After this homily, on the same tract, were the following passages of Scripture:—
Luke, chap. 2, v. 13. “If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask.”
Rom., chap. 10, v. 9. “If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
I. Cor., chap. 3, v. 16. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”
I. Cor., chap. 6, v. 19. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.”
II. Cor., chap. 6, v. 16. “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
The tone and spirit of this tract, is the kernel, if I may say so, of his deepest religious convictions.
He gave me a number of New Testaments for distribution, as he did also to one or two others of our missioners. The following letter accompanies the parcel:—
“My dear Mr. Wardle,—I have sent thirty Testaments for you and thirty for Mr. Fielden. Will you kindly oblige by marking in each the following passages, viz.:—
Matt. chap. 2, V. 28, 29. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Gal. ch. 5, v., 19., 25. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. 42. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us walk in the spirit.”
Also I John ch. 4, v. 15. “Whosoever shall confess, etc.”
He also published a little work entitled “Christ and His members; or the in-dwelling of God, the root of faith in Christ.” One or two quotations may be sufficient to show the nature or scope of the work, a copy now lies before me.
“Belief or faith in Jesus being the Son of God, is the distinguishing spiritual mark of the members of Christ’s body; it is a fruit which springs from a root, or source, from which it is sustained, and increased. This root is the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost in the soul. This indwelling gives faith or belief in the fact that even as the sun gives light, or the fire gives warmth, and as there can be no warmth without fire, and no light without the sun, neither can there be any belief in Jesus, without the indwelling of God in the soul.”
He wrote me from Liverpool as follows:
“My dear Mr. Wardle, do not forget to take the Testaments on Tuesday night. I always carry some with me, and always regret if I am taken by surprise, and have not any.
Read and delight in “The tongue of fire,” especially the first four or five chapters. If a man would be the instrument of winning souls to his Lord, it is utterly impossible for him to do so except through and by the Holy Ghost. He must be loving the praise of God, more than that of man. He must be humble, mean spirited it is called by many; even sometimes by his friends: and he can only be mean spirited by living near God. Let a man live distant from God, who is light, and he will not think he is so bad, but will think himself a little better than others, but let him live near God, and as he lives near Him he will feel himself worse than the worst; such is the power of the glorious light . . . . Goodbye; kind regards to all.
Yours sincerely, C. G. Gordon.”