by Ballington and Maud B. Booth, 1889.
…Our profession is a very high one, and, the higher the profession, the more conspicuous the inconsistency of a life which does not correspond with it. The whiter the garment, the more visible the stains of blotches; just so, dear comrade, with a soul that has been washed white with the blood of Jesus, the stains of some little fault, allowed to mar its whiteness, will stand out even more conspicuously than in the soul of one who professes not to have known the cleansing power of Calvary’s stream. “Walk as children of light.”
The first and foremost necessity to the successfulness of the Salvationist’s life is piety—godliness.
We don’t believe in profession. We despise talk, if it only talk, and we believe that in God’s Army He only wants men and women whose lives, in their every detail, are consistent and true.
I.—GODLINESS IN PRIVATE.
There is a danger of not always living in the same spirit which we rose from the penitent-form the night that we became recognized followers of the Man of Sorrows. How real Jesus seemed at that hour! How felt was His presence! How ardent was that love that sang “I will follow Thee, my Saviour,” and what a longing and zeal for the welfare of the souls of men possessed our very being! The pages of the Bible that night seemed to have a new light shed on them, and whereas they were once tedious to read they then became almost an essential of life. Now we think that the same spirit and love and zeal should ever exist in the private heart-experience of every soldier, save that as years and months roll over them, it should become intensified and more and more part of their being. To maintain piety of heart and communion with God,
1st. The soldier should separate himself from the world’s sins and pleasures.
Do not allow your soul to be contaminated by the influence of the world. It is not only sin, folly and outward rebellion that God censures, but even the countenancing of it or association with it. In the days of the children of Israel, not only was a dead body considered unclean, but the man and woman who touched it. So, if you want to be pure, you must not touch or handle the unclean thing. Some say that their associations are such that it is utterly impossible for them to cut loose from worldly practices and associations. God’s only answer is, that given in days of old to His people, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, God or Baal.” You must be out-and-out for God, or your soul piety will have but little chance of surviving longer than a few weeks.
“Be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.”
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”
2nd. The soldier must remember that his Bible is an essential to his spiritual growth and piety.
It is a very sure index that a man’s soul is not where it ought to be if his Bible is laid by unmarked and unfingered, to be brought out only on a Sunday or on special occasions. Salvation soldiers should be Bible-lovers and Bible-readers. We do not mean in the sense in which many read it, simply as a sort of study, translating its prophecies by their own judgment or the judgment of others, or comparing and analyzing and explaining the inspired Word which, we hold, can only be rightly understood by an inspired soul. It must be read in the spirit. An officer once very truly said, “The Bible should be read in the light of the same lamp by which it was written.”
You should read the Bible always remembering that you are but a little atom of dust compared to the great and mighty God who dictated it, and that it is your place to accept and believe His Word in the spirit, and that it is only thus that you can understand it, for it is impossible for the human mind to understand the Divine, unless it has been filled and inspired by the Divine Spirit.
Read your Bible on your knees, and remember that it is not the number of chapters you read which will benefit you, but the amount of blessing you receive from the portion, however small, that God brings beneath your eye.
3rd. To keep in touch with God a Salvation soldier should be a prevailer in prayer.
Again, it does not lie in the length, or wording, or power of the prayer, but in the grip of God, ordained by the faith of the one who prays. There is no reason why you should not enter into God’s presence, touch His very heart, and receive in return the answer to your prayer in a minute and a half or two minutes. It is a mistake to think that only those people who have the time to spend hours on their knees every day can be considered in close touch with God. All Salvationists, however much or however little time they are able to spend alone with God, should live always in the spirit of prayer—“continuing instant in prayer” all day long, able to turn and open their hearts to God at any minute of the day, that, when most tempted and tried, they may ever receive just that which their souls need. Remember that prayer will ever prove your greatest help to piety.
Youth Department