Preached at the Bradford Convention, Easter 1918.
Published in Confidence, April-June 1918.

It is a settled thing in the glory that in the fulness of time the latter rain has to be greater than the former. Some of our hearts have been greatly moved by the former rain, but it is the latter rain we are crying out for. What will it be when the fulness comes and the heart of God is satisfied? Acts 2:4: “And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” What a lovely thought that the Holy Ghost had such partiality that the word was all His! We are having to learn, whether we like it or not, that our end is God’s beginning. Then it is all God, and the Lord Jesus stands forth in the midst with such Divine glory and men are impelled, filled, led so perfectly. Nothing else will meet the need of the world.

There is something beautiful about Peter and John when we read that people took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. There was something so real, so after the order of the Master. Acts 4:13: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled, and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” May all in the temple glorify Jesus; it can be so.

The one thing marked more than anything else in the life of Jesus was the fact that the people glorified God in Him, and when God is glorified and gets the right of way and thought of His people everyone is as He is, filled with God. Whatever it costs it must be. Let it be so. Filled with God! The only thing to help people is to tell out the latest thing God has given us from the glory. There is nothing outside salvation. We are filled, immersed, clothed upon; there must be nothing felt, seen, spoken about, but the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus, baptized into a new nature. John 7:37: “He that believeth on Me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.” The very life of the risen Christ in everything, moving us to do his will.

There is something not touched yet, but praise God for the thirst to be in this meeting! Praise God, the thirst is of God, the desire is of God, the plan is of God, the purpose is of God. God’s plan, God’s thought, God’s vessel and God’s servant. In the world to meet the need; but not of the world or of its spirit.

God incarnate in humanity. Partakers of the Divine nature to manifest the life of Jesus in the world. Acts 2:13: “Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” That is what we want, you say? “Never man spake as this Man.” “New wine”: a new order—new inspiration—new manifestation. A power all new of itself, as if you were born, as you are, into a new day, a new creation.

It has a freshness about it! It has a beauty about it! It has a quality about it! To create in others the desire for the same taste. Some saw! But three thousand felt, tasted and enjoyed. Some looked on! others drinking with a new faith never before seen—a new manifestation, a new realization all divine, a new thing—straight from heaven, from the throne of the glorified Lord. It is God’s mind to fill us with that wine, to make us ready to burst forth with new rivers, fresh energy, no tired feeling.

God manifest in the flesh—that is what we want, and it is what God wants, and it satisfies everybody. All the people said, “We have never seen anything like it.” The disciples rejoiced in it being new; others were broken-hearted, crying out “men and brethren, what shall we do?” Acts 2:38-40: “Then Peter said, ‘Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.’ And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this untoward generation.’ ”

What shall we do? Men and brethren, what shall we do? Believe! Stretch out! Press on! Let there be a new entering in, a new passion to have it. We must be beside ourselves; we must drink deeply of the new wine, that multitudes may be satisfied and find satisfaction too.

The new wine is to have a new bottle*—the necessity of a new vessel. If anything of the old is left, not put to death, destroyed, there will be a rending and a breaking. The new wine and the old bottle will not work in harmony. It must be new wine and a new wine-skin, then there will be nothing to drop off when Jesus comes. 1 Thess. 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be for ever with the Lord.”

The body being so operated by the Spirit in the process of changing until we are like unto Him. Phil. 3:21: “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” I desire you to be all so filled with the Spirit at this Convention; so hungry, so thirsty, that nothing will satisfy us but seeing Jesus. Getting more thirsty every day, more dry every day, until the floods come, and the Master passes by, ministering unto us and through us the same life, the same inspiration, that as He is, so are we in this world.

He was straitened, but it was accomplished. It meant strong crying and tears—the cross manward, but the glory heavenward. Glory descending on a Cross! Verily, great is the mystery of godliness. He cried, “It is finished.” Let the cry never be stopped until the heart of Jesus is satisfied, until His plan for humanity is reached in the sons of God being manifested and the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Labels: 1918, Confidence

Published in Confidence, April-June 1918.

