'I see more than ever that the religion which is pleasing to God consists
in doing and enduring His will, rather than in good sentiments and
feelings. The Lord help us to endure as seeing Him who is
invisible.'--MRS. BOOTH.
When our first General stood on that October evening by the grave of his
beloved wife, and spoke to us with a breaking heart of our Army Mother,
he unfolded to us the three great qualities which made her character so
beautiful. First, and foremost, she was good; secondly, she was love;
and, thirdly, she was a Warrior. Let us, following The General's outline,
look at these three leading qualities in her life. 'First,' he said, 'she
was _good_. She was washed in the Blood of the Lamb. To the last
moment her cry was "a sinner saved by grace." She was a thorough hater of
shams, hypocrisies, and make-believes. Her goodness was of a practical
sort. "By their fruits ye shall know them" was a text she often quoted,
and one by which she was always willing to be judged.'
It is of this 'goodness of a practical sort' that I want first to tell
you, before we consider that soul goodness which made her life so holy.
Mrs. Booth could not imagine any goodness apart from industry. As we have
already seen, she considered it a sin to waste precious time. Any one who
was lazy she could not endure, and when one such offered for the work she
wrote of him:--
'I do hope you will not throw a lot of money away in trying H------, just
for want of courage to tell him at once that he will not do, because I am
sure that it will be thrown away. It is the _nature_ of the man that
is at fault, and not his _circumstances_. He is a _drone_, and
nothing, no change of place or position, can ever make him into a bee. He
never ought to have left his trade; he never _would_ have done so if
he had thought soul-saving was harder work!'
Extravagance and waste of every kind she abhorred, and had she not been
so careful in planning and arranging, her time and money would again and
again have run short. The sewing, mending, and housekeeping needed for a
family of little children when means are scarce would have been burden
enough for most mothers. But besides this came her own letter-writing,
preparing for her Meetings, and also the hours she spent consulting and
advising The General, whose voice, 'Here, Kate,' would call her from the
nursery or kitchen to help him decide some important question.
Again, it was impossible to talk to Mrs. Booth, even for five minutes,
without finding how true and sincere she was. To please no one would she
keep back the truth, or appear different from her real self.
'I believe,' she writes, when quite a young woman, 'honesty to be the
best policy, and I shall act upon it. Let me have truth, if it shakes the
foundation of the earth.'
She was sincere and faithful in every part of her nature: faithful with
her own soul and in dealing with the souls of others. Great or small,
rich or poor, she made no difference, and never held back from reproving
sin when it was needful.
'I see more than ever,' she said, 'the need of making righteous people
true in their _inward parts_. Let us be more thorough than ever with
souls under conviction. Let us not be afraid to wound too deeply.
Thousands of professors have never been truly convinced of sin, much less
truly converted. Sin to them is _being found out_!'
Though all through her life our Army Mother hungered and thirsted to
know God better, and to serve Him more perfectly, yet it was not till
some time after her marriage that she received the blessing of a clean
heart.
Of the struggle and conflict which she went through, before the blessing
of Holiness became hers, she shall tell you in her own words:--
'I had been earnestly seeking all the week to know Jesus as an
all-sufficient Saviour dwelling in my heart, and thus cleansing it every
moment of all sin; but on Thursday and Friday I laid aside almost
everything else, and spent the chief part of the day in reading and
prayer, and trying to believe for it. On Thursday afternoon at tea-time I
was well-nigh discouraged, and felt my old visitant, irritability, and
the Devil told me I should never get it, and so I might as well give it
up at once. However, I know him of old as a liar and the father of lies,
and pressed on, cast down, yet not destroyed.
'On Friday morning God gave me two precious passages. First, "Come unto
Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh,
how sweet it sounded to my poor, weary, sin-stricken soul! I almost dared
to believe that He did give me rest from inbred sin--the rest of perfect
Holiness. But I staggered at the promise through unbelief, and therefore
failed to enter in. The second passage consisted of those thrice-blessed
words, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." But again unbelief
hindered me, although I felt as if getting gradually nearer.
'I struggled through the day until a little after six in the evening,
when William joined me in prayer. We had a blessed season. While he was
saying, "Lord, we open our hearts to receive Thee," that word was spoken
to my soul, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My
voice, and open unto Me, I will come in, and sup with him." I felt sure
He had long been knocking, and Oh, how I yearned to receive Him as a
perfect Saviour! But Oh, the inveterate habit of unbelief! How wonderful
that God should have borne so long with me! When we got up from our
knees, I lay on the sofa, exhausted with the excitement and effort of the
day. William said, "Don't you lay all on the altar?" I replied, "I am
sure I do!" Then he said, "And isn't the altar holy?" I replied in the
language of the Holy Ghost, "The altar is most holy, and whatsoever
toucheth it is holy." Then, said he, "Are you not holy?" I replied with
my heart full of emotion and with some faith, "Oh, I think I am!"
Immediately the word was given me to confirm my faith. "Now are ye clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you." And I took hold--true,
with a trembling hand, and not unmolested by the tempter, but I held fast
the beginning of my confidence, and it grew stronger, and from that
moment I have dared to reckon myself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto
God through Jesus Christ my Lord.
'I did not feel much rapturous joy, but perfect peace, the sweet rest
which Jesus promised to the heavy laden. I have understood the Apostle's
meaning when he says, "We who believe do enter into rest." This is just
descriptive of my state at present. Not that I am not tempted, but I am
allowed to know the Devil when he approaches me, and I look to my
Deliverer Jesus, and He still gives me rest. Two or three very trying
things occurred on Saturday, which at another time would have excited
impatience, but I was kept by the power of God through faith unto full
Salvation.
'And now what shall I say? "Unto Him who has washed me in His own Blood
be glory and dominion for ever and ever," and all within me says "Amen!"
Oh! I cannot describe, I have no words to set forth the sense I have of
my own utter unworthiness. Satan has met me frequently with my peculiarly
aggravated sins, and I have admitted it all. But then I have said, the
Lord has not made my sanctification to depend in any measure on my own
worthiness or unworthiness, but on the worthiness of my Saviour. He came
to seek and to save "that which was lost." "Where sin hath abounded,
grace doth much more abound"'
How wonderfully in after years Mrs. Booth explained and led others into
this same blessing, we know. Was not, then, the long struggle and agony
on her own behalf worth it? Yes, indeed, and it will be so with you when
you get this glorious blessing in your soul.
You will have noticed how in struggling for Holiness Mrs. Booth had to
fight unbelief. This determination to trust God fully marked her out as
strong in faith.
She had this marvellous faith because she obeyed and struggled to throw
herself on the Lord; but faith was not _natural_ to her any more
than it is to you or me.
Often money was short, and she hardly knew how she would be able to feed
and clothe her family: this was a sore trial of her faith. On one such
occasion she wrote to her mother:--
'We have not at present received as much as our travelling expenses and
house rent. I feel a good deal perplexed, and am sometimes tempted to
mistrust the Lord. But I will not allow it. Our Father knows!'
Later on we get a sight of her own experience in one of her letters, when
she said:--
'I am much tried just now by perplexities of every kind; uncertainty,
from a human standpoint, hedges me in on every side. Satan says it is
useless trying to steer straight through such a labyrinth; but I am
determined to hold on to the promises, come what will. My God is the
living God. He sees me, knows me, loves me, cares for me, wants to have
me with Him in Glory, as much as He did Abraham, or Paul, or John. If
this be true, what have I to fear?'