Chapter 1
esfimimi
I arriv edjn Los Angeles, Californ ia^^^vJthjnyjvife arid two you ng daugiite^rs^,^ffr^ecember 22, 1904. Little Esther, o uFoldestjchild, tfiree years oldj_ was seized with convulsions_an4p_assed_away to be with ^Jesus_on_January 7. at 4_A.M^Lit tle "Queen Esther^ seemed to have been born "for such a time as thi s" ClEsther4:14). -==== ^
^Beside that little rnffin . with heart ble eding^
^^gl edged my life anew for God's se rvice. In the presence
■ of d eath, how real etern^J ssues become. I promised
^e rest of myjife should be spent wholly for Him. He
.m ade a fresh covenant with m e. I then begged Him to
open a door of service quickly, so that I might not find
4 ime for sorrow.
^Just one week after little Esthe£ s-d£parture^ Ibe-ganpreac hing twice a day at t he Peniel Mission in Pasadena^-Mii le souls were saved during the m onth's
Azusa Street
Q ieetingsJ iL -Eeniel Mission,J he. greatest victory gained was the spiritual growth of a c ompany of young men
^attendin g there. A number were c ajledoutby the Lord
ior future service.
On April 8. I heard F . B. Meyer, from London, preach. He described jh e great revival then going on in Wales, which he had j ust \isited. He had met E^ah Roberts. My soulw^stirred to its depths, having read of thirTevival shortly before. I then and there prom-ised God He should have full right of^ayjvvith rne^ He cou ld use me.
X/I^strib^^^^^ ^^f]^^'' i^i thp post offTce^banks. and^ public buildings in L os_Angeles and also took tracts to many s?^lo ons. Later I visited abo ut thirty saloons Tii Lq 5_ Angeles again. The houses of^ pipstitution were wide open at that time, and J gave, out man\- tracts there.
^ Little Esther's death had broken my heart, and I^
felt I could live only while in God's s ervice . I longed jo
^now Him in a more real way and to see^the workof
^od go forth in"nnwer. A g reat hurden and cry came in
jny_hearLforAJBisllt}LreyiyaLJ^ preparing me
.forj;e newed service for Hi m. This could be brought
about only bv the rea lization of a deeper need in my
own heartJoLGod, and a real soul travail for the work
ofGo dTThis He gave me. Many were being similarly
pj;epar,ed-atjthis_tinie-in different parts of the world.
The Lord was prepa rin^o visit and d e liver His peop le
. once more. Intercessors were the need. "He...
jbuond ered that there j vas^ no intercessgr^jls^iah.
59:16). "I so uaht for a m an...[to] stand in the gap be-
Begieeings
^About the fi rst of May, appwerful revival^broke outTn the LaRe^v eniie Methodist Episcopal Church In .^PasadenarMos t of the youn g men^who had come forth in the meetings _in Peniel Mission attended this church y They ha d gotten under the burden for a re-vival there. In fact, w e had been praying for a sweep-ing revival for Pasadena, and God was answering our prayersTTfound a wonderful work of the Spirit going on at Lake Avenue. There was no big preacher there, ^yeUhe altar was full of seeking souls. One night nearly .every unsaved soul in the house was saved. It was a clean sweep for God. Conviction was mightily upon /Se people. In two weeks' tim e~twq^^Hun dred_souls knelt at the altar seeking th e Lord. The Peniel boys were involvedand wonderfully used by God. We then ^egan to pray for an outpouring of the Spir it for Los Angeles and the whole of southern California^
L^fi nd the following observations in my diary , ivntten at thatiimSL
^§ome churches are going to be surprised to find God~p35strTg them by. He will work in ^anneTs~where they wi ll >ield to Him. They . musth umble themselves for Him to come. We ^re crying. "Pasadena for God!" Some people" are too well satisfied with their o\vn goodness. They have little faith or interest for the salvation of others. God \vill humble them by pass-jng them by. The Spirit is brea thing prayer through us for a mighty, general outpouring. Great things are coming. We are askin g^
largply, thqt n]^r jov ma y be full. God JS mov-
.ing,_W£-ane_prajing for the churches and their* pastors. The Lord will visit those willing^ to^ ^vieldt^_ Him.
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And the same is true today. Ultim ate failure or^ success for God will kej:£aJJZ£d-msL.aLthi&, point. We must keep humble and little in our own eve s. Let us ^ . get built up by a sense o£ mu^-QMiiimportance and_^ . are gone. History repeats itself in this conn ection. God .has always sought a humble people.,He_canjise na' other. Martin j ^uther, the .^eatreformer» wrote.
When our Lord and Master Je sus Christ says repe nt, He means that the whole life of be-^lievers on earth should b e a consta nt and per-petual repentance. Repentance and sorrow— Lejjjtruej'epentance—endure as long as a man is displeased with himself ^ The desire of
seif-juitlf i'^atinn k tVip pan<;p of a11 thp dktrpsses^
of the heart.
There is always rnucbuafifi d of heart pre paration, in humility and s eparation, before G od can c onsiste ntly come. The depth of any j;eyival will_be dete rmined exactly by the spirit of repentance that^is obtained. In fact, this is the key to every true revival Jjorn of God.
On May 12, God dealt with me about eiving^a llmy . time to Him, turnhig my back fi nallyand for all time on secular employment. . He wanteH~ine~now to trust Him .fully for myself and my fam i lv. I had just received a book, The Great Revival in Wales, written by S. B. Shaw. Taking a little walk before breakfast, I was read-ing this. Th e Lord had been ti'>ing for years to bring roe to this decision for His service^We entered into a new Q ontra ct betweeiTus. He was to have the rest ofjny life fully. And I have never daredlo break this co ntract.
My_wife kept my breakfast for me. But I did not returrmiitil noon. I hadJost my appetite for food. The
Begineings
Spirit, through the book, set m e on fire. J visited and
prayed with three preachers and a nu mber of workers
jSelore I returned home at noon. I had received a new
commission and anointing. My bu rden was for revival.
I visited and prayed with people a ll day long for §ome_toe_ npWi^stributing G. Campbell Morgan's pamphlet on the "Revival in Wales." It moved the people s trongly. The s pirit of prayerj vas increasing ii]£on me ^ apd I_de termined to be obedient to "the heavenly vision" TActs 26:19 )^ I prayed the Lord for faith to trust Him fully. "Man sh all not Jive by bread alone" (Ma tthew 4:4)-
The L ord bless ed me with a further spirit of ex-hortation_tQ_j:eyival among the churches, giving me articles to write for the Holiness press along the ^ame line also. I began to write particularly for the W aif of Faith and God's Revivalist. One nigh t I awoke TroiTl my sleep shouting the praises of G odT He was getting
■ ■hold of me more and more. I was no w going day arid night, exhorting my fellowman to faith in G od for_ mi ghty things. The spirit of revival co nsumed me. The sp^irit of prophecy came upon me strong ly also. 1
seemed to receive a definite "gift of faith"J or revival We wereevidently in the b eginn ing o£wori 5ertul da ys l Q_come, and TlpropEesied con tinually of a mightv
. outpo uring.
JJiad^aj^sa^inisiJ^LtQjhfeEeligious p^ess-amLhfir ganjQ_a^£jadLB£ay£r mpptingSLat^he-various churches to exhort them . G. Campbell Morgan's tract on the " Revival in \V ale&l .spread the fire in the churches wonderfully. I did a great deal of visiting among the saints also^nd began losell S. B. Shaw 's bj^ok, The_ Grea ^Revival m H^a/es^ammig.ihe -chjoixhes--J^o^
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wonderfully used it to promote faith for a re\ival spirit. My tracLHQrkjwas^cDntinued amojig the saloons and business houses^
In Ma y IQQS. I wrote i n an article ,
. My soul is on fire as I read of the glorious imnk of grace in Wales. The "seven thousan d" in the land, who have kept company with the !!§E ared ones" (Ezekiel 9), and who have bee n 'l£iying_and sighin g" beca use of the abomin a-j:ir>n anH (fp ^jatiou m the land, the decay of vi-xtal piety in the body of Chris t, may well be^ excused fo r_reioiging at such a time and pros -^ect jsjhis^ when God is once more mo ving j n the earth. But where areihejnen-wbi) will 'jtir the mselves up to take hold of God?" Let ou r watch word at~tp iis time be " Ca lifornia ~Foi-Christ." God i s looking for workejs, channels , worms of the dust. R ememb er, He must have wormsJesusHife wa^s_^essed_ o^ every pore. This kind conies toojii gh for most people. But m ax. notthis.-.b€L.oiuLXQrdIs_!!la§t ,Qair?
On JunelT^ I went to L osAngeles t o attend a meeting a t the FirsfBap tist Church. Th ey w ere waiti ng, o n God for an outpauring_of the__Sl]dn Ohere ,JIlieiF pastor, Jo seph Srnale^jiadJ ^^^ return ed frornj/^ales. He had been in touch w ith the revival and Evan Rob-frts, and wag rvnrfireltQLha ye the sa nie_yisitation and blessing_come_toJns_own diurch^ m L^os^Ajigeles^T fQund.this meeting m_accordance with my own vision, fey:r_^.§IL_^A^^^^^^' ^° I^pen Umx-hjQiirs in the church iliISaYer_beSi^IS5_.?Yenmg service., Meetings^ were being held_eyery day.,and _night there, and_God_was present.
Beginnings
starte d the meetin g in Los A ngeles wh ile th ey were waitingJor_Smale_to appeafTTex-
^horted t hem not to wait for man but to e xpect from Qod^Thev_were depending^on some grea t one, th e
,^same spirit of .idolatryLthat.has cursed the c hurch an d.
■ h indered^ God in all_ages^LikeJ he children of I srad, the people must have "s ome other g od befo rejiim." 7SeeExodus_2g]3TFstaj^ circles in E urope,
the_pastor is often know n as "the little God." I started the service in t h e evenin g on th^ church steps, outsid e, while we were waiting for the janitor to arriv e withthe^ kgy^_We had aseason of prayer for t he sii rrounding community. The evening meeting was a stea dy sweep of victory.
\Vhe n God's church becomes w hatjt_sh ould be, in Jove and unity, the doors will never be closed or Jocked^jjkej he temple o f old, it will a lways be open. fWfi fgaw tV|ig l^tg^f^j^ A7n<;a M ission.) God does no t have many churches, all'bf'different nani es^._ThereJs _na_division In a true Fen tecost or in true worship. Godis^^S^mtj^gnd^tlwylt^ w'orshipjiim^jmisl worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4 :24). "For hy nnp. SpirUjarej ve all bajg tized into one body...and have been q U made to dj jnkJnWjoneSpirit'' (1 Corinthians 12:13). Ancient Israel, w hen right with God, was one;_l}ow much rnore should t he church be^We^ have priests^ enoug h to serve continua lly, _and plenty of s_eeking , needy people to fill the jchurch at all times. How far we ha ve falleh~7r-0m,the early, patt^nTand e ven from the ty pe of the church, Israeh We are so far frnrp it that wp sp;^rpply rppn gni7.p the r eal thin g. Kygn thej^athol ic Church , though formal, i§_ahead of us in thi^^J^ diffirnhy^rid shampJ5.thaLwe_are Jiopelessly liyided.
{
Azusa Street
- T went to Lamanda Park and, a fterpre achin g, ^ent the j iight at the parsonage p ra\ing_and_sleeping alternately. I w anted a fullerj:£^daliQn_ of Jesus t ojn\' owTL soul. Like the full moon th at dr aws cleaf.er jind nearer to our \i si on as we continue to ste adfastly gaze at it, s o Jesus appears more real to our souls as_we continue to con template Him. We need a closer, personal, vital relationship, acquaintance, and commiun -ir m^ with God. Only the man who lives in fellow ship with di\ nnp reality^ can he used to call the p eople to
J went to Smale's church again, and agaip i oimd thern list lessly'waiting for the prea cher to app ear.
^M any did not^ seem to have anx^dgfiniLeJiea^iLAybY tV>Pv_hgd ^nmp tn thp mppting T hpgari_to pray aloud. and the meeting started off with power. iM vas i n full blast when Brother S m ale arr"iye^T~God^wanted th^ peo ple to look to Him, and not to_m ^ . Those not hay ing the glor\' of God first in \iew would natur ally resen^this. But it is God's plan.
I_founiLm'^^^^ GKri^ans did nntjvva nt to take on a burden of prayer. It was too ha jd o n the flesh. I _was earning this bu rd en now in eyer increasing volurne, jiigh^_a nd day. Th e^jministry; was intense. It wa s~^gig fellowship of His jufferinqs" (Philippia ns 3:10), a ' ^uazVofsou j^CIsaiah^Sill), \\ith "qroaninqs which [could not] b euggrg^^-^'^TTians 8:26V Most believers find it easier to cr iticize than to pray.
ryr\ R day T \ \^^ \rturh hn r dened in praver. T w^en t to Bmt her Manlev j^nt and Jell at the altar, there un-lmrdeningjny_^oul. A worker ran in f rom a_"side tehf and beg g ed me to pra yjorjiim. I attended ^another mppting that night and there found a youngJ)rother,"
Beginnings
Edward Boehmer, who had_ comeJprth in the Peniel meetings in t he_spring, with the same burden of
£I!5Z?L-5IL_!linL_}y^-^^-?I^ wonderfully united in the SpiriXfronLthat time on. He was destined to become" my prayer helper in the future. We pr ayed togeth er at the little Peni el Mission until 2 A.M. God wonderfully niet_and^ssjai£djis,as_we^wrestled with Him forjKe outpouri ng of His Spirit upon the people. My l ife was byjEis3imej2ir^5Isw3lQW£duiP-iiL 4icayer, JL_was_ praying day a nd night .
J wrote^more articlesJorjhe j'eligious pr e^s^jejc^^ horting the saints to^grayer^^ndwent to Smale's again i n Los An gel es. Here I found the people waiting for the pre acher agaii Lj. was grpatly burdened for the j ituatjon and_ tried to show the m theY.must exp^t from God. Somexese nted this, bei ngboundby age-old custorn, but other§_rpspnnf|pd to it Ihey-^y£r£4)jaying.for a_revivd like thev had in Wales. This was one gf theoutstanding features th^e. In Wales they expected from God. The meetin gs went orLwhether Ihe preacher was_present or absenL They_came to meet God. Hp rnptjjiprjT-
X-had written a letter to Evan Robe rts in Wales. askin g them to pray for us in Calif ornia. I now re-cel^iCTal•eply jllatih£yJyere doing so, which jinke djis up with th ej;eviygHhereJ[he^lett er re ad_as follows:
M y dear bro ther injb e faith: Many thanks for y our kind lettejL_I_am impres sed b y vour^ sincerity anrl hones ty "f pnrp nsp. Congregate t he people to g^thgrjvhgare wjUirig to mflkf__g, total surrender^ Pray and wai t. Believe God' s pro mises. Ho ld daily meeting s. May^Godbless y ou, is my earnest p rayer. YQuxsinChnstT
^Evan Roberts
Azusa Street
We were much encouraged to know that they were praying for us in Wales .
T wT;(;)te some articles for the Way of Faith, the Christian Harvest^r^^ at this time^
A wonderful work of the Spirit has broken out here in Los Angeles, California, precededby a deep preparatory^ work of prayer and expectation^ CQnYicMQnJsj:apidl}Lspi;eading amongtRe people, a n d thev are ra llying from all over the^ citv to the mee tin gs at P astor Sm?^le's church-Already t hese meetings are beginning to "run^ themselves." Souls .are being saved all over the_ h ouse, w hile the meeting sweeps on unguided ,by humanjiands. Theti de is rising rapidly, and we are anticipating wo nderful things. Soul tra-v ail is becomin g an important feature of the >vork, and we a re being swe pt away bey ond sectarian ba rriers. The fear ofG od is com ing upon the people, a very spirjtSS irning. lSuil-f^gvjiightJJT^jn eeting ran on until the small hours of the next ^lorping. Fa stor !;ipiale is pTY^php^AWj^f^wonflerfiil things t o come. He prophe sies the speedy return of t he apostolic jpifLg to the ^hiirpK T.p<; A^sd^l^"^ ^ veritaWe Jerusalem. Just the p lace for a mighty work of ■ God to begin. I hav e been expecting just such a' displav^^ djyine po wer for some time. Have felt it might^eak out at any hour. Also that it was liable to come where least expect ed^ that God might g et the glorv'. Prayj or a P entecost.
^ me 1905
One-eveninffi, „Tnl.v^ O JelLstrongly impressedtcu gOjD the little Peniel_Hal l in Pasadena to pray. There I
^found Brother B oehmer ahead-oLiiie^-He-had, also
_been led by God to th e hall. We prayed for a spirit of
revival for Pasadena until the burden became nearly
unbearable. I cried out like a woman in birth pangs.
The Spirit was interceding through us. Finally, the
burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting, a
great calm settled down upon us. Then, s uddenly ^ the
Lord Jesus revealed Himself to us. He seemed to stand
_directlv betwe en us, so close we could have reached
_ouLQUjLhands ajid touched Him. But we did not dare
to mov^. I couldj iot even look. In fact, I seemed all
_spirit. His presence seeme d more real, if possible, than
JLLL^uld have seen and touched Him naturally. I for-
„£0t I had eyes or ears; my spirit recognized Him. A
heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul.
Burning fire went through me. In fact, my whole being
^seemed to flow down before Him, like wax before the
^re^I lostLall consciousness of time or space, being
jcons^cious^only j)jLHis wo^nde presence. I wor-
ship ped at His fe et. It seemed a veritable Mount of
trans figuration. I was lost in the pure Spirit.
^yjr s ome tim e He_reinained with us. Theiij^slowly, -He-with^^w His presei3£e^_We„:wQuld have been there yet had He not withdrawn. I could not doubt His real-^ ity after that experience. Brother Boehmer experienced largely the same thing. We had lost_ all -consciousness of each other's presence while He re-^mained with us. We were almost afraid to speak or
- breathe when we came back to our surroundings. The -JLord had said nothing to us, but only overwhelmed
- our spirits by His presence. He had come to ^ ,-strpp gthpn anH ass ure US for H is service. We knew ^
now we were workers with Him, feljo wship persof His^ suffer ings, in the ministr\^ of "soul travail." Real soiil
Jxayail-is-just as definite in the spirit as natural human ^rth pangs. The simile is almost perfect. No soul is ^£3^er born without this. All true revivals of salvation _come this way.
The sun was up the next morning before we left Jhe hall. But the night had seemed but half an hour. The presence of God elim inates a ll sense of time. With Him all is eternity. It is "et ernal life." God knows no ^ime. This eleme nt is lost in heaven. This is the secret of time appearinglo pass so swiftly in all nights of real prayer. Time is superseded. The element of eternity is there. For days that marvelous presence seemed to walk by my side. The. Lord Jesus was so real. I could" scarcely take up with human conversation again. It seemed so crude and empty. Human spirits seemed so_ harsh, earthly fellowship a torment. How far we are naturally from the gentle Spirit of Christ!
J spe nt the following day in prayer, gojn g_to_ Smal'eTchurch in the evening, where I had a ministry in intercession. Heavenlv peace and iov filTedmy soui^ Jesus was so real. Doubts and fears cannot abide in His presence .
^iJWYotG a number of articlesjo^seyeral papers, de^^ scribing God's ope rations among us, and exhorting the_ saints everywh ere to faith and prayer for a revival. The j^rd used these articles greatly to bring faith and conviction. T was soon receiving quite a large correspon-
I wrote injny_diary at thisj:im e the foll owing observations:
jK^^.mavcut_ourselves off f rom God by our .spiritual jtride, w hile He m a y cause the weakest toj^pent and go through to vict ory. The work in^
Beginnings
pur own hearts must go deepe r than we have .£^iiii_ex£eriencecl, deep enough to destroy^s^-tarian prejudice, party spirit, and so on, on "all sides. God can perfect those whom He choosesT "
The present worldwide re\ival was rocked in the cradle ^little Wales. It was brought up in India, be-comin g full-g rown in Los Angeles later. I received from God early in 1905 the following keynote to re-yiyal: "The depth of revival will be determined exactly b}^the depth of the spirit of repentance." And this will holdjTueforjall people, at all times.
The revival spirit at Brother Smale's rapidly
spi£ad_its interest over the whole city, among the
^ritua l people. Workers were coming in from all
.parts, from various affiliations, uniting their prayers
^with us for a generaTbutpouring. The circle of interest
,ividened rapidly. We werejiow praying for California,
^r the nation, and also for a worldwide revival. The
.spirit of prophecy began to work among us for mighty
iliings on a large scale. Someone sent me five thou-
.sand pamphlets on "The Revival in Wales." These 1
distributed among the churches. They had a wonderful
^^uickening influence.
I visited Smale's chur ch again and started the
jneeting. j jejiad not yet arrived. The meetings were
,get ting wonde rful by this time for their spontaneity.
Our little njHenn\s jwul^was marching on to certain
"^ When Gideon w agj^ornmissinneH by God to fight against the J^idianites^who had invaded the land of Israel, Gideon's army consisted of only 300 men. The Midianites and their allies numbered about 135,000. Yet by God's power the small army of 300 was able to throw the enemy into complete confusion and ultimately win. (See Judges 6-8.) "^
Azusa Street
victory, led by the Cap tain of our salvation, Jesus. X. was led to p ray at this early date especially for faitKT discernment of spirits, healing, and prophecy. I felt I needed more wisdom and love, also. I seemed to re-ceiyea^real gift of faith for the revival at this time, with a spirit of prophecy to the same end, and^began to prophesy of mighty things to come.
When we beg an to pray j n the sprin g of 190 5, no one seemed to have much faith for anything^^out of the ordinary^ Pessimism in regard to_the then present conditions "seemed to be felt generally among the saints. But this attitude had changed. God Himself had given us faith for better things. There had been nothing in sight to stimulate us_ to this. It came from nothing . And can He not do the same today?
I wrote an article at this time for the Daily News of Pasadena, de scribing what I saw in Brother Smale's church. It was publishe d, and the manager himself came to see soo n after^Hewasjgreatly convicted, came tothe altar, and sought God earnestly. The article was copied in a number of Holiness papers throughout the countiy. It was entitled, "What I Saw in a Los Angeles^ Church." The following are some extracts:
For somfi^w^eeks^special services have been^ heldjn the First Baptist Church, Los Angeles. ^ Pastor ^male hjtd returned from Wales, where he wasl rftouch^tlTE^n Roberts and the revival. He registers his conviction that Los Angeles will soon be shak en b y the m ighty power ofGodT
Thejservice of which I am writing began in an impromptu and spontaneous way some time before the" pastor arrived. A^h andful of people ^
f\l<0
Cir\^ €fi/ f^^r^A^ Beginnings
t^^^
jhad gathered early^whjch seemedjto be^uffi-
cielirio Fl:"Ke~Spirit's o peration. The m eeting
jtarteHT'l'h eir eXpect atToiL was from God. Go d
^^s there, the people were there, anj, b^
, time the pasto r arrived , the meeting was in full svmig. Fastor Smale dropped into his place, but no o ne seerhe^ to pay any special attention to him. Their minds were on God. No one seemed to get in another's way, although the congregation represented many religious bodies. All seemed to be in perfect haraiony^he Spirit was leading.
JE be pastor aro se, read a portion of the Scriptu re, made a few well-chosen remarks full of hope and inspiration for the occasion, and the meeting passed again from his hands. The people took it up and went-^Q fl_as be^re^ ^Xgsti-jnon^^^prayer, and praise w ere intermingle3 throughout the ser vice. The meeting seemed"To ^run itself as far as human guidance was con-C.erned. The pastor was one of them. If one is at all impressionable religiously, he must feel in ^such an atmosphere that something wonderful andjnminent is about to take place. Some mysterious, mighty upheaval in the spiritual world is evidently at our doors. The meeting gives one a feeling of "heaven on earth," with an assurance that the superna tural exisls, and that in a very real sense.
.J^^;ote_another._article for the Weslei^an Method-if;t at th e same ti me^f^which the following are ex-Jxacts:
Mefcv rejected m eans judgment, and on a corresponding scale. In all thejjistory of Go3T__
n 21
Azusa Street
world, there ha s__aIwavs-beeiL first the offer-pf divine mercy, then judgment following. The prophets ceased not day and night to faithfully jvvarn Israel, but their tears and entreaties for the most part proved in vain. The awful^ destruction of Jerusalem, in 70 A.D., which resulted in the extermination of a million Jews and the captivity of multitudes more, was preceded by the offer of divine mercy at the hands ^of the Son of God Himself.
In IS.'^Q a great revival wa ¥e visited our countrv. sweepin g a half million souls into the f Quntain ^f_salvation. Immediately the terrible carn age of l86]l-J^65jonowed._AncLso^_as we auticipatejhe coming revival, which is already rapidly assuming^ worldwide proportions, we wonder if judgment will follow mercy, as at other times. And judgment in proportion to the mercy .extended. —July 1905
JFoii God's R evivalist I wrote^
Unbelief of every form has come in upon us like a flood. But lo, our God comes also! A standard is being raised against the Enemy. The Lord is choosing out His workers. This is a time to realize the vision for service. "The Lord. ..hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof...Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence....Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (Psalm 50:1, 3, 5).
I often used to declare during 1905 that I would rather live six months at that time than fifty years of ordinary time. It was a day of the beginning of great
Begienings
things. The grain of corn was wiUing to "fall into the ground and die" (see John 12:24), and there was promise of abundant harvest. But for spiritual "flappers,"* the whole matter was naturally foolishness.
I wrote another letter to Evan Roberts, asking for continued prayer for California. Thus we were kept linked up in prayer with Wales for the revival. In those days, real prayer was little understood. It was hard to find a quiet place where one would not be disturbed. Gethsemane experiences with Jesus were rare among the saints in those days.
At Smale's church one day, I was groaning in prayer at the altar. The spirit of intercession was upon me. A brother rebuked me severely. He did not understand it. The flesh naturally shrinks from such ordeals. The "groans" are no more popular in most churches than is a woman in birth pangs in the home. Soul travail does not make pleasant company for selfish worldlings. But we cannot have souls reborn without it. Childbearing is anything but a popular exercise, and so with a real revival of newborn souls in the churches. Modern society has little place for a childbearing mother. They prefer society "flappers." And so with the churches regarding soul travail. There is little burden for souls. Men run from the groans of a woman in travail of birth. And so the church desires no "groans" today. She is too busy enjoying herself.
We were much pressed financially again, but the Lord delivered. We never made our wants known to
* Flappers were young women around the time of World War I and the following decade who balked at the conventions of society and were generally considered capricious and even rebellious.
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anyone but God, and we never begged or borrowed, no matter how pressing the need might seem to be. We beheved that if the saints were Hving closely enough to God, He would speak to them. We trusted Him fully, and went without if He did not send help. I wrote my first tract at this time. It was entitled, "Love Never Faileth." This was the beginning of a large faith tract ministr>\ I had to trust the Lord for the means, but He never failed me.
A friend paid our expenses at a camp meeting in the Arroyo for a few days, so we tented there. It was midsummer, and we enjoyed the change and outing. I spent most of my time on my face in the woods in prayer. In the moonlit evenings, I poured out my soul unto God, and He met me there. There was much "empty wagon" rattle in the camp. Most were seeking selfish blessings. They rushed to meetings, like a big sponge, to get more blessing. They needed stepping on.
I found my soul crying out for God far beyond the seeming aspirations of most of the Holiness people. I wanted to go deeper, beneath the mere emotional realm to something more substantial and lasting that would put a rock in my soul. I was tired of so much froth and foam, so much religious ranting and pretension. And the Lord did not disappoint me.
The camp meeting committee got me on the carpet because of the tracts I was distributing in the camp. They thought I was attacking the Holiness movement, but I was only exhorting them to a deeper place in God. They needed more humility and love. My tract against sectarianism, "That They All May Be One," stirred the camp. Surely man-made movements
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need to be stirred. God has but one "movement"—that is His "one body." This was the message at Azusa Mission in the beginning.
I received a second letter from Evan Roberts that read as follows:
Loughor, Wales, July 8,1905
Dear brother: I am very thankful to you for your thoughtful kindness. I was exceedingly pleased to learn the good news of how you are beginning to experience wonderful things. Praying God to continue to bless you, and with many thanks repeated for your good wishes, I am yours in the service. —Evan Roberts
I went to Smale's church one night, and he resigned. The meetings had run daily in the First Baptist Church for fifteen weeks. It was now September. The officials of the church were tired of the innovation and wanted to return to the old order. He was told to either stop the revival or get out. He wisely chose the latter. But what an awful position for a church to take—to throw God out! In this same way, they later drove the Spirit of God out of the churches in Wales. They tired of His presence, desiring to return to the old, cold ecclesiastical order. How blind men are! The most spiritual of Pastor Smale's members naturally followed him, with a nucleus of other workers who had gathered to him from other sources during the revival. They immediately contemplated organizing a New Testament church.