Our ten days’ Convention is beyond describing by words. The presence of God was upon us all the time. Letters have already come to say it was a thousand times in advance of last year. The deep revelations by the inspired speakers dove-tailed from day to day, and made hearts to burn with the sense of a need. A prayer came forth from all to God for our poor, broken world, in its present chaos of war, and a cry was raised for deliverance for our land. The missionary zeal was also intensified by returned and going-out missionaries. The voluntary offering on the Bible, amounting to over £200, denotes the hopefulness of the future.

One could not pick out special speakers in this Convention. From the first to the last of the ten days, the speakers and listeners were broken before God. The singing in the Spirit at most of the meetings was beyond human expression, as the glory of God covered us as a mantle from time to time with power to sing through falling tears of joy, expressing through the heart that God had got a people in his control.

God cared for us in this Convention and provided butter, cheese, sugar, and tea for upwards of 2,000 meals, and many other good things; there was no lack. The last day of the Feast was better than the first. People were baptized in the Spirit every day, and twenty-seven people passed through the waters of baptism. There were also many notable cases of healing. Two people were healed and saved, and one healed and baptized in the Spirit at the same time.

All the speakers announced came, and we are thankful that God has such treasured vessels in His great work. We labored for weeks in prayer, cleaning and painting inside and out of the Mission, but felt it would all be of no use if God did not fill it with His glory as the temple of Jerusalem. Truly, He made our hearts glad as again and again the glory fell upon us. We now see the Pentecostal future of unlimited success, when the war ceases and railway fares and food are as before. One could say that a month’s Convention is as little as one dare venture to have, after our present experience in these hard times, clearly proving to us that Acts 2 is going on to be fulfilled in a fuller measure.

I now close by saying what a joy it would have been if all the Pentecostal people could have shared with us in this great feast.

*   *   *

The Convention opened on Thursday evening by the convener, Mr. S. Wigglesworth, speaking on Acts 2, “Filled with New Wine.” Other speakers followed with inspiring messages.

On Good Friday morning there was a large attendance at the breaking of bread, God’s presence being very manifest in the midst.

The ten days were indeed days of the Right Hand of the Most High. The subject of the addresses wonderfully fitted in to the stress of the times.

Mr. Tetchner’s message on Ezekiel 22:30—God’s need of a man to stand in the gap—was very stirring, especially when just now so much depends upon the right man being in the right place, both as to military and also spiritual conditions.

Mr. Myerscough gave good Bible readings on the Second Coming of our Lord, clearly opening out before us the Word, that all in Christ would be changed, clearing the doubt of many as to a partial rapture.

Mr. Jays’ Bible readings and addresses were deep and inspiring, and much brokenness of spirit was manifested in all.

Mrs. Crisp had a warm welcome for the first time in our midst, giving helpful messages. Many were blessed by the message on Acts 12, “But Prayer.”

We were glad to have with us, as usual, Mr. and Mrs. Walshaw. Mr. Walshaw gave us a word on John 7:37, “Rivers,” Mrs. Walshaw speaking from 1 Corinthians 12, “The Nine Gifts of the Spirit.”

Mr. Boulton, from Hull, had a broken spirit. We felt God had brought him to be blessed, and thus he was a blessing to others.

The Rev. William Reed was a great inspiration to all with his untiring zeal in seeking the lost and pressing this need on all assembled. His last words to us were, “Devour your Bibles, live on your knees, be wisely mad for the salvation of the perishing.”

Miss Morell was always ready both in ministering the Word and helping those seeking the Baptism.

Mr. Moggs gave a good address on “Seeking the Baptism,” and was also helpful to those seeking.

Mr. Sam Broom gave us a thrilling address on “Divine Healing.”

The Convener impressed the meetings with the truth that nothing wold meet the need of the day like the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. The sons of God are to be manifested. As “He is, so are we in this world.”

Labels: 1918, Confidence