But there are two or three facts that ought to be remembered in this
connection. One is, that God is often pleased to own even a small
modicum of truth, encumbered though it be with a great deal of error.
Such may have been Finney's case in particular. He preached the Gospel;
that was the secret of his genuine success. Men were simply frightened
by his lurid descriptions of hell. So extreme was he in this respect
that strong men trembled, and Finney had to be pulled by the coat tails
that he 'might go no further. So it was not his awful descriptions of
the lost that were so blessed. It was the modicum of Gospel truth,
presented with great earnestness, that really told.
Let me give two examples of the same principle from New Testament
history. There was a certain Jew named Apollos. It is said of him that
he was "mighty in the Scriptures," that he was "instructed in the way of
the Lord," that he "mightily convinced the Jews." Yes; but at the same
time he "knew only the baptism of John." Great as that man was, he was
taken in hand by those obscure Christians. Aquila and Priscilla, who
"expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." The truth he had was
encumbered for a time with a great deal of error; but it was owned and
blessed notwithstanding.