I had a feeling that, at least for a time, perhaps the Lord was cutting Brother Smale loose for the evangelistic field to spread the fire in other places. But he did not see it so. I had a conference with him, with this
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objective in view, and was able to arrange for him to speak at the Lake Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Pasadena. This had been the storm center of the revival there.
The night before Brother Smale's services at Lake Avenue Church, two of us spent the night until after midnight in prayer. Brother Smale preached twice on Sunday. He was wonderfully anointed by God for the occasion. We spent the time between the services in prayer. His message was on the revival in Wales, and the people were greatly moved.
Brother Smale soon organized a New Testament church. I became a charter member, as I felt I ought to stay with them, though I did not care very much for organization. He rented Burbank Hall and prepared to hold meetings there. In the meantime, I secured the Fourth Street Holiness Hall for him, until Burbank Hall was ready.
The Lord gave me another tract, entitled "Pray! Pray! Pray!" I took it to the printer in faith, and God sent the money on time. It was a strong exhortation to prayer. Like the prophets of old, we must pray for those who will not pray for themselves. We must confess the sins of the people for them.
About this time, while Brother Boehmer and I prayed, the Spirit was poured out in a wonderful way in several meetings we were praying for. We felt we had hold of God for them. The reports proved our convictions. Prayer changes things. There is wonderful power in the proper kind of prayer. For instance, Elijah on Mount Carmel, a man of "like passions" with us (James 5:17). "The effectual fervent prayer of
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a righteous man availeth much" (verse 16). Confession may also be necessary in this connection. "Confess your faults one to another" (verse 16).
Almost every day in Los Angeles found me engaged in personal work, tract distribution, prayer, or preaching in some meeting. I was writing articles for the religious press continually. At one tent meeting in Pasadena, the Lord wonderfully anointed me in preaching, and twenty souls came to the altar. By this time the spirit of intercession had so possessed me that I prayed almost day and night. I fasted much also, until my wife almost despaired of my life at times. The sorrows of my Lord had gripped me. I was in Gethse-mane with Him. The "travail of his soul" (Isaiah 53:11) had fallen in a measure on me. At times I feared that I might not live to realize the answer to my prayers and tears for the revival. But He assured me, sending more than one angel to strengthen me. I felt I was realizing a little of what Paul meant about "filling up the cup of His sufferings" (see Colossians 1:24) for a lost world. Some were even afraid that I was losing my mind. They could not understand my tremendous concern. Nor can very many understand these things today. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Selfish spirits can never understand sacrifice. But "whosoever will save his life shall lose it" (Matthew 16:25). "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Our Lord was "a man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3) as well as of joy.
I frequently went to Pasadena having to trust God for carfare to get home. On one occasion, Brother
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Boehmer had an impression I was coming. He went to the Httle Peniel Mission and found me there. We spent several hours in prayer; then he paid my carfare home. We often spent whole nights together in prayer during those days. It seemed a great privilege to spend a whole night with the Lord. He drew so near. We never seemed to get weary on such occasions.
Boehmer worked at gardening. I never asked him for a penny, but he always gave me something. God finally got not only his money, but also his life, in His service. He was a wonderful man of prayer. God taught us what it means to "know...no man after the flesh" (2 Corinthians 5:16), He lifted us into such a high relationship that our fellowship seemed only in the Spirit. Beyond that we died to one another.
I wrote Evan Roberts a third time to have them continue to pray for us in Wales. In those days, after I had preached, I generally called the saints to their knees, and we would be in prayer for hours before we could get up. The Lord led me to write many leaders throughout the country to pray for revival. The spirit of prayer was growing continually.
The New Testament Church, begun by Brother Smale, seemed to be losing the spirit of prayer as they increased their organization. They now tried to shift this ministry on a few of us. I knew God was not pleased with that and became much burdened for them. They had taken on too many secondary interests. It began to look as though the Lord would have to find another body. My hopes had been high for this particular company of people, but the Enemy seemed to be sidetracking them, or at least leading them to miss God's best. They were now even attempting to
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organize prayer—an impossible thing. Prayer is spontaneous. I felt it were better not to have organized than to lose the ministry of prayer and spirit of revival as a body. It was for this they had been called in the beginning.
They had become ambitious for a church and organization. It seemed hard to them not to be "like the other nations (churches) round about them." (See Deuteronomy 17:14.) And right here they began to fail. As church work increased, they lost sight of the real issue. Human organization and human programs leave very little room for the free Spirit of God. It means much to be willing to be considered a failure, while we seek to build up a purely spiritual kingdom. God's kingdom "cometh not with observation" (Luke 17:20). It is very easy to choose second best. The prayer life is needed much more than buildings or organizations. These are often a substitute for the other. Souls are born into the kingdom only through prayer.
I feared the New Testament Church might develop a party (sectarian) spirit. A rich lady offered them the money to build a church edifice. The Devil was bidding high. However, she soon withdrew her offer, and I confess I was glad she did. They would soon have had no time for anything but building. It would have been the end of their revival. We had been called out to evangelize Los Angeles, not to build up another sect or party spirit. We needed no more organization or machinery than what was really necessary for the speedy evangelizing of the city. Surely we already had enough separate, rival church organizations on our hands, each working largely for its own interest, advancement, and glory.
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The New Testament Church seemed to be drifting toward intellectuahsm. I became much burdened for it. During one meeting—it was so painful after what we had seen—I groaned aloud in prayer. One of the elders rebuked me severely for this. "How are the mighty fallen" (2 Samuel 1:19) kept ringing in my ears. A few of the most spiritual had the same burden with me. After this incident, prayer again seemed to prevail in a measure. We had a great meeting in the church one Sunday night, and one hundred knelt at the altar.
I met with the Peniel boys in Pasadena for prayer, and we had a breaking through time. We felt the Lord would soon work mightily. At Brother Brownley's tent at Seventh and Spring Streets, Los Angeles, we had a deep spirit of prayer and powerful altar services. There was a feeling that God was about to do something extraordinary. The spirit of prayer came more and more heavily upon us.
In Pasadena, before moving to Los Angeles, I would lie on my bed in the daytime and roll and groan under the burden. At night I could scarcely sleep for the spirit of prayer. I fasted much, not caring for food while burdened. At one time I was in soul travail for nearly twenty-four hours without intermission. It nearly used me up. Prayer literally consumed me. Sometimes I would groan all night in my sleep.
Prayer was not formal in those days. It was God-breathed. It came upon us and overwhelmed us. We did not work it up. We were gripped with real travail of soul by the Spirit that could no more be shaken off than could the birth pangs of a woman in travail, without doing absolute violence to the Spirit of God. It was real intercession by the Holy Spirit.
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For several days I had an impression another letter was coming from Evan Roberts. It soon came and read as follows:
Loughor, Wales, November 14,1905
My dear comrade: What can I say that will encourage you in this terrible fight? I find it is a most awful one. Praise God, the kingdom of the Evil One is being besieged on every side. Oh, the millions of prayers—not simply the form of prayer—but the soul finding its way right to the White Throne! People in Wales have prayed during the last year. May the Lord bless you with a mighty downpouring. In Wales it seems as if the Holy One rests upon the congregation, awaiting the opening of the hearts of the followers of Christ. We had a mighty downpouring of the Holy Spirit last Saturday night. This was preceded by the correcting of the people's views of true worship. 1. To give unto God, not to receive. 2. To please God, not to please ourselves. Therefore, looking to God and forgetting the Enemy, and also the fear of men, we prayed and the Spirit descended. I pray God to hear your prayer, to keep your faith strong, and to save California. I remain, your brother in the fight.
—Evan Roberts
This was the third letter I had received from Wales, from Evan Roberts, and I feel their prayers had much to do with our final victory in California.
Evan Roberts tells us of his own experience with God:
One Friday night last spring, while praying by my bedside before retiring, I was taken up to a great expanse, without time or space. It was
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communion with God. Before this I had had a far-off God. I was frightened that night, but never since. So great was my shivering that I rocked the bed, and my brother, being awakened, took hold of me, thinking I was ill.
Evan Roberts experienced this every night for three months, from 1 A.M. until 5 a.m. He wrote a message to the world about this time, as follows:
The revival in South Wales is not of men, but of God. He has come very close to us. There is no question of creed or of dogma in this movement. We are teaching no sectarian doctrine, only the wonder and beauty of Christ's love. I have been asked concerning my methods. I have none. I never prepare what I shall speak, but leave that to Him. I am not the source of this revival, but only one agent among what is growing to be a multitude. I wish no personal following, but only the world for Christ.
I believe that the world is upon the threshold of a great religious revival, and I pray daily that I may be allowed to help bring this about. Wonderful things have happened in Wales in a few weeks, but these are only a beginning. The world will be swept by His Spirit as by a rushing, mighty wind. Many who are now silent Christians will lead the movement. They v^dll see a great light and will reflect this light to thousands now in darkness. Thousands will do more than we have accomplished, as God gives them power.
What beautiful humility! This is the secret of all power. An English eyewitness of the revival in Wales wrote,
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Such real travail of soul for the unsaved I have never before witnessed. I have seen young Evan Roberts convulsed with grief and calling on his audience to pray. "Don't sing," he would exclaim; "it's too terrible to sing."
Conviction has often been lifted from the people by too much singing.
Another writer declared,
It was not the eloquence of Evan Roberts that broke men down, but his tears. He would break down, crying bitterly for God to bend them, in an agony of prayer, the tears coursing down his cheeks, his whole frame writhing. Strong men would break down and cry like children. Women would shriek. A sound of weeping and wailing would fill the air. Evan Roberts, in the intensity of his agony, would fall in the pulpit, while many in the crowd often fainted.
Of the later work in India we read.
The girls in India were wonderfully wrought upon and baptized with the Spirit (in Ramabai Mission), under conviction of their need. Great light was given to them. When delivered, they jumped up and down for joy for hours without fatigue; in fact, they were stronger for it. They cried out with the burning that came into and upon them. Some fell as they saw a great light pass before them, while the fire of God burned the members of the body of sin—pride, anger, love of the world, selfishness, uncleanness, and so on. They neither ate nor slept until the victory was won. Then the joy
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was so great that for two or three days after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit they did not care for food.
About twenty girls went into a trance at one time and became unconscious of this world for hours; some for three or four days. During that time they sang, prayed, clapped their hands, rolled about, or sat still. When they became conscious, they told of seeing a throne in heaven, a white-robed throng, and a glor>' so bright they could not bear it. Soon the whole place was aflame. School had to be suspended, they forgot to eat or sleep, and whole nights and days were absorbed in prayer. The Spirit was poured out upon one of the seeking girls in the night. Her companion sleeping next to her awoke, and seeing fire envelop her, ran across the dormitory and brought a pail of water to dash upon her. In less than an hour, nearly all the girls in the compound were weeping, praying, and confessing their sins. Many of these girls were invested with a strange, beautiful, and supernatural fire.
The spontaneous composition of hymns was a curious feature of some of the meetings in other parts of India. At Kara Camp, pictures appeared on the walls to a company of small girls in prayer, supernaturally depicting the life of Christ. The figures moved in the pictures and were in color. Each view would last from two to ten minutes, and then the light would gradually fade away, to reappear in a few moments wdth a new scene. These appeared for twelve hours and were seen not only by the native children of the orphanage and eight missionaries, but
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also by native Christians living nearby. Even heathens came to see the wonderful sight. These pictures were all faithfully depicting the Bible narration and were entirely supernatural. They had a tremendous effect in breaking up the hard hearts of the heathen. In Wales, colored lights were often seen, like balls of fire, during the revival there.
I kept going day and night to different missions, exhorting believers continually to prayer and faith for the revival. One night at the New Testament Church, during a deep spirit of prayer on the congregation, the Lord came suddenly so near that we could feel His presence as though He were closing in on us around the edges of the meeting. Two-thirds of the people sprang to their feet in alarm, and some ran hurriedly out of the meeting, even leaving their hats behind them, almost scared out of their senses. There was no out-of-the-ordinary demonstration in the natural to cause this fright. It was a supernatural manifestation of His nearness. What would such do if they saw the Lord?
I started a little cottage prayer meeting where we could have more liberty to pray and wait on the Lord. The spirit of prayer was being hindered, at times, in the other meetings. The more spiritual were hungry for this opportunity. However, the leaders misunderstood and opposed me. Then our landlady got the Devil in her and wanted to throw us out of our home. She was not right with God. Our rent was paid up, but the Enemy tried to use her. The fight was on. They began to oppose my ministry at the New Testament Church. A sister tried to persuade me to discontinue the prayer meetings I had started. I asked the Lord to
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show me His will in the matter. He came and filled our little cottage with a cloud of glory until I could scarcely bear His presence. That settled it for me. "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). I suffered much criticism. I think they were afraid I would start another church. But I had no such thought at that time. I only wanted to have freedom to pray. Many a mission and church have gone on the rocks opposing God.
I wrote more articles for the religious press, of which the following are extracts:
Slowly but surely, the conviction is coming upon the saints of southern California that God is going to pour out His Spirit here as in Wales. We are having faith for things such as we have never dreamed of, for the near future. We are assured of no less than a Pentecost for this whole country. But we can never have Pentecostal results without Pentecostal power. And this will mean Pentecostal demonstration. Few care to meet God face to face. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
—Christian Harvester
The current of revival is sweeping by our door. Will we cast ourselves on its mighty bosom and ride to glorious victory? A year of life at this time, with its wonderful possibilities for God, is worth a hundred years of ordinary life. Pentecost is knocking at our doors. The revival for our country is no longer a question. Slowly but surely, the tide has been rising until, in the very near future, we believe for a deluge of salvation that will sweep all before it. Wales will not long stand alone in this
glorious triumph for our Christ. The spirit of revival is coming upon us, driven by the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. The clouds are gathering rapidly, big with a mighty rain, whose precipitation lingers but a little.
Heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances, whose names will be emblazoned on heaven's eternal page of fame. The Spirit is brooding over our land again as at Creation's dawn, and the decree of God goes forth: "Let there be light!" (Genesis 1:3). Brother, sister, if we all believed God, can you realize what would happen? Many of us here are living for nothing else. A volume of believing prayer is ascending to the throne night and day. Los Angeles, southern California, and the whole continent shall surely find itself before long in the throes of a mighty revival, by the Spirit and power of God.
—Way of Faith, November 16,1905
We had been for some time led to pray for a Pentecost. It seemed almost beginning. Of course we did not realize what a real Pentecost was. But the Spirit did, and led us to ask correctly. One afternoon, after a service in the New Testament Church, seven of us seemed providentially led to join hands and agree in prayer to ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit speedily, with "signs following" (Mark 16:20). Where we got the idea from at that time I do not know. He must have suggested it to us Himself. We did not have "tongues" in mind. I think none of us had ever heard of such a thing. This was in February 1906.
While at a prayer meeting, on my knees, the Lord told me to get up and go to Brother Brownley's tent at
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Seventh and Spring Streets. He gave me a message for them. I went, greatly burdened, and after speaking we had a real "breaking up time," weeping before the Lord. I then wrote a moving tract on "Soul Travail." The Lord was dealing with me much also about His atoning blood. I spent another entire night in prayer with Brother Boehmer, and the Lord gave me a blessed ministry at Pasadena in different meetings. At one meeting, I lay for two hours helpless under a burden for souls. The battle was getting more and more earnest.
On March 26, I went to a cottage meeting on Bonnie Brae Street. Both white and black believers were meeting there for prayer. I had attended another cottage meeting shortly before this, where I first met a Brother Seymour. He had just come from Texas. He was a black man, blind in one eye, very plain, spiritual, and humble. He attended the meetings at Bonnie Brae Street.
At that time the Lord gave me another tract, entitled "The Last Call." This was used mightily to awaken the people. It read.
And now, once more, at the very end of the age, God calls. The last call, the midnight cry, is now upon us, sounding clearly in our ears. God will give this one more chance, the last. A fmal call, a worldwide revival. Then judgment upon the whole world. Some tremendous event is about to transpire.
er2
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I went to Burbank Hall, the New Testament Church, Sunday morning, April 15. A black sister was there and spoke in tongues. This created a great stir. The people gathered in little companies on the sidewalk after the service, inquiring what this might mean. It seemed like Pentecostal "signs." We then learned that the Spirit had fallen a few nights before, April 9, at the little cottage on Bonnie Brae Street. They had been tarrying very earnestly for some time for an outpouring. A handful of black and white believers had been waiting there daily, but for some reason I was not privileged to be present at that particular meeting. I went to the Bonnie Brae meeting in the afternoon, however, and found God working mightily. We had been praying for many months for victory. Jesus was now "showing Himself alive" (see Acts 1:3) again to many. The pioneers had broken through for the multitude to follow.
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There was a general spirit of humility manifested in the meeting, They were taken up with God. Evidently the Lord had found the little company at last, outside as always, through whom He could have His way. God had not chosen an established mission where this could be done. They were in the hands of men; the Spirit could not work. Others far more pretentious had failed. That which man esteems had been passed by once more, and the Spirit was born again in a humble "stable" outside ecclesiastical establishments.
A body must be prepared, in repentance and humility, for every outpouring of the Spirit. The preaching of the Reformation was begun by Martin Luther in a dilapidated building in the midst of the public square in Wittenberg, Germany. DAubigne describes it as follows:
In the middle of the square at Wittenberg stood an ancient wooden chapel, thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, whose walls, propped up on all sides, were falling into ruin. An old pulpit made of planks, and three feet high, received the preacher. It was in this wretched place that the preaching of the Reformation began. It was God's will that that which was to restore His glory should have the humblest surroundings. It was in this wretched enclosure that God willed, so to speak, that His well-beloved Son should be born a second time. Among those thousands of cathedrals and parish churches with which the world is filled, there was not one at that time that God chose for the glorious preaching of eternal life.
In the revival in Wales, the great expounders of England had to come and sit at the feet of crude,
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hardworking miners, and see the wonderful works of God. I wrote for the Way of Faith at this time,
The real thing is appearing among us. The Almighty will again measure swords with Pha-roah's magicians. But many will reject Him and blaspheme. Many will fail to recognize Him, even among His professed followers. We have been praying and believing for a Pentecost. Will we receive it when it comes?
The present worldwide Pentecostal manifestation did not break out in a moment, like a huge prairie fire, and set the world on fire. In fact, no work of God ever appears that way. There is a necessary time for preparation. The finished article is not realized at the beginning. Men may wonder where it came from, not being conscious of the preparation, but there is always such. Every movement of the Spirit of God must also run the gauntlet of the Devil's forces. The Dragon stands before the bearing mother, ready to swallow up her child (Revelation 12:4).
So it was with the present Pentecostal work in its beginning. The Enemy did much counterfeiting. God kept the young child well hid for a season from the Herods, until it could gain strength and discernment to resist them. The flame was guarded jealously by the hand of the Lord from the winds of criticism, jealousy, unbehef, and so on. It went through about the same experiences that all revivals have. Its foes were both inside and out. Both Luther and Wesley experienced the same difficulties in their time. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Every natural birth is surrounded by circumstances not entirely pleasant. God's perfect work is brought about in
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human imperfection. We are creatures of the Fall. Then why expect a perfect manifestation in this case? We are coming back to God.
John Wesley wrote of his time,
Almost as soon as I was gone, two or three began to take their imaginations for impressions from God. Meantime, a flood of reproach came upon me from almost every quarter. Be not alarmed that Satan sows tares among the wheat of Christ. It has ever been so, especially on any remarkable outpouring of the Spirit, and ever will be, until the Devil is chained for a thousand years. Till then he will always ape and endeavor to counteract the work of the Spirit of Christ.
D'Aubigne has said, "A rehgious movement almost always exceeds a just moderation. In order that human nature may make one step in advance, its pioneers must take many."
Another writer said,
Remember with what accompaniments of extravagance and fanaticism the doctrine of justification by faith was brought back under Luther. The wonder was, not that Luther had the courage to face pope and cardinals, but that he had the courage to endure the contempt which his own doctrines brought upon him, as espoused and paraded by fanatical advocates. Recall, too, the scandal and offense that attended the revival of heart piety under Wesley. What we denounce as error may be the "refraction of some great truth below the horizon."
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John Wesley himself once prayed, after the revival had about died out for the time, "Oh, Lord, send us the old revival, wdthout the defects; but if this cannot be, send it with all its defects. We must have the revival!"
Adam Clark said,
Nature, along with Satan, will always mingle themselves, as far as they can, in the genuine work of the Spirit in order to discredit and destroy it. In great revivals of religion, it is almost impossible to prevent wildfire from getting in among the true fire.
Dr. Seiss said,
Never, indeed, has there been a sowing of God on earth but it has been oversown by Satan; or a growth for Christ, which the plantings of the Wicked One did not mingle with and hinder. He who sets out to find a perfect church, in which there are no unworthy elements and no disfigurations, proposes to himself a hopeless task.
Still another writer wrote,
In the various crises that have occurred in the history of the church, men have come to the front who have manifested a holy recklessness that astonished their fellows. When Luther nailed his theses to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg, cautious men were astonished at his audacity. When John Wesley ignored all church restrictions and religious propriety and preached in the fields and byways, men declared his reputation was ruined. So it has been in all ages. When the religious condition of the times called for men who were willing to sacrifice all for
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Christ, the demand created the supply, and there have always been found a few who were willing to be regarded reckless for the Lord. An utter recklessness concerning men's opinions and other consequences is the only attitude that can meet the needs of the present times.
God found His Moses, in the person of Brother Smale, to lead us to the Jordan crossing. But He chose Brother Seymour for our Joshua, to lead us over.
Sunday, April 15, the Lord called me to ten days of special prayer. I felt greatly burdened but had no idea of what He had particularly in mind. He had a work for me and wanted to prepare me for it. Wednesday, April 18, the terrible San Francisco earthquake came, which also devastated the surrounding cities and country. No less than five hundred lost their lives in San Francisco alone. I felt a deep conviction that the Lord was answering our prayers for a revival in His own way. "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9). A tremendous burden of prayer came upon me that the people might not be indifferent to His voice.
Thursday, April 19, while sitting in the noon meeting at Peniel Hall, 227 South Main Street, the floor suddenly began to move with us. An unusual tremor ran through the room as Los Angeles was hit with a small earthquake. We sat in awe. Many people ran into the middle of the street, looking up anxiously at the buildings, fearing they were about to fall. It was an earnest time.
I went home and, after a season of prayer, was impressed by the Lord to go to the meeting that had
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been moved from Bonnie Brae Street to 312 Azusa Street. Here they had rented an old frame building, formerly a Methodist church, in the center of the city but now a long time out of use for meetings. It had become a receptacle for old lumber, plaster, and other materials. They had cleared space enough in the surrounding dirt and debris to lay some planks on top of empty nail kegs, with seats enough for possibly thirty people, if I remember rightly. These were arranged in a square, facing one another.
I was under tremendous pressure to get to the meeting that evening. It was my first visit to Azusa Mission. Mother Wheaton, who was living with us, was going with me. She was so slow that I could hardly wait for her. We finally reached Azusa and found about a dozen saints there, some white, some black. Brother Seymour was there, in charge. The "Ark of God" moved off slowly, but surely, at Azusa. It was carried on the shoulders of His own appointed priests in the beginning. We had no "new cart" in those days to please the carnal, "mixed multitude" (Exodus 12:38). We had the Devil to fight, but the Ark was not drawn by oxen (dumb beasts). The priests were "alive unto God" (Romans 6:11) through much preparation and prayer.
Discernment was not perfect, and the Enemy got some advantage that brought reproach to the work, but the saints soon learned to "take forth the precious from the vile" (Jeremiah 15:19). The combined forces of hell were set determinedly against us in the beginning. It was not all blessing. In fact, the fight was terrific. As always, the Devil combed the country for crooked spirits to destroy the work if possible. But the
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fire could not be smothered. Gradually the tide arose in victory. From a small beginning, a very little flame was kindled.
I gave a message at my first meeting at Azusa. Two of the saints spoke in tongues. Much blessing seemed to attend the utterance. It was soon noised abroad that God was working at Azusa, and all kinds of people began to come to the meetings. Many were curious and unbelieving, but others were hungry for God. The newspapers began to ridicule and abuse the meetings, thus giving us much free advertising. This brought the crowds. The Devil overdid himself again. Outside persecution never hurt the work. We had the most to fear from the working of evil spirits within. Even spiritualists and hypnotists came to investigate and to try their influence. Then all the religious soreheads, crooks, and cranks came, seeking a place in the work. We had the most to fear from these. But this is always the danger to every new work; they had no place elsewhere. This condition cast a fear over many that was hard to overcome. It hindered the Spirit much. Many were afraid to seek God for fear the Devil might get them.
We found early in the Azusa work that when we attempted to steady the ark, the Lord stopped working. We dared not call the attention of the people too much to the working of the Evil One. Fear would follow. We could only pray—then God gave victory. There was a presence of God with us that, through prayer, we could depend on. The leaders had limited experience, and the wonder is that the work survived at all against its powerful adversaries. But it was of God. That was the secret.
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A certain writer has well said,
On the Day of Pentecost, Christianity faced the worid, a new religion without a college, a people, or a patron. All that was ancient and venerable rose up before her in solid opposition, and she did not flatter or conciliate any one of them. She assailed every existing system and every bad habit, burning her way through innumerable forms of opposition. This she accomplished with her "tongue of fire" alone.
Another writer has said,
The apostasy of the early church came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its power and rule than to see new natures given to its individual members. The moment we covet a large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by our presentation of what we consider truth, and have not a greater desire to see the natures of individuals changed according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road of apostasy that leads to Rome and her daughters.
I found the earthquake had opened many hearts. I was especially distributing my last tract, "The Last Call." It seemed very appropriate after the earthquake. Sunday, April 22, I took ten thousand of these to the New Testament Church. The workers seized them eagerly and scattered them quickly throughout the city.
Nearly every pulpit in the land was working overtime to prove that God had nothing to do with earthquakes and thus allay the fears of the people. The Spirit was striving to knock at hearts with conviction through this judgment. I felt indignation that the
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preachers should be used by Satan to drown out His voice. Even the teachers in the schools labored hard to convince the children that God was not in earthquakes. The Devil put on a big propaganda on this line.
I had been much in prayer since the earthquake and had slept little. After the earthquake in Los Angeles, the Lord told me that He definitely had a message to give me for the people. On the Saturday after, He gave me a part of it. On Monday the rest was given. I finished writing it at 12:30 A.M. on Tuesday, and it was ready for the printer. I kneeled before the Lord, and He met me in a powerful way, a powerful witness that the message was from Him. I was to have it printed in the morning. From that time until 4 A.M., I was wonderfully taken up in the spirit of intercession. I seemed to feel the wrath of God against the people and to withstand it in prayer. He showed me He was terribly grieved at their obstinacy in the face of His judgment on sin. San Francisco was a terribly wicked city.
He showed me all hell was being moved to drown out His voice in the earthquake. The message He had given me was to counteract this influence. Men had been denying His presence in the earthquake. Now He would speak. It was a terrific message He had given me. I was to argue the question with no man, but simply give them the message. They would answer to Him. I felt all hell against me in this, and so it proved. I went to bed at 4 o'clock, arose at 7, and hurried with the message to the printer.
The question in almost every heart was, "Did God do that?" But instinct taught men on the spot that He had. Even the wicked were conscious of the fact. The
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tract was set up quickly. The same day it was on the press, and the next noon I had my first consignment of the tract. I felt that I must hasten and get them to the people as quickly as possible. I was reminded that the ten days I was called by the Lord to prayer was up the very day I received the first of the tracts. I understood it all now.
I distributed the message speedily in the missions, churches, saloons, business houses, and, in fact, everywhere, both in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Besides, I mailed thousands to workers in nearby towns for distribution. The whole undertaking was a work of faith. I began without a dollar, but God supplied the money as needed. I worked hard every day. Brother and Sister Otterman distributed them in San Diego. It required courage. Many raved at the message. I went with them through all the dives in Los Angeles. All hell was stirred.
God sent Brother Boehmer from Pasadena to help me. Brother Boehmer stood outside and prayed while I went into the saloons with them. They were mad enough to kill me in some instances. Business was at a standstill after the news came from San Francisco. The people were paralyzed with fear. This accounted to some extent for the influence of my tract. The pressure against me was terrific. All hell was surging around me to stop the message. But I never faltered. I felt God's hand upon me continually in the matter. The people were appalled to see what God had to say about earthquakes. He sent me to a number of meetings with a solemn exhortation to repent and seek Him. At Azusa Mission we had a powerful time. The saints humbled themselves. A black sister both spoke and sang in tongues. The very atmosphere of heaven was there.
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Sunday, May 11, I had finished my "Earthquake" tract distribution. Then the burden suddenly left me. My work was done. Seventy-five thousand had been published and distributed in Los Angeles and southern California in less than three weeks' time. In Oakland, Brother Manley, of his own volition, had printed and distributed fifty thousand more in the Bay Cities in about the same space of time.
The San Francisco earthquake was surely the voice of God to the people on the Pacific coast. It was used mightily in conviction for the revival the Lord graciously brought afterward. In the early Azusa days, both heaven and hell seemed to have come to town. Men were at the breaking point. Conviction was mightily on the people. They would fly to pieces even on the street, almost without provocation. A very "blood hne" seemed to be drawn around Azusa Mission by the Spirit. When men came within two or three blocks of the place, they were seized with conviction.
The work was getting clearer and stronger at Azusa. God was working mightily. It seemed that everyone had to go to Azusa. Missionaries were gathered there from Africa, India, and the islands of the sea. Preachers and workers had crossed the continent and come from distant lands with an irresistible drawing to Los Angeles. "Gather my saints together" (Psalm 50:5). They had come up for "Pentecost," though they little realized it. It was God's call. Holiness meetings, tents, and missions began to close up for lack of attendance. Their people were at Azusa. Brother and Sister Garr closed the Burning Bush Hall, came to Azusa, received the baptism in the Spirit, and were soon on their way to India to spread the fire. Even Brother
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Smale had to come to Azusa to look up his members. He iii\ited them back home, promised them hbert>' in the Spirit, and for a time God worked mightily at the Xe.. Testament Church, also.
There was much persecution, especially from the press. The>' ^^T0te us up shamefully, but this only drew the CT":. ds. Some gave the work six months to hve. .^ :. ::.r meetings were running day and night. The place was packed out nightly. The ^>iiole building, upstairs and doAMi, had no\v been cleared and put into use. There were far more white people than black people coming. The "color line'" ^^*as washed a^vay in the blood of Christ. A. S. ^VoITeU, a translator of the Ne^v Testament, declared the Azusa ^vo^k had rediscovered" the blood of Christ to the church at that time. Great emphasis \vas placed on Christ's blood, for cleansing and more. A high standard was held up for a clean life. "Wlien the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" dsaiah 59:19).
Dhine love was wonderfully manifest in the meetings. The people would not even allow an unkind ^^■o^d said against their opposers or the churches. The message was the love of God. It was a sort of flrst love" (Revelation 2:4) of the early church returned. The baptism of the Hoh- Spirit, as we received it in the beginning, did not allow us to think, speak, or hear e\il of any man. The Spirit ^vas ver>- sensitive, tender as a dove. The Holy Spirit is s>-mbolized as a dove. \Ve knew the moment \ve had grieved the Spirit by an unkind thought or word. ^Ve seemed to live in a sea of pure di^ine love. The Lord fought our batties for us in those days. ^Ve committed ourselves to His judgment
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fully in all matters, never seeking to even defend the work or ourselves. We lived in His wonderful, immediate presence. And nothing contrary to His pure Spirit was allowed there.
The false was sifted out from the real by the Spirit of God. The Word of God itself decided absolutely all issues. The hearts of the people, both in act and motive, were searched to the very bottom. It was no joke to become one of that company. No man "durst...join himself to them" (Acts 5:13) unless he meant business. It meant a dying out and cleaning up process in those days to receive the baptism. We had a "tarrying room" upstairs for those especially seeking God for the Holy Spirit baptism, though many got it in the main assembly room also. In fact, they often got it in their seats in those days.
The Spirit worked very deeply in the tarrying room. An unquiet spirit or a thoughtless talker was immediately reproved by the Spirit. We were on holy ground (Exodus 3:5). This atmosphere was unbearable to those with a carnal spirit. They generally gave this room a wide berth unless they had been thoroughly subdued and burned out. Only honest seekers sought it, those who really meant business with God. It was no place to throw fits or blow off steam. Men did not "fly to their lungs" in those days. They flew to the mercy seat. They took their shoes off, figuratively speaking. They were on holy ground.
Arthur Booth-Clibborn has written the following weighty words:
Any cheapening of the price of Pentecost would be a disaster of untold magnitude. The company in the Upper Room, upon whom
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Pentecost fell, had paid the highest price for it. In this they approached as near as possible to Him who had paid the supreme price in order to send it. Do we ever really adequately realize how utterly lost to this world, how completely despised, rejected, and outcast was that company? Their Master and Leader had just passed through the "hangman's rope," so to speak, at the hands of the highest civilization of the day. Their Calvary was complete, and so a complete Pentecost came to match it. The latter will resemble the former in completeness. We may, therefore, each of us say to ourselves, "As your cross, so will your Pentecost be." God's way to Pentecost was via Calvary. Individually it must be so today also. The purity and fullness of the individual Pentecost must depend upon the completeness of the individual Calvary. This is an unalterable principle.
Friday, June 15, at Azusa, the Spirit dropped the "heavenly chorus" into my soul. I found myself suddenly joining the rest who had received this supernatural gift. It was a spontaneous manifestation and rapture no earthly tongue can describe. In the beginning, this manifestation was wonderfully pure and powerful. We feared to try to reproduce it, as with the tongues also. Now many seemingly have no hesitation in imitating all the gifts, causing them to lose their power and influence. No one could understand this gift of song but those who had it. It was indeed a "new song" in the Spirit (Psalm 40:3, for example). When I first heard it in the meetings, a great hunger entered my soul to receive it. I felt it would exactly express my pent-up feelings.
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I had not yet spoken in tongues, but the "new song" captured me. It was a gift from God of high order. No one had preached it. The Lord had sovereignly bestowed it, with the outpouring of the "residue of oil," the "latter rain" baptism of the Spirit (James 5:7). It was exercised as the Spirit moved the possessors, either in solo fashion or by the company. It was sometimes without words, other times in tongues. The effect was wonderful on the people. It brought a heavenly atmosphere, as though the angels themselves were present and joining with us. And possibly they were. It seemed to still criticism and opposition and was hard for even wicked men to gainsay or ridicule.
Some have condemned this "new song" without words. But w^as not sound given before language? And is there not intelligence without language also? Who composed the first song? Must we necessarily always follow some man's composition before us? We are too much worshippers of tradition. The speaking in tongues is not according to man's wisdom or understanding; then why not a "gift of song"? It is certainly a rebuke to the "jazzy" religious songs of our day. And possibly it was given for that purpose. Yet some of the old h>Tnns are very good to sing also. We need not despise them or treat them lightly. Someone has said that ever\' fresh revival brings in its own h\Tnnology. And this one surely did.
In the beginning in Azusa, we had no musical instruments. In fact, we felt no need for them. There was no place for them in our worship—all w^as spontaneous. We did not even sing from h>Tnnals. All the old, well-known hymns were sung from memory, quickened by the Spirit of God. "The Comforter Has Come"
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was possibly the one most sung. We sang it from a fresh, powerful heart experience. Oh, how the power of God filled and thrilled us. Then the songs of Christ's blood were ver\' popular. "The life is in the blood." Sinai, Calvan*, and Pentecost all had their rightful place in the Azusa work. But the "new song" was altogether different, not of human composition. It cannot be successfully counterfeited. The crow cannot imitate the dove. But they finally began to despise this gift, when the human spirit asserted itself again. They drove it out by h\Tnnals and selected songs by readers. It was like murdering the Spirit, and was most painful to some of us, but the tide was too strong against us.
Hymnals today are too largely a commercial proposition, and we would not lose much without most of them. Even the old tunes are often \iolated by change, and new st>'les must be gotten out every season for added profit. There is ver\' little real spirit of worship in them. They move the toes, but not the hearts of men. The spirit of song given from God in the beginning w^as like the Aeolian harp in its spontaneity and sweetness. In fact, it w^as the ven,' breath of God, pla>ing on human heart strings, or human vocal cords. The notes were wonderful in sweetness, volume, and duration. In fact, they were often humanly impossible. It was indeed "singing in the Spirit."
Brother Se}Tnour was recognized as the nominal leader in charge. But we had no pope or hierarchy. We were brethren. We had no human program; the Lord Himself was leading. We had no priest class, nor priest craft. These things have come in later, with the apos-tasizing of the movement. We did not even have a platform or pulpit in the beginning. All were on one level. The ministers were ser\'ants, according to the
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true meaning of the word. We did not honor men for their advantage in means or education, but rather for their God-given gifts. God set the members in the body. Now "a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof (Jeremiah 5:30-31). Also, "As for my people, children are their oppressors [sometimes grown-up ones], and women rule over them" (Isaiah 3:12).
Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty boxes, one on top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there. The services ran almost continuously. Seeking souls could be found under the power almost any hour of the day or night. The place was never closed or empty. The people came to meet God—He was always there. Hence a continuous meeting. The meeting did not depend on the human leader. God's presence became more and more wonderful. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors, God broke strong men and women to pieces, and put them together again for His glory. It was a tremendous overhauling process. Pride and self-assertion, self-importance, and self-esteem could not survive there. The religious ego preached its own funeral sermon quickly.
No subjects or sermons were announced ahead of time, and no special speakers for such an hour. No one knew what might be coming, what God would do. All was spontaneous, ordered by the Spirit. We wanted to hear from God, through whomever He might speak. We had no respect of persons. The rich and educated were the same as the poor and ignorant, although the
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former found it much harder to die to self. We only recognized God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:29). He could not use the self-opinionated. Those were Holy Spirit meetings, led by the Lord. It had to start in poor surroundings to keep out the selfish, human element. All came down in humility together at His feet. They all looked alike and had all things in common, in that sense at least. The rafters were low; the tall must come down. By the time they got to Azusa, they were humbled, ready for the blessing. The fodder was thus placed for the lambs, not for giraffes. All could reach it.
We were delivered right there from ecclesiastical hierarchism and abuse. We wanted God. When we first reached the meeting, we avoided human contact and greeting as much as possible. We wanted to meet God first. We got our heads under a bench in the corner in prayer, and met men only in the Spirit, knowing them "after the flesh" no more (2 Corinthians 5:16). The meetings started themselves, spontaneously, in testimony, praise, and worship. The testimonies were never hurried by a call for "popcorn." We had no prearranged program to be jammed through on time. Our time was the Lord's. We had real testimonies, from fresh heart-experiences. Otherwise, the shorter the testimonies, the better. A dozen might be on their feet at one time, trembling under the mighty power of God. We did not have to get our cue from some leader; yet we were free from lawlessness. We were shut up to God in prayer in the meetings, our minds on Him.
All obeyed God, in meekness and humility. In honor we "preferred one another." (See Romans 12:10.) The Lord was hable to burst through anyone.
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We prayed for this continually. Someone would finally get up, anointed for the message. All seemed to recognize this and gave way. It might be a child, a woman, or a man. It might be from the back seat or from the front. It made no difference. We rejoiced that God was working. No one wished to show himself. We thought only of obeying God. In fact, there was an atmosphere of God there that forbade anyone but a fool from attempting to put himself forward without the real anointing—and such did not last long. The meetings were controlled by the Spirit, from the throne. Those were truly wonderful days. I often said that I would rather live six months at that time than fifty years of ordinary life. But God is just the same today. Only we have changed.
Someone might be speaking. Suddenly the Spirit would fall upon the congregation. God Himself would give the altar call. Men would fall all over the house, like the slain in battle, or rush for the altar en masse to seek God. The scene often resembled a forest of fallen trees. Such a scene cannot be imitated. I never saw an altar call given in those early days. God Himself would call them. And the preacher knew when to quit. When God spoke, we all obeyed. It seemed a fearful thing to hinder or grieve the Spirit. The whole place was steeped in prayer. God was in His holy temple. It was for man to keep silent. The Shekinah glory rested there. In fact, some claim to have seen the glory by night over the building. I do not doubt it. I have stopped more than once within two blocks of the place and prayed for strength before I dared go on. The presence of the Lord was so real.
Presumptuous men would sometimes come among us. Especially preachers who would try to
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spread their opinions. But their efforts were short-hved. The breath would be taken from them. Their minds would wander, their brains reel. Things would turn black before their eyes. They could not go on. I never saw one get by with it in those days. They were up against God. No one cut them off; we simply prayed—the Holy Spirit did the rest. We wanted the Spirit to control. He wound them up in short order. They were carried out dead, spiritually speaking. They generally bit the dust in humility, going through the process we had all gone through. In other words, they died out, and came to see themselves in all their weakness. Then, in childlike humility and confession, they were taken up by God and transformed through the mighty baptism in the Spirit. The "old man" (Romans 6:6) died with all his pride, arrogance, and good works. In my own case, I came to abhor myself. I begged the Lord to drop a curtain so close behind me on my past that it would hit my heels. He told me to forget every good deed as though it had never occurred, as soon as it was accomplished, and go forward again as though I had never accomplished anything for Him, lest my good works become a snare to me.
We saw some wonderful things in those days. Even very good men came to abhor themselves in the clearer hght of God. Often, it was hardest for preachers to die to self. They had so much to die to—so much reputation and good works. But when God got through with them, they gladly turned a new page and chapter. That was one reason they fought so hard. Death to self is not at all a pleasant experience. And strong men die hard.
Brother Ansel Post, a Baptist preacher, was sitting on a chair in the middle of the floor one evening in the
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meeting. Suddenly the Spirit fell upon him. He sprang from his chair, began to praise God in a loud voice in tongues, and ran all over the place, hugging all the brethren he could get hold of. He was filled with di\dne love. He later went to Egypt as a missionary. This is his own testimony:
As suddenly as on the Day of Pentecost, while I was sitting some twelve feet right in front of the speaker, the Holy Spirit fell upon me and filled me literally. I seemed to be lifted up, for I was in the air in an instant, shouting, "Praise God," and instantly I began to speak in another language. I could not have been more surprised if at the same moment someone had handed me a million dollars.
—Ansel Post, in Way of Faith
After Brother Smale had invited his people back and promised them liberty in the Spirit, I wrote the following in Way of Faith:
The New Testament Church received her Pentecost yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Men and women were prostrate under the power all over the hall. A heavenly atmosphere pervaded the place. Such singing I have never heard before, the ver\^ melody of heaven. It seemed to come directly from the throne.
—June 1906
In the Christian Harvester I wrote on the same date:
At the New Testament Church, a young lady of refinement was prostrate on the floor for hours, while at times the most heavenly singing would issue from her lips. It would swell as
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though reaching the throne and then die away in an almost unearthly melody. She sang, "Praise God! Praise God!" All over the house men and women were weeping. A preacher was flat on his face on the floor, dying to himself. Pentecost has fully come.
We had several all-night prayer meetings at the New Testament Church. But Pastor Smale never received the baptism of the Spirit with the speaking in tongues. He was in a tr>ing position. It was all new to him, and the Devil did his worst to bring the work into disrepute and destroy it. He sent wdcked spirits among us to frighten the pastor and cause him to reject it.
But Brother Smale was God's Moses, to lead the people as far as the Jordan, though he himself never got across. Brother Seymour led them over. And yet, strange to say, Seymour did not speak in tongues himself until some time after Azusa had been opened. Many of the saints entered in before him. All who received this baptism of the Spirit spoke in tongues.
Many stumbled in the beginning at Azusa because of the nature of the instruments first used. I wTote in Way of Faith as follows:
Someone has said, it is not the man who can build the biggest brush heap, but rather the one who can set his heap on fire that will light up the country. God can never wait for a perfect instrument to appear. If so. He would certainly be waiting yet. Luther himself declared he was but a rough woodsman, to fell the trees. Pioneers are of that nature. God has more polished servants to follow up and trim and shape the timber s\Tnmetrically. A charge of d}Tiamite
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does not produce the finished product, but it does set loose the stones that later stand as monuments under the sculptor's skilled hand. Many high dignitaries of the Roman Church in Luther's time were convinced of the need for reformation, and they knew that he was on the right track. But they declared, in so many words, that they could never consent that this new doctrine should issue from "such a corner." That it should be a monk, a poor monk, who presumes to reform us all is what we cannot tolerate, they said. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46).
Fallen humanity is such a peculiar thing at its best, so shattered that it is very imperfect. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7). In the embryonic stage of all new experiences, much allowance must be made for human frailty. There are always many coarse, impulsive, imperfectly balanced spirits among those first reached by a revival. Then, our understanding of the Spirit of God is so Umited that we are always liable to make a mistake, failing to recognize all that may be really of God. We can understand fully only in the measure that we ourselves possess the Spirit. Snap judgment is always dangerous. "Judge nothing before the time" (1 Corinthians 4:5). The company used at Azusa Mission to break through were the "Gideon's band" that opened the way to victory for those to follow.
I wrote further in Way of Faith, August 1, 1906:
Pentecost has come to Los Angeles, the American Jerusalem. Every sect, creed, and doctrine under heaven is found in Los Angeles, as well as every nation represented. Many times
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I have been tempted to wonder if my strength would hold out to see it. The burden of prayer has been very great. But since the spring of 1905, when I first received this vision and burden, I have never doubted the final outcome of it. Men are now troubled in soul everywhere, and the revival with its unusual phenomena is the topic of the day. There is terrible opposition manifested also. The newspapers here are very venomous and most unfair and untrue in their statements. The pseudo systems of religion are fighting hard also. But "the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies" (Isaiah 28:17). Their "hiding places" are being uncovered. A cleansing stream is flowing through the city. The Word of God prevails.
Persecution is strong. Already the police have been asked to break up the meetings. The work has been hindered much also by fanatical spirits, of which the city has far too many. It is God and the Devil, a battle royal. We can do little but look on and pray. The Holy Spirit Himself is taking the lead, setting aside all human leadership largely. And woe to the man who gets in His way, selfishly seeking to dictate or control. The Spirit will not tolerate interference of this kind. The human instruments are largely lost sight of. Our hearts and minds are directed to the Lord. The meetings are crowded out. There is great excitement among the unspiri-tual and unsaved.
Every false religion under heaven is found represented here. Next to old Jerusalem there is nothing like it in the world. It is on the opposite side, nearly halfway around the world, with
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natural conditions very similar also. All nations are represented as at Jerusalem. Thousands are here from all over the Union and from many parts of the world, sent by God for "Pentecost." These will scatter the fire to the ends of the earth. Missionary zeal is at white heat. The gifts of the Spirit are being given, the church's armor restored. Surely we are in the days of restoration, the last days, wonderful and glorious days. But awful days for those who refuse God's call. They are days of privilege, responsibility, and peril.
Demons are being cast out, the sick healed, many blessedly saved, restored, and baptized with the Holy Spirit and power. Heroes are being developed, the weak made strong in the Lord. Men's hearts are being searched as with a lighted candle. It is a tremendous sifting time, not only of actions, but of inner secret motives. .Nothing can escape the all-searching eye of God. Jesus is being lifted up. His blood magnified, and the Holy Spirit honored once more. There is much "slaying power" manifest—and this is the chief cause of resistance on the part of those who refuse to obey. It is real business. God is with us in great earnestness; we dare not trifle. Strong men lie for hours under the mighty power of God, cut down like grass. The revival will be a worldwide one, without doubt.
Some time later the pastor of the Trinity Church, Methodist Episcopal South, of Los Angeles, uttered the following words: "Here on the Pacific coast, where the sons of men meet from every quarter of the globe, prophetic souls believe the greatest moral and spiritual battles are to be fought—the Armageddon of the world."
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Evan Roberts' "Message to the Churches" was voiced by him in the following lines of an old poem:
While the fire of God is falling, While the voice of God is calling,
Brothers, get the flame.
While the torch of God is burning,
Men's weak efforts overturning,
Christians, get the flame.
While the Holy Ghost is pleading,
Human methods superseding,
He himself the flame.
While the power hard hearts are bending,
Yield thy own, to Him surrendering,
All to get the flame.
For the world at last is waking, And beneath His spell is breaking.
Into living flame.
And our glorious Lord is seeking.
Human hearts, to rouse the sleeping.
Fired with heavenly flame.
If in utter self-surrender.
You would work with Christ, remember,
You must get the flame.
For the sake of bruised and dying.
And the lost in darkness lying,
We must get the flame.
For the sake of Christ in glory. And the spreading of the story.
We must get the flame.
Oh, my soul, for thy refining.
And thy clearer, brighter shining.
Do not miss the flame.
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On the Holy Ghost relying,
Simply trusting and not trying,
You will get the flame.
Brothers, let us cease our dreaming.
And while God's floodtide is streaming,
We will have the flame.
I wrote a little tract in June 1906, of which the following are extracts:
Opportunity once passed is lost forever. There is a time when the tide is sweeping by our door. We may then plunge in and be carried to glorious blessing, success, and victory. To stand shivering on the bank, timid or paralyzed with stupor at such a time, is to miss all, and most miserably fail, both for time and for eternity. Oh, our responsibility! The mighty tide of God's grace and favor is even now sweeping by us in its prayer-directed course. "There is a river [of salvation], the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God" (Psalm 46:4). It is time to get together and plunge in, individually and collectively. We are baptized "by one Spirit... into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). Let us lay aside all carnal contentions and divisions that separate us from each other and from God. If we are of His body, we are "one body." The opportunity of a lifetime—of centuries—is at our door, to be eternally gained or lost. There is no time to hesitate. Act quickly, lest another "take thy crown" (Revelation 3:11). Oh, church of Christ, awake! Be baptized with power. Then fly to rescue others and to meet your Lord.
Gordon said, "If Antichrist is about to make his mightiest and most malignant demonstration, ought
The Fire Falls at Azusa
not the church to confront him with mighty displays of the Spirit's saving power?"
A. B. Simpson said,
We are to witness, before the Lord's return, a real missionary "tongues" like those of Pentecost, through which the heathen world shall hear in their own language "the wonderful works of God" (Acts 2:11), and this perhaps on a scale whose vastness we have scarcely dreamed. Thousands of missionaries will go forth in one last mighty crusade from a united body of believers at home to bear swift witness of the crucified and coming Lord to all nations.
Arthur T. Pierson has said,
The most alarming peril of today is naturalism—the denial of all direct divine agency and control. Science is uniting with unbelief, wickedness and worldliness, skepticism and materialism, to rule a personal God out of the universe. This drift toward materialism and naturalism demands the supernatural as its only corrective. In Enoch's time human sin was fast making atheists, and God "took him" (Genesis 5:24), spirit, soul, and body, so that men might be startled with the proof of a divine being and an invisible world. In Elijah's day, general apostasy was rebuked by the descent of horses and chariots of fire. And if ever men needed to be confronted with fruits of power above nature—a living God back of all the forces and machinery He controls, who does answer prayer, guide by His providences, and convert by His grace—it is now.
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Oh, our weakness! Oh, our unbehef! May the Lord help us get back to Pentecostal experiences. "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
In Spurgeon's dying appeal, he said,
The presence of God in the church will put an end to infidelity. Men will not doubt His Word when they feel His Spirit. For a thousand reasons, we need that Jehovah should come into the camp, as aforetimes He visited and delivered His people from bondage in Egypt.
Chapter 3
Deeper Yet
August 8, 1906, I rented a church building at the corner of Eighth and Maple Streets for a Pentecostal mission. I was led to this church in February while it was still occupied by the "Pillar of Fire" people. I had been impressed to pray for a building for services after I found the New Testament Church not going ahead, but I had not even known of the existence of this building. One day, unexpectedly, I was passing by and saw it for the first time. I noticed it had been a German church and was out of regular use. Through curiosity I opened the door, which was unlocked, and entered. I found the "Pillar of Fire" had it. Kneeling at the altar for a season of prayer, the Lord spoke to me, and I received a wonderful witness of the Spirit. In a moment I was walking the aisles claiming it for "Pentecost." Over the door was a large motto painted, "Gott ist die Liebe" (God Is Love). This was two months before the Azusa work began.
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I looked no further for a building, knowing that God had spoken. One night, six months later, in August, I was passing that way and saw a sign, "For Rent," on the church. It had just been vacated. The Lord spoke to me: "There is your church."
"The Pillar of Fire" had gone up in smoke, not being able to raise the rent. They had been the most bitter opposers of the Azusa work. The Lord had vacated the building for us. The next day, I was led to tell our landlord, Brother Fred Shepard, of the situation. I did not ask him to help me, but the Lord had sent me to him. He asked how much the rent was, went into another room, and returned quickly with a check for fifty dollars. This was the first month's rent, and I secured the place at once.
The truth must be told. Azusa began to fail the Lord also early in her history. God showed me one day that they were going to organize, though not a word had been said in my hearing about it. The Spirit revealed it to me. He had me warn them against making a "party" spirit of the Pentecostal work. The Spirit-baptized saints were to remain one body, even as they had been called, and to be free as His Spirit was free, not "entangled again with the yoke of [ecclesiastical] bondage" (Galatians 5:1). The New Testament Church saints had already arrested their further progress in this way. God wanted a revival company, a channel through whom He could evangelize the world, blessing all people and believers. He could naturally not accomplish this with a sectarian party. That spirit has been the curse and death of every revival body sooner or later. History repeats itself in this matter.
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Sure enough, the very next day after I had spoken this warning in the meeting, I found a sign outside the building reading "Apostohc Faith Mission." The Lord said, "That is what I told you." They had done it. Surely a party spirit cannot be Pentecostal. There can be no divisions in a true Pentecost. To formulate a separate body is but to advertise our failure as a people of God. It proves to the world that we cannot get along together, rather than causing them to believe in our salvation. ''That they may all be one;...that the world may believe" {John 17:21).
From that time the trouble and division began. It was no longer a free Spirit for all as it had been. The work had become one more rival party and body, along with the other churches and sects of the city. No wonder the opposition steadily increased from the churches. We had been called to bless and serve the whole body of Christ everywhere. Christ is one, and His body can be but "one." To divide it is but to destroy it, just as with the natural body. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). The church is an organism, not a human organization.
They later tried to pull the work on the whole coast into this organization, but miserably failed. The work has spread as far as Portland and Seattle. God's people must be free from hierarchism. They are "blood-bought," and not their own. An earlier work in Texas later tried to gather in the Pentecostal missions on the Pacific coast and Los Angeles, but they also failed. Why should they claim authority over us? The revival in California was unique and separate as to origin. It came from heaven, even Brother Seymour not
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receiving the baptism until many others had entered in here. He did not arrive in Los Angeles until the eleventh hour. The great battle from the beginning, both in Los Angeles and elsewhere, has been the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, between Ishmael and Isaac.
At Eighth and Maple Streets, the Spirit was mightily manifest from the very first meeting. He was given complete control. The atmosphere was heavy with God's presence. One had to get right in order to remain at Eighth and Maple. "Fearfulness...[truly] surprised the hypocrites" (Isaiah 33:14). For some days we could do little but lie before the Lord in prayer.
The atmosphere was almost too sacred and holy to attempt to minister. Like the priests in the tabernacle of old, we could not minister because the glory was so great. In spite of this, however, we had terrible battles with fleshly professors and deceivers, and the Spirit was much grieved by contentious spirits. But God gave the victory. The atmosphere at Eighth and Maple was for a time even deeper than at Azusa. God came so wonderfully near us that the very atmosphere of heaven seemed to surround us. Such a divine "weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17) was upon us that we could only lie on our faces. For a long time we could hardly even remain seated. All would be on their faces on the floor, sometimes during the whole service. I was seldom able to keep from lying full-length on the floor on my face. There was a little rise of about a foot, for a platform, when we moved into the church. On this I generally lay, while God ran the meetings. They were His meetings. Every night the power of God was mightily with us. It was glorious! The Lord seemed almost visible, He was so real.
Deeper Yet
We had the greatest trouble with strange preachers who wanted to preach. Of all people, they seemed to have the least sense and did not know enough to keep still before Him. They liked to hear themselves. But many a preacher died to self in these meetings. The city was full of them, just as today. They rattled like a last year's bean pod. We had a regular "dry bone" yard. (See Ezekiel 37:1-10.)
