lbecome reconciled to God . The s inner in hisdesperate state i s busy every moment quenching the Spirit o f God . For God’s Holy Spiriti s busy every moment reproving the world of
s in, of righteousness, and of j udgment . I ti s very hard to make men and women bel ievethat as long as they stand aloo f from the re
ligion of Christ, they are fighting against God,Reader, are you converted"I f not, you arecontinual ly raising your puny arm of rebel l ionagainst the Most High . Oh"“We pray you,
inChrist
’s stead, be ye reconciled to God
“For
our God i s a consuming fire .”
188 My Life, Travels and S ermons .
( I . Cor . but he receives grace from God
to keep it suppressed, or, as PaulI says , in Rom.
6 : 6, this nature is crucified . In order to
have perfect love,thi s carnal nature must be
total ly destroyed and cast out, aswe find inthe latter clause of Romans 6 : 6 . John Wesleydescribes this change as a definite, instantaneeus work of grace, wrought in the soul , whichcleanseth the heart from all s in .
By reading the fol lowing passageswe findthat al l the way down through the ages Godtaught His people this second work of graceGen . 17 : 1 ; Gen . 32 : 28 ; Ps . 5 1 : 10 ; I s . 6 : 7 ;Matt . 5 : 8 ; 5 : 48 ; John 17 : 17 ; ActsI I . Cor . 1 : 15 ; Rom. 12 : 1 ; I . Th ess . 5 : 23 ;John 15 : 2 ; I . John 4 : 18. By the evidenceof the Spir it we know beyond the shadow of
a doubt whenwe gain this rung of the ladder .For references on the evidence, read Matt . 56 ; Acts 9 : 17 ; John 20 : 2 2 ; I . John 4 : 18.
Then may be appl ied the text : Grow in graceand in the knowledge of our Lord and SaviourJesus Christ .”
No man should be deceived as to where he i s
l iving, when God’s Word makes everything so
pla in .
The following I S copied from Wesley inChristian Perfection
,page 49
The holiest men sti l l need Christ as theirProphet, as the L ight of the world
, for Hedoes not give them ligh t but from moment to moment— the instant He withdraws, all i s darkness . They st ill need
S ermons . 189
Chri st as thei r King. For God does
not give them a stock of hol iness . But unl es s
they receive a supply eve ry moment , nothingbut unhol iness would remain . Th ey sti l l need
Chri st as thei r Priest, to make atonement forthei r holy things . Even perfect hol iness i s
acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ .