The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation ArmyRailton, George S. (George Scott)
History
The Authoritative Life of General William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army
Railton, George S. (George Scott)
Booth, William, 1829-1912; Salvation Army
"Spiritual Life is Divine in its origin. It is a creation of the
Holy Spirit. I need not dwell on this truth. Jesus Christ was at
great trouble to teach it. 'Marvel not,' He said, 'ye must be born
again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit.' You have gone through this
experience yourselves. You must insist on it in your people.
Spiritual life proceeds from God. It can be obtained in no other
way.
"Spiritual Life not only proceeds from God, but partakes of the
nature of God.
"We see this principle, that the life imparted partakes of the
nature of the author of being that imparts it, illustrated around
us in every direction.
"The tree partakes of the nature of the tree from which it is
derived. The animal partakes of the nature of the creature that it
begets. The child partakes of the nature of its parents. So the
soul, born of God, will possess the nature of its Author. Its life
will be divine.
"This is a mystery. We cannot understand it, but the Apostle
distinctly affirms it when he says, the Son of God is a partaker of
the Divine nature.
"Spiritual Life, like all other life, carries with it the
particular powers belonging to its own nature.
"Every kind of life has its own particular powers--senses,
instincts, or whatever they may be called.
"Vegetable life has its powers, enabling it to draw nutrition out
of the ground.
"Fish life has power adapting it to an existence in the water.
"Animal life has powers or senses suitable to its sphere of
existence, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, and the like.
"Human life has faculties, emotions, loves and hatreds, suitable
to its manner of existence. And it has its own peculiar destiny. It
goes back to God, to be judged as to its conduct when its earthly
career terminates.
"And the Spiritual Life of which we are speaking has powers or
faculties necessary to the maintenance of its existence, and to the
discharge of the duties appropriate to the sphere in which it
moves. For instance: it has powers to draw from God the nourishment
it requires; it has powers to see or discern spiritual things; it
has powers to distinguish holy people; it has powers to love truth,
and to hate falsehood; it has powers to suffer and sacrifice for
the good of others. It has powers to know, and love, and glorify
its Maker.
"Those possessed of this Spiritual Life, like all other beings, act
according to their nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive