“It is good to have the laugh of faith. When doubt whines and cries, faith
laughs”.
“True religion is a very practical thing if we do not adulterate it”.
“Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to
leave His reputation in our hands”.
“Some wish to live within the sound
Of Church or Chapel Bell.
I want to run a rescue shop
within a yard of Hell.”
“The best training for a soldier of Christ is not merely a theological college.
They always seem to turn out sausages of varying lengths, tied at each end,
without the glorious freedom a Christian ought to abound and rejoice in. You
see, when in hand-to-hand conflict with the world and the devil, neat little
biblical confectionery is like shooting lions with a pea-shooter: one needs a
man who will let himself go and deliver blows right and left as hard as he can
hit, trusting in the Holy Ghost. It’s experience, not preaching that hurts the
devil and confounds the world. The training is not that of the schools but of
the market: it’s the hot, free heart and not the balanced head that knocks the
devil out. Nothing but forked-lightning Christians will count. A lost
reputation is the best degree for Christ’s service. It is not so much the degree
of arts that is needed, but that of hearts, loyal and true, that love not their lives
to the death: large and loving hearts which seek to save the lost multitudes,
rather than guard the ninety-nine well-fed sheep in the British pen”.
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for
me to make for Him”.
“Our recruits come out from home vastly raw and are largely parrots. They
have been crammed with religion as though for an examination, and seem to
come out to carry on their education rather than finish it. So many are just
taught doctrines without ever having thought them out or searched the
Scriptures for themselves. They come out like infants with pop guns. They
need to be trained into soldiers with real devil-defying weapons. Some arrive
thinking they are the last thing in high-class Christianity and have to find out
they know little. That is why I keep the newcomers here at base for a time till
I can make them really think out things and settle questions, not from hearsay
but from Bible-say”.
“The “romance” of a missionary is often made up of monotony and drudgery;
there often is no glamour in it; it doesn’t stir a man’s spirit or blood. So don’t
come out to be a missionary as an experiment, it is useless and dangerous.
Only come if you feel you would rather die than not come. Lord Wolsey was
right: “A missionary ought to be a fanatic or he encumbers the ground.”
There are many trials and hardships. Disappointments are numerous and the
time of learning the language is especially trying. Don’t come if you want to
make a great name or want to live long. Come if you feel there is no greater
honour, after living for Christ, than to die for Him. That does the trick in the
end. It’s not the flash in the pan but the steady giving forth of light, it’s
shining on and on that we need out here. Our job is to make all hear the
Word. God’s job is to give penetration to His Word”.
“The best cure for discouragement or qualms is another daring plunge of
faith”.
“Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time of waiting is
past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God’s Holy Name let us
arise and build! ‘The God of Heaven, He will fight for us’, as we for Him. We will
not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and
minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before
the world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian
world, we will dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live
and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud
in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live
trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and
the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God,
not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a
Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ”.
“Difficulties, dangers, disease, death, or divisions don’t deter any but
Chocolate Soldiers from executing God’s Will. When someone says there is
a lion in the way, the real Christian promptly replies, “That’s hardly enough
inducement for me; I want a bear or two besides to make it worth my while to
go”.
“We now use the word “hallelujah” instead of “amen” at the conclusion of a prayer.
“Amen” was a very sleepy affair, something like the last moans of a dying cow. I
fancy even the angels must have screwed up their faces. Our “hallelujah” lends
itself to enthusiasm and is something like the triumphant shout of a herd of hefty bulls of Bashan. Nobody can remain asleep long, for he is obliged to wake up at
the end of each prayer. We have also adopted an improved form of finale after the
benediction. I ask the people, “Is it not true that Jesus is coming again?” Reply,
“Jesus is coming.” Then we all say “Hallelujah.” Well, it is a regular raising-the-
roof affair. I sometimes wish some of our dear old staid Christians at home could
hear it. The shock would produce enough energy and enthusiasm to milk a whole
herd of goats and make them give a double quantity”.
“Here’s a pretty decent prayer, “Lord, You know as well as I do what I want;
what I the use of my saying more? I want to see Jesus running about in
thousands of black bodies and purified hearts. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Hallelujah!”
“If God who sits in the heavens can laugh, His children on earth should be
loyal enough to do exactly as their Father does”.
“Don’t go into the study to prepare a sermon — that’s nonsense. Go into your
study to God and get so fiery that your tongue is like a burning coal and you
have got to speak”.
“Marriage can be a great blessing or a great curse, depending on where you place
the Cross”.
“I can easily see why the folks at home want to eliminate Hell from their
theology, preaching and thought. Hell is indeed awful unless its preaching is
joined to a life laid down by the preacher. How can a man believe in Hell
unless he throws away his life to rescue others from its torment? If there is
no Hell, the Bible is a lie. If we are willing to go to Hell on earth for others,
we cannot preach it”.
“I am getting desperately afraid of going to heaven for I have had the vision
of the shame I shall suffer as I get my first glimpse of the Lord Jesus; His
majesty, power and marvellous love for me, who treated Him so meanly and
shabbily on earth, and acted as though I did Him a favour in serving Him!
No wonder God shall have to wipe away the tears off all faces, for we shall
be broken-hearted when we see the depth of His love and the shallowness of
ours”.
“Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without
having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let
us see to it that the devil will hold a thanksgiving service in hell, when he gets
the news of our departure from the field of battle”.
“We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is
good, but when used for a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant
hypocrisy; a despicable Pharisaism … To your knees, man! And to your
Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God,
quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly
excuses. Enlist!
“I don’t tell these fellows to volunteer, I tell them to surrender to God and to
go away rejoicing in Him, and He will in His own way make all plain. Here’s
my final advice to them: If you don’t desire to meet the Devil during the day,
meet Jesus before dawn.
If you don’t want the Devil to hit you, hit him first, and hit him with all your
might, so that he may be too crippled to hit back. ‘Preach the Word’ is the rod
the Devil fears and hates.
“Christ’s call is to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; He came not to call
scoffers but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable
chapels, churches and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian
professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic
musical performances, but to capture men from the devil’s clutches and the
very jaws of Hell. This can be accomplished only by a red-hot,
unconventional, unfettered devotion, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the
Lord Jesus Christ”.