We always recognized Azusa as having been the mother mission, and there was never any friction or jealousy between us. We visited back and forth. Brother Seymour often met with us. I wrote in the Christian Harvester at that time, as follows:
The meetings at Eighth and Maple are marvelous. We had the greatest time yesterday that I have ever seen. All day long the power of God swept the place. The church was crowded. Mighty conviction seized the people. The Spirit ran the meeting from start to finish. There was no program, and hardly a chance even for necessary announcements. No attempt was made to preach. A few messages were given by the Spirit. Everybody was free to obey God. The altar was full of seeking souls all day. A Free Methodist preacher's wife came through to a mighty baptism, speaking something like Chinese. All who received the baptism of the Spirit spoke in tongues. There were at least six Holiness preachers, some of them gray-headed, honored, and trusted for fruitful service for years, seeking the baptism most earnestly. They simply threw up their hands in the face of this revelation from God and stopped to tarry for their Pentecost. The president of the Holiness
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Church of Southern Cahfornia was one of the first at the altar, seeking earnestly.
Again I wrote in the same paper,
The Spirit allows little human interference in the meetings, generally passing mistakes by unnoticed, or moving them out of the way Himself. Things that ordinarily we would feel must be corrected are often passed over, and a worse calamity averted thereby. To draw attention to them brings the spirit of fear on the saints, and they stop seeking. The Spirit is hindered from working. He moves them out of the way. There are greater issues at stake at present. We try to keep them from magnifying Satan's power. We are preaching a big Christ instead. And God is using babes.
The Enemy is moving hell to break up our fellowship through doctrinal differences, but we must preserve the unity of the Spirit by all means. Some things can be adjusted later. They are much less important. God will never give this work into the hands of men. If it ever gets under man's control, it is done. Many would join themselves to us if they did not need to "lose their heads" and get small.
On the afternoon of August 16, at Eighth and Maple, the Spirit manifested Himself through me in tongues. There were seven of us present at the time. It was a weekday. After a time of testimony and praise, v^th ever>i:hing quiet, I was softly walking the floor, praising God in my spirit. All at once I seemed to hear in my soul (not with my natural ears), a rich voice speaking in a language I did not know. I have later heard something similar to it in India. It seemed to
Deeper Yet
envelop and fully satisfy the pent-up praises in my being. In a few moments I found myself, seemingly without volition on my part, enunciating the same sounds with my own vocal organs. It was an exact continuation of the same expression that I had heard in my soul a few moments before. It seemed a perfect language. I was almost like an outside listener. I was fully yielded to God and simply carried by His will, as on a divine stream. I could have hindered the expression but would not have done so for worlds. A heaven of conscious bliss accompanied it. It is impossible to describe the experience accurately. It must be experienced to be appreciated. There was no effort made to speak on my part and not the least possible struggle. The experience was most sacred, the Holy Spirit playing on my vocal chords, as on an Aeolian harp. The whole utterance was a complete surprise to me. I had never really been solicitous to speak in tongues. Because I could not understand it with my natural mind, I had rather feared it.
I had no desire at the time to even know what I was saying. It seemed a spiritual expression purely, outside the realm of the natural mind or understanding. I was truly "sealed in the forehead," ceasing from the works of my own natural mind fully. I wrote my experience for publication later in the following words:
The Spirit had gradually prepared me for this culmination in my experience, both in prayer for myself and others. I had thus drawn nigh to God, my spirit greatly subdued. A place of utter abandonment of will had been reached, in absolute consciousness of helplessness, purified from natural self-activity. This process
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had been cumulative. The presence of the Spirit within had been as sensitive to me as the water in the glass indicator of a steam boiler. My mind, the last fortress of man to yield, was taken possession of by the Spirit. The waters that had been gradually accumulating went over my head. I was possessed by Him fully. The utterance in tongues was without human mixture, "as the Spirit gave...utterance" (Acts 2:4).
Oh, the thrill of being fully yielded to Him! My mind had always been very active. Its natural workings had caused me most of my trouble in my Christian experience: "Casting down reasonings" (2 Corinthians 10:5, margin). Nothing hinders faith and the operation of the Spirit so much as the self-assertiveness of the human soul, the wisdom, strength, and self-sufficiency of the human mind. This must all be crucified, and here is where the fight comes in. We must become utterly undone, insufficient, and helpless in our own consciousness, thoroughly humbled, before we can receive full possession of the Holy Spirit. We want the Holy Spirit, but the fact is that He is wanting possession of us.
In my case, in the experience of speaking in tongues, I reached the climax in abandonment. This opened the channel for a new ministry of the Spirit in service. From that time, the Spirit began to flow through me in a new way. Messages would come, with anointings, in a way I had never known before. The spontaneous inspiration and illumination was truly wonderful, accompanied by convincing power. The full Pentecostal baptism spells complete abandonment, or possession by the Holy Spirit, of the whole man with a
Deeper Yet
spirit of instant obedience. I had known much of the power of God for service for many years before this, but I now reahzed a sensitivity to the Spirit, a yielded-ness, that made it possible for God to possess and work in new ways and channels, with far more powerful, direct results.
In the experience, I also received a new revelation of His sovereignty, both in purpose and action, such as I had never known before. I found I had often charged God with a seeming lack of interest or tardiness of action, when I should have yielded to Him, in faith, so that He might be able to work through me His sovereign will. I went into the dust of humility at this revelation of my own stupidity and His sovereign care and desire. I saw that the little bit of desire I possessed for His service was only the little bit that He had been able to get to me of His great desire and interest and purpose. His Word declares it. All there was of good in me, in thought or action, had come from Him. Like Hudson Taylor, I now felt that He was asking me simply to go with Him to help in that which He alone had purposed and desired. I felt very small in the light of this revelation and my past misunderstanding. He had existed, and had been working out His eternal purpose, long before I had ever been thought of—and will be long after I am gone.
There was no strain or contortions. No struggle in an effort to get the baptism. With me it was simply a matter of yielding. In fact, it was the opposite of struggle. There was no swelling of the throat, no "operation" to be performed on my vocal organs. I had not the slightest difficulty in speaking in tongues. And yet I can understand how some may have such difficulties. They are not fully yielded to God. With
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me the battle had been long drawn out. I had already worn myself out and fully yielded. God deals with no two individuals alike. I was not really seeking the baptism when I got it. And in fact, I never actually sought it as a definite experience. I wanted to be yielded fully to God, but beyond that I had no real definite expectation or desire. I wanted more of Him, that was all.
There was no shouting crowd around me to confuse or excite me. No one was suggesting tongues to me at the time, either by argument or imitation. Thank God He is able to do His work without such help, and often far better without it. I do not believe in dragging the child forth, spiritually speaking, with instruments. I do believe in sane, earnest prayer-help in the Spirit. Too many souls are dragged from the womb of conviction by force and have to be incubated ever after. As with nature, so in grace. It is best to dispense as far as possible with the doctors and old midwives. The child is almost killed at times through their unnatural violence. A pack of jackals over their prey could hardly act more fiercely than we have witnessed in some cases. In natural childbirth, it is generally best to let the mother alone as far as possible. We should teach and stand by to encourage, but not force the deliverance. Natural births are better.
I had been shut up largely to a ministry of intercession and prophecy before I reached this condition of utter abandonment to the Spirit. I was now to go forth again in service. When my day of Pentecost was fully come, the channel was cleared. The living waters burst forth. The door of my service sprang open at the touch of the hand of a sovereign God. The Spirit began to operate within me in a new and mightier way. It was
Deeper Yet
a distinct, fresh climax and development, an epochal experience for me.
I now knew that I had tasted that for which we had been shut up as a company. In fact, this has proven an epoch in the history of the church just as distinct and definite as the Spirit's action in the time of Luther and Wesley, and with far greater portend. And it is not yet all history. We are too close to it yet to understand or appreciate it fully. But we have made another step back on the way to the restoration of the church as in the beginning. We are completing the circle. Jesus will return for a perfect church, "without spot or wrinkle." (See Ephesians 5:27.) He is coming for one body, not a dozen. He is the Head, and as such He is no monstrosity, with a hundred bodies. "That they all may be one;...that the world may believe" (John 17:21). This, after all, is the greatest sign to the world. "Though [we] speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity" (1 Corinthians 13:1).
1 felt after the experience of speaking in tongues that languages would come easy to me. And so it has proven. Also, I have learned to sing in the Spirit, although I never was a singer and do not know music.
I never sought tongues. My natural mind resisted the idea. This phenomenon necessarily violates human reason. It means abandonment of this faculty for the time. And this is "foolishness" and a stone of stumbling to the natural mind or reason. (See 1 Corinthians 2:14.) It is supernatural. We need not expect anyone who has not reached this depth of abandonment in his human spirit, this death to his own reason, to either accept or understand it. The natural reason must be
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yielded in the matter. There is a gulf to cross between reason and revelation, and it is this principle in experience that leads to the Pentecostal baptism. It is the underlying principle of this baptism. This is why the simple people usually get in first, though perhaps not always so well-balanced or capable otherwise. They are like the little boys going swimming—to use a homely illustration. They get in first because they have the least clothes to divest themselves of. We must all come "naked" into this experience.
The early church lived in this as its normal atmosphere. Hence its abandonment to the working of the Spirit, its supernatural gifts, and its power. Our "wiseacres" (those who pretend to know the power of the Spirit) cannot reach this. Oh, to become a fool, to know nothing in ourselves, so that we might receive the mind of Christ.
I do not mean to say that we must talk in tongues continually. The baptism is not all tongues. We can live in this place of illumination and abandonment and still speak in our own language. The Bible was not written in tongues. We may surely live in the Spirit at all times. Oh, the depth of abandonment—all self gone—conscious of knowing nothing, of having nothing, except as the Spirit will teach and impart to us. This is the true place of power in the ministry of service. There is nothing left but God, the pure Spirit. Every hope or sense of capability in the natural is gone.
We live by His breath, as it were. The "wind" on the Day of Pentecost was the breath of God (Acts 2:2). But what more can we say? It must be experienced to be understood. It cannot be explained. We
have certainly had a measure of the Spirit before without this. To this fact all history testifies, but we cannot have the Pentecostal baptism without it. The apostles received it suddenly and in full. Only simple faith and abandonment can receive, for human reason can find all kinds of flaws and apparent foolishness in it.
I spoke in tongues possibly for about fifteen minutes on this first occasion. Then the immediate inspiration passed away, for the time. I have spoken at times since also, but I never try to reproduce it. It would be foolishness and sacrilege to try to imitate it. The experience left behind it the consciousness of a state of utter abandonment to the Lord, a place of perfect rest from my own works and activity of mind. It left with me a consciousness of utter God-control, and of His presence naturally in corresponding measure. It was a most sacred experience.
Many have trifled foolishly with this principle and possession. They have failed to continue in the Spirit and have caused others to stumble. This has brought about great harm. But the experience still remains as a fact, both in history and in present-day realization. The greater part of most Christians' knowledge of God is and has always been, since the loss of the Spirit by the early church, an intellectual knowledge. Their knowledge of the Word and principles of God is an intellectual one, through natural reasoning and understanding largely. They have little revelation, illumination, or inspiration directly from the Spirit of God.
The famous commentators, Conybeare and How-son, write,
This gift [speaking in tongues] was the result of a sudden influx of the supernatural to
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the believer. Under its influence, the exercise of the understanding was suspended while the spirit was wrapped in a state of sheer joy by the immediate communication of the Spirit of God. In this joyful state, the believer was constrained by irresistible power to pour forth his feelings of thanksgiving and rapture in words not his own. He was usually even ignorant of their meaning.
say:
Stalker, in his Life of Paul, has the following to
It [the speaking in tongues] seems to have been a kind of utterance in which the speaker poured out an impassioned rhapsody, by which his religious faith received both expression and exaltation. Some were not able to tell others the meaning of what they were saying, while others had this additional power; and there were those who, though not speaking in tongues themselves, were able to interpret what the inspired speakers were saying. In all cases, there seems to have been a kind of immediate inspiration, so that what they did was not the effect of calculation or preparation, but of a strong, present impulse.
These phenomena are so remarkable that, if narrated in a history, they would put a severe strain on Christian faith. They show with what mighty force, at its first entrance into the world, Christianity took possession of the spirits it touched.
The very gifts of the Spirit were perverted into instruments of sin; for those possessed of the more showy gifts, such as miracles and
Deeper Yet
tongues, were too fond of displaying them, and turned them into grounds of boasting.
There is always danger attached to privileges. Children frequently cut themselves with sharp knives. However, we are certainly in more danger from remaining in stagnation, where we are, than in going ahead trustingly for God.
Describing some of my personal experiences, prior to experiencing this baptism, I wrote the following in Christian Harvester:
My own heart was searched until I cried out under the added light, "God, deliver me from my religious self-consciousness!" Seldom have I suffered in humility, shame, and reproach, as at this vision of my very best in the sight of God. My religious comeliness was indeed turned into corruption. I felt that I could not bear to hear or even to think of it again. I felt I would be glad to forget even my own name and identity. So with extreme satisfaction, I destroyed records of my past achievements for God, upon which my eyes had loved to linger. I now abhorred them, as a temptation from the Devil to self-exaltation. Letters of commendation for religious services rendered, literary works of seeming excellence to me, and sermons that to me had seemed wonderful in knowledge and construction, now actually nauseated me, because of the element of self-pride detected in them. I found I had come to rest on these for expected divine favor and reward. "Nothing but the blood of Jesus" had at least partially been lost sight of. I was depending also on these other things to recommend me to God. In this lay great danger; so I destroyed
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these treasured documents, false evidences, as I would a viper, lest they tempt me from the sufficiency of His merits alone. It meant a deep heart searching.
Past services now became a complete blank to me, and with the greatest relief on my part. I began again for God as though I had never accomplished anything. I felt that I stood before Him empty-handed. The fire of testing seemed to sweep away all of my religious doings. God did not want me to rest in these. For the future I was to forget all that I might ever do for God as quickly as it was accomplished, so that it might not prove a further snare to me, and go on as though I had never done a thing for God. This was my safety.
Without a doubt, even the least self-satisfaction in one's religious service is a great hindrance to the blessing and favor of God. It must be shunned as we would a serpent.
We continued to have wonderful meetings at Eighth and Maple. The Lord showed me He wanted this work to go deeper yet than anything we had experienced at that time. He was not satisfied fully vdth the Azusa work, deep as it had gone. There was still too much of the self-life, the religious self, among us. This naturally meant war, hard and bitter, against the Enemy. Ours was to be a sort of "clearing station," where fleshly exercises, false manifestations, and the religious self in general should be dealt wdth. We were after real experience, permanent and established, with Godlike character and no relapses.
