And God who is ever faithful, will make us successful in winning souls to himself, and leading on believers to the promised land of perfect love.
XXVIII.
They Might be a Success.
There is, just now, considerable inquiry by some portions of the Methodist family, how to make their class-meetings a success—how make them more spiritual—how get the members to attend them.
I have a recipe which answers the above, and proves a success in all cases. In order to get a perfect understanding of the idea, I will relate a circumstance: When a boy I learned to hunt bees. The country was new, and bees were often found in hollow trees—frequently with a large amount of honey. In order to find where the bees lived, I took a box about ten inches long, six wide, and six deep, with a glass cover. I would place in this box about one pound of honey. I would then catch a bee from off some flower, and put him in the box with the honey, then put the box in some clear place where the sun could shine upon it. When the bee had filled himself with the honey, he would fly away to the tree where he lived, always going in a straight line. He would soon deposit, and return, bringing several more bees with him. These would fill themselves and fly away to the tree, deposit, and return, with perhaps an increase of fifty bees. By some process the bees would communicate the fact that they had found honey, so on every return trip their numbers rapidly increased, until it seemed the whole hive was after the honey.
Now, let a class-leader find the honey—get it in his own soul—the honey of perfect love—the real thing—not a guess so affair, but a positive holiness; holiness that comes by a perfect consecration, with a clear endorsement of the Holy Ghost; holiness that shines as clear as the sun at noonday; opposed to all pomp and display; arrayed against the devil and all his works; that is dead to the world and alive to God; holiness that has love divine in every element, running through every vein, and fibre, and muscle of his spiritual and intellectual being. This will be the real honey. Yea, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb. Then you will talk salvation—not simply about salvation,—you will talk it. The real honey will flow out in your words, and songs of praise, as water flowed from the smitten rock. A hallowed influence will attend you everywhere. “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad” for you; “and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with singing.” Then your members will be charmed with your godly conversation. They will come to class to hear you talk of Jesus’ wondrous saving power—how he saves you from sin and sinning. And while you talk the fire will burn. They will catch the flame and carry the glad tidings to others, and they to others, until the whole church will be on fire with God’s love. This recipe is exceedingly good for ministers of the gospel, and in fact for everybody. Try it.
XXIX.
Fear, or the Scare-Crow Devil.
Farmers, frequently put up some frightful object in their corn-fields to scare away the crows—preventing them from pulling up and eating the corn. The devil works in like manner, to prevent honest souls from partaking of the real corn of the kingdom. He succeeds remarkably well, if by any means the saints are prevented from getting blessed, baptized with the Holy Ghost, and made all alive in Christ Jesus, and sinners converted to God. He don’t care how much religion we profess, if we are only destitute of real piety.
He loves to have us profess a giant’s grace if, in fact, we are empty. This scare-crow, when simmered down to a philosophical point, is Fear. It often presents the very frightful character of Wildfire, Fanaticism, Nazarite, etc.The Devil is exceedingly busy, on all occasions, at every means of grace, especially at quarterly and camp-meeting, to prevent the work of grace. One of the strangest things in connection with this work is that, the saints professedly, will help the Devil do his miserable work of unfurling the scare-crow banner. How many inglorious defeats we have as “Pilgrims,” all through fear. Fear of what? Why, our reputation is at stake. Some are afraid the saints will shout more than is meet; others that they will jump too high; or the glory that is unutterable will become unmanageable in some way; or that the car of salvation will get out of the groove of modern quiet, still no excitement, sweet, precious holiness that disturbs nobody, kills nobody, resurrects nobody, leaving all in the cold embrace of death. From such we say, Good Lord, deliver us.
It is exceedingly distressing to be where the work is managed by men full of fear. If a saint happens to get blessed, their appearance, the peculiar noise made, the length of the amen, the terror produced among the unsaved, all must be critically tested by their rules of propriety. What we need is perfect love that casteth out fear; especially this tormenting fear.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love. “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and love, and of a sound mind.” Thank God! we may be delivered out of the hand of our enemies, and serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before himall the days of our life.”