Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in her admirable essay on "Primitive Christian Experience," uses the following language: —
The advantages to the Christian Church in setting before it distinct points of attainment,
are very nearly the same in result as the advantages of preaching
immediate regeneration in preference to indefinite exhortation to men to
lead sober, righteous, and godly lives. It has been found, in the
course of New England preaching, that pressing men to an immediate and
definite point of conversion, produced immediate and definite results;
and so it has been found among Christians, that pressing them to an
immediate and definite point of attainment will, in like manner, result
in marked and decided progress. For this reason it is, that, among the
Moravian Christians, where the experience by them denominated full
assurance of faith was much insisted on, there were more instances of
high religious faith than in almost any other denomination.
Here is sound philosophy, founded on facts corroborated by Mr. Wesley in his wide range of observation: — "Wherever the work of sanctification increased, the whole work of God increased
in all its branches." In 1765 he found in Bristol fifty less members
that he left before. He thus accounts for this decline: — "One reason
is, that Christian perfection has been little insisted on; and wherever
this is not done, be the preacher ever so eloquent, there is little
increase either in the numbers or grace of the hearers."
When a
definite point is presented to the believer as attainable immediately,
all the energies of the soul are aroused and concentrated. Prayer is no
more at random. There is a target set up to fire at. Faith as an act — a
voluntary venture upon the promise — puts forth its highest energies
and achieves its greatest victories.
No comments:
Post a Comment