I was greatly tested financially again. One day I had to walk twenty-five blocks to town, not having
even carfare. A brother almost as poor as myself gave me a nickel to ride home. At the same time we were having glorious meetings. Many were prostrated under the power.
The Devil sent two strong characters one night to sidetrack the work. A spiritualist woman put herself at the head, like a drum major, to lead the singing. I prayed her out of the church. The other was a fanatical preacher with a voice that almost rattled the windows. I had to rebuke him openly. He had taken over the whole meeting. Conceit fairly stuck out of him. The Spirit was terribly grieved; God could not work. I had suffered too much for the work to turn things over to the Devil so easily. Besides, I was responsible for souls and for the rent.
We had a fierce battle with such spirits. They would have ruined everything. The Devil has no conscience, and the "flesh" has no sense. The very first time I opened the church for meetings, I found one of the worst fanatics and religious crooks in town sitting on the steps waiting for me. He was a preacher and wanted to run things. I chased him from the place like Nehemiah did the son of Joiada (Nehemiah 13:28). I had never dreamed there was so much of the Devil in so many people. The town seemed full of them. He tempted the saints to fight and hindered the Spirit. These crooks and cranks were the first at the meeting. We had a great clearing-up time. There was much professional, religious quackery. Judgment had to "begin at the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17).
Luther was greatly troubled with willful, religious fanatics in his day. From the Wartburg, where he was then concealed, he wrote to Melancthon at Wittenberg,
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giving a test-stone for these fanatics: "Ask these prophets whether they have felt those spiritual torments, those creations of God—that death and hell— which accompany a real separation." When he returned to Wittenberg and they tried their sorcery on him, he met them with these crude words: "I slap your spirit on the snout!" They acted like devils at that challenge. But it broke their spell.
We were obliged to deal firmly with the extreme case, but in the main, the Spirit passed over and moved irregularities out of the way without further advertising them. Many have declared we cannot throw our meetings open today. But if that is true, then we must shut God out also. What we need is more of God to control the meetings. He must be left free to come forth at all costs. The saints themselves are too largely in confusion and rebellion. Through prayer and self-abasement, God will undertake for the meetings. This was the secret in the beginning. We held together in prayer, love, and unity, and no power could break this. But self must be burned out. Meetings must be controlled by way of the throne. A spiritual atmosphere must be created, through humility and prayer, that Satan cannot live in. And this we realized in the beginning. It was the very opposite of religious zeal and carnal, religious ambition. We knew nothing about present-day "pep" and "make it snappy" methods. That whole system is an illegitimate product, as far as Pentecost is concerned. It takes time to be holy. The world rushes on. It gets us nowhere with God.
One reason for the depth of the work at Azusa was the fact that the workers were not novices. They were
largely called and prepared for years from the Holiness ranks and from the mission field, and so on. They had been burnt out, tried, and proven. They were largely seasoned veterans. They had walked with God and learned deeply of His Spirit. These were pioneers, "shock troops," Gideon's three hundred, to spread the fire around the world, just as the disciples had been prepared by Jesus. We have now taken on a "mixed multitude" (Exodus 12:38), and the seeds of apostasy have had time to work. "First love" has been largely lost (Revelation 2:4). The dog has "turned to his own vomit again" (2 Peter 2:22) in many cases—that is, to Babylonian doctrines and practices. An enfeebled mother can hardly be expected to bring forth healthy children.
The Spirit dealt so deeply, and the people were so hungry in the beginning, that the carnal, human spirit injected into the meetings was discerned easily. It was as though a stranger had broken into a private, select company. The presence was painfully noticeable. Men were after God. He was in His holy temple; earth (all that is human) must keep silence before Him (Habuk-kuk 2:20). It only caused grief and pain. Our tarrying and prayer rooms today are but a shadow of the former ones, too often a place to blow off steam in human enthusiasm, or to become mentally intoxicated, supposedly from the Holy Spirit. This should not be. It is simply fanaticism.
In the early days, the tarrying room was the first thought and provision for a Pentecostal mission. It was held sacred, a kind of holy ground. There was mutual consideration also. There men sought to become quiet from the activities of their own too active
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minds and spirits, to escape from the world for the time, and get alone with God. There was no noisy, wild spirit there. That, at least, could be done elsewhere. The claims and confusion of an exacting world were shut out. It was a sort of "city of refuge" from this sort of thing, a haven of rest, where God could be heard and talk to their souls. Men would spend hours in silence there, searching their own hearts in privacy and securing the mind of the Lord for future action. This sort of thing seems nearly impossible today amid present surroundings. We die out to self by coming into His presence. And this requires great quietness of spirit. We need a "holy of holies." What Jew of old would have dared to act in God's temple as we do today in the missions? It would have meant death to him. We are full of foolishness and fanatical self-assertion. Even the formal Catholics have more reverence on the whole than we.
Sunday, August 26, Pastor Pendleton and about forty of his members came into Eighth and Maple to worship with us. They had received the baptism and spoken in tongues in their church. The denomination had thrown them out of their own building for this "unpardonable" crime. When I heard the church was going to try Pendleton for heresy, I invited them to come in with us if they were thrown out. Two days later they were expelled and accepted my invitation. Brother Pendleton declared after this experience that he would never build another doctrinal roof over his head. He was determined to go on for God.
Multitudes are shut up in ecclesiastical systems, within sectarian boundaries, while God's great, free pasture lies out before them, only limited by the encir-chng Word of God. "There shall be onefold, and one
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shepherd" (John 10:16). Traditional theology, partial truth and revelation, soon become law. The conscience is utterly bound, like Chinese footbinding, shut up against further progress.
Sunday, September 9, was a wonderful day. Several were stretched out under the power for hours. The altar was full all day, with scarcely any cessation to the services. Several received the baptism. In those days we preached but little. The people were taken up with God. Brother Pendleton and I could generally be found lying full-length on the low platform on our faces, in prayer, during the services. It was almost impossible to stay off our faces in those days. The presence of the Lord was so real. And this condition lasted for a long time. We had but little to do with guiding the meetings. Everyone was looking to God alone. We felt almost like apologizing when we had to claim attention from the people for announcements. It was a continuous sweep of victory—God had their attention. At times the audience would be convulsed with penitence. God dealt deeply with sin in those days. It could not remain in the camp.
The New Testament Church had a split about this time. I was glad I had nothing to do with that. Brother Smale had forced the Spirit-baptized saints to the wall, having finally rejected their testimony. A brother, Elmer Fisher, then started another mission at 327 South Spring Street, known as the Upper Room Mission. Most of the white saints from Azusa went with him, with the Spirit-baptized ones from the New Testament Church. This later became for a time the strongest mission in town. Both Azusa and the New Testament Church had by this time largely failed God.
Azusa Street
I soon after turned Eighth and Maple over to Brother Pendleton, as I was too worn out to continue longer in constant service in the meetings. I had been for a long time under constant strain in prayer and meetings and needed a rest and change.
In the beginning of the Pentecostal work, I became very much exercised in the Spirit that Jesus should not be slighted, "lost in the temple," by the exaltation of the Holy Spirit and of the gifts of the Spirit. There seemed to be a great danger of losing sight of the fact that Jesus was "all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11). I endeavored to keep Him as the central theme and figure before the people. Jesus will always be the center of our preaching. All comes through and in Him. The Holy Spirit is given to show the things of Christ. (See John 16:14.) The work of Calvary, the Atonement, must be the center of our consideration. The Holy Spirit never draws our attention from Christ to Himself, but rather reveals Christ in a fuller way. We are in the same danger today.
There is nothing deeper or higher than to know Christ. Everything is given by God to that end. The "one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13) is given to that end. Christ is our salvation and our all. That we might know "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height...[o^ the love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:18-19), having a "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Ephesians 1:17). It was to know Him (Christ) for which Paul strove. I was led to suddenly present Jesus one night to the congregation at Eighth and Maple. They had been forgetting Him in their exaltation of the Holy Spirit and the gifts. Now I introduced Christ for their consideration. They were
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taken completely by surprise and convicted in a moment. God made me do it. Then they saw their mistake and danger. I was preaching Christ one night at this time, setting Him before them in His proper place, when the Spirit so witnessed of His pleasure that I was overpowered by His presence, falling helplessly to the floor under a mighty revelation of Jesus to my soul. I fell, like John on the Isle of Patmos, at His feet.
I wrote a tract at this time, of which the following are extracts:
We may not even hold a doctrine, or seek an experience, except in Christ. Many are willing to seek power from every battery they can lay their hands on in order to perform miracles and draw the attention and adoration of the people to themselves, thus robbing Christ of His glory and making a fair showing in the flesh. The greatest rehgious need of our day would seem to be that of true followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. Religious enthusiasm easily goes to seed. The human spirit so predominates the show-off, religious spirit. But we must stick to our text-Christ. He alone can save. The attention of the people must be first of all, and always, held to Him. A true Pentecost will produce a mighty conviction for sin, a turning to God. False manifestations produce only excitement and wonder. Sin and self-life will not materially suffer from these. We must get what our conviction calls for. Believe in your own heart's hunger and go ahead with God. Don't allow the Devil to rob you of a real Pentecost. Any work that exalts the Holy Spirit or the gifts above Jesus will finally end up in fanaticism. Whatever causes us to exalt and love Jesus is well and safe.
Azusa Street
The reverse will ruin all. The Holy Spirit is a great light, but will always be focused on Jesus for His revealing.
A. S. Worrell, translator of the New Testament, was an earnest friend of Pentecost and a seeker after the baptism. He wrote the following in the Way of Faith:
The blood of Jesus is exalted in these meetings as I have rarely known elsewhere. There is a mighty power manifest in witnessing for Jesus, with a wonderful love for souls. There is also a bestowal of gifts of the Spirit. The places of meeting are at Azusa Street, at the New Testament Church, where Joseph Smale is pastor (some of his people were among the first to speak with tongues, but most have withdrawn because they felt restraint in his church), and at Eighth and Maple Streets, where Pastors Bartleman and Pendleton are the principal leaders.
In September 1906, the following letters appeared in the Way of Faith, from the pen of Dr. W. C. Dumble of Toronto, Canada, who was visiting Los Angeles at this time:
Possibly some of your readers may be interested in the impressions of a stranger in Los Angeles. A similar gracious work of the Spirit to that in Wales is in progress here. But while that is mostly in the churches, this is outside. The churches will not have it, or up to the present have stood aloof in a critical and condemnatory spirit. Like the work in Wales, this is a laymen's revival, conducted by the Holy Spirit and carried on in halls and old
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tumble-down buildings, whatever can be gotten for the work.
This is a remarkable movement, that may be said to be peculiar by the appearance of the gift of tongues. There are three different missions where one may hear these strange tongues. I had the rare joy of spending last evening at Pastor Bartleman's meeting, or more correctly, at a meeting where he and Pastor Pendleton are the nominal leaders, but where the Holy Spirit is actually in control. Jesus is proclaimed the Head, and the Holy Spirit His executive. Hence, there is no preaching, no choir, no organ, no collection, except what is voluntarily placed on the table or put in the box on the wall.
God was mightily present last night. Someone begins to sing: three or four hymns may be sung, interspersed with hallelujahs and amens. Then some overburdened soul rises and shouts, "Glory to Jesus!" and amid sobs and tears tells of a great struggle and a great deliverance. Then three or four are on the floor with shining faces. One begins to praise God and then breaks out with uplifted hands into a tongue. Pastor Pendleton now tells how he felt the need, and sought the baptism, and God baptized him with such an experience of the divine presence and love and boldness as he had never had before. The officials of his church therefore desired him to withdraw, and a number of his people went with him and joined forces with Pastor Bartleman. Then a sweet-faced, old, German Lutheran lady told how she wondered when
Azusa Street
she heard the people praising God in tongues and began to pray to be baptized with the Spirit. After she had gone to bed, her mouth went off in a tongue, and she praised the Lord through the night to the amazement of her children.
Next, an exhortation in tongues comes from Pastor Bartleman's lips in great sweetness, and one after another make their way to the altar quickly, until the rail is filled with seekers. Whatever criticism may be said of this work, it is very evident that it is divinely endorsed and the Lord is adding to them daily such as are being saved (Acts 2:47). It is believed that this revival is but in its infancy and that we are in the evening of this dispensation. The burden of the tongues is, "Jesus is coming soon."
Dr. Dumble wrote again, for the same paper,
At Pastor Bartleman's church, meetings are held every night, all day Sundays, and all night every Friday. There is no order of services; they are expected to run in the divine order. The blessed Holy Spirit is the executive in charge. The leaders, or pastors, will be seen most of the time on their faces on the floor, or kneeling in the place where the pulpit commonly is, but there is neither pulpit, nor organ, nor choir.
A young lady, for the first time in one of these meetings, came under the power of the Spirit, and lay for half an hour with beaming face lost to all about her, beholding visions unutterable. Soon she began to say, "Glory! Glory to Jesus!" and spoke fluently in a strange tongue. On the last Sabbath, the meeting continued from
early morning to midnight. There was no preaching, but prayer, testimony, praise, and exhortation.
It is a fact that, in the beginning, platforms and pulpits were as far as possible removed out of the way. We had no conscious need of them. Priest class and ecclesiastical abuse were entirely swept away. We were all brethren. All were free to obey God. He might speak through whom He would. He had poured out His Spirit "on all flesh" (Acts 2:17), even on His "servants and...handmaidens" (verse 18). We honored men for their God-given gifts and offices only. As the movement began to wane, platforms were built higher, coattails were worn longer, choirs were organized, and string bands came into existence to "jazz" the people. The kings came back once more to their thrones, restored to sovereignty. We were no longer brethren. Then the divisions multiplied. While Brother Seymour kept his head inside the old empty box in Azusa all was well. They later built a throne for him also. Now we have not one hierarchy, but many.
I wrote for another religious paper the following, in 1906:
Cursed with unbelief, we are struggling upward—with the utmost difficulty—for the restoration of that glorious light and power, once so bountifully bestowed on the church, but long since lost. Our eyes have been so long blinded by the darkness of unbelief into which we were plunged by the church's fall, that we fight the light, for our eyes are weak. So far had we fallen as a church that when Luther sought to restore the truth of justification by faith, it was fought