Men used to fall as though cut down in battle under the preaching
of Wesley, Whitefield, Finney, and others. And while there may
not be the same physical manifestation at all times, there will
surely be the same opening of eyes to spiritual things, breaking
of hearts, and piercing of consciences. The Spirit under the
preaching of a man filled with the Holy Ghost will often come
upon a congregation like a wind, and heads will droop, eyes will
brim with tears, and hearts will break under His convicting
power. I remember a proud young woman who had been mercilessly
criticising us for several nights smitten in this way. She was
smiling when suddenly the Holy Spirit winged a word to her heart,
and instantly her countenance changed, her head drooped, and for
an hour or more she sobbed and struggled while her proud heart
broke, and she found her way with true repentance and faith to
the feet of Jesus, and her Heavenly Father's favour. How often
have we seen such sights as this under the preaching of The
General! And it ought to be a common sight under the preaching of
all servants of God, for what are we sent for but to convict men
of their sin and their need, and by the power of the Spirit to
lead them to the Saviour?
And not only will there be conviction under such preaching, but
generally, if not always, there will be conversion and sanctification.
Three thousand people accepted Christ under Peter's Pentecostal
sermon, and later five thousand were converted, and a multitude
of the priests were obedient to the faith. And it was so under
the preaching of Philip in Samaria, of Peter in Lydda and Saron
and in Caesarea, and of Paul in Ephesus and other cities.
To be sure, the preaching of Stephen in its immediate effect only
resulted in enraging his hearers until they stoned him to death;
but it is highly probable that the ultimate result was the
conversion of Paul, who kept the clothes of those who stoned him,
and through Paul the evangelisation of the Gentiles.
One of the greatest of American evangelists sought with agonising
prayers and tears the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and received
it; and then he said he preached the same sermons; but where
before it had been as one beating the air, now hundreds were
saved.
It is this that has made Salvation Army Officers successful.
Young, inexperienced, without special gifts, and without
learning, but with the baptism, they have been mighty to win
souls. The hardest hearts have been broken, the darkest minds
illuminated, the most stubborn wills subdued, and the wildest
natures tamed by them. Their words have been with power, and have
convicted and converted and sanctified men, and whole communities
have been transformed by their labours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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