A A 1 2 1 6 8 7 6 HOW 1 GOT FAITH EXPERIENCES IN THE LATE MINISTRY OF THE CONVERtiEb INFIDEL WILLIS M. BROWN m> THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES HOW I GOT FAITH Experiences in the Late Ministry of the Converted Infidel. WILLIS M. BROWN. of Roswell, New Mexico PubluKed by Lithgow Manufacturing Slatiooery Co., Albuquerque, New Mexico WILLIS M. BROWN PREFACE Ever since I wrote my book, ''From Infidelity to Christianity, Life Sketches of Willis M. Brown," people have been asking me by letter, and other- wise, how I got such faith as I spoke of in my book. For some time I have felt impressed to write a book on this line for the glory of God, and for the en- couragement, and the good of mankind. For hours I havefelt impressed that what I do I had better do quickly, as time is short, death is sure, and besides, the enemy should be given every sharp and smart- ing rebuke possible, without delay. I realize that God has already added eighteen years and some months to my life. I do not know how much more he will add, but the eighteen years are up. I was just on the eve of beginning this book eight years ago, when at Creston, Washington, but some things occured which prevented me. But by the help of God, I think I can now write it, and make it a different book, and a real benefit to the public; as there is a great deal of my experience which has never gone before the public. So, with faith in the God who lias carricMl me through many dark and testing trials, and who has never failed me in anything I undertook in His name, I shall be- gin this book, trusting that it will be a blessing to many souls; and discouraged, and accused pil- grims. — Willis M. Brown. 923379 HOW I GOT FAITH CHAPTER I. HOW I GOT FAITH FOR SALVATION On the 5th day of January, 1895, 1 went to meet- ing through curiosity, having heard that my cluim, Jolin Lambert, was a mourner. He had drunk, and horse raced and done much wickedness Avith me. When I arrived (there) at [the meeting- house, (which) was set in the valley on a creek at thu foot of a hill six miles north of Cave in Rock, Illinois, on what Avas known as the "Ioav Avater road" leading from CaA'e in Rock to Equality, Illi- nois] , I met tlie large crowd of people ; and among them my chum, Lambert, who told me that he Avas saA^ed. I believed that he was honest, but that he was deceived. Services began, but nothing inter- ested me. Finally a man named Willis Buncli, Avho had been holding meetings six miles nortli of this place, came in. I had heard of liim, but T did not have a A'eiy good oiunion of him. After his coming something happened Avliicli at- tracted my attention. I could see a difference be- tAveen him and the otlier pr(\u-hers. His testimony was different, he i)rayed different, and lie h)oked different. After meeting Avas dismissed he prayed for a sick cliild. I could see that tlie child Avas very sick, and I looked to see what Avould l>e the result of his prayer. I had heard many prayers prayed, but neA'er before had seen any one ])ropose to pray and expect the ansAver immediately. Two G HOW I GOT FAITH preachers that had known me all my life stood be- tween me, and the man and the sick child. I. M. Hedden, who had just been converted, was at my right. He watched me and would attempt to kneel : then he would look at the preachers who were mak- ing fun of the man ; then he would attempt to get up. Finally he looked at me, a poor infidel and a drunkard just on the brink of the grave, trying to look around those preachers to see if there was a God who would answer prayer ; he then fell on his knees and hid his face in his hands. He is now a preacher in this Reformation, and his address is I. M. Hedden, Metropolis, Illinois, When the preach- er, Bunch, said "Amen," the child jumped up and said it was well. The two preachers that had known me all my life said to me, "Thei-e is your sanctifi- cation." I said, "That was God answered prayer," and this convinced me that God would answer prayer. Probably if I had gone away and not investigat- ed further, the enemy would have snatched all of tliis from my mind and made me to lose sight of the handwork of God. Every time I meditate over the past T thank God for moving on the heart of a sin- ner to propose to go home with me for dinner that day provided I would come back to meeting with Mm that night. He did not know what it meant ; neither did I ; neither did any of the others of my neighbors who heard him make the proposal to me. But I have seen many times since, that if he had not gone home with me, I would not have gone back to meeting that night ; and if I had not, probably the thousands of persons I have witnessed saved and the thousands of cases of healing whicn I have wit- nessed would have never had the gospel. The first Bible sermon 1 ever heard in my life was that night, which, with what I saw that day and heard from the pulpit that night, con\^nced me that there is a God who icill answer prayer; and also that I had a ilUW I CiUT FAITH 7 soul that Avould live as long as God lives; and iliat my time, so far as man could see, would In- vciy short on earth, as I Avas a total Avreck i»li\si(ally, uiven up to die of eonsuniption by three doctors. After reachinjj;- lionie tliat night and looking at the bed where my wife and baby lay, and then at the other bed where the other two boys lay, I thought of my condition, and there was no sleep for me that night. I studied over my past life, from the lirst of luy life to where I sat before the fire the next morn- ing. At six o'clock I decided to call on God for help. Xow, I had studied all night and had counted the cost, and I decided that it Avas the bi^st thing to do. So I lifted my eyes to the heavens and called on God to have mercy on me, and to send conviction to my heart. I knew nothing about God's word, but I felt that my heart must be broken up before I could make a surrender to God. I believe here is Avhere many fail to get saved. They are impressed as I was, but they pray for salvation without proper conviction, and just decide to ])elieve that (Jod saves them because they prayed. They have no godly sor- row^ for sin ; they do not see that of themselves they cannot believe, but just presume on God's mercy, and hope that he Avill save them because they have gone through a form. I plead with God for two days and nights, but I could not feel sorry enough to quit my sins, and make my wrongs right, until God broke up my heart: and then I felt asliamed of my life, and of the way that I had treated God, who had been so merciful to me. As I reviewed my i)ast life I could see the unseen hand of God that had been ever stretched forth, graciously sparing my life. When I had my left breast caved in on my lungs, and four ribs broken, and the best doctors that could be gotten to my bed said that I could not live. He spared my life. When I was benten up with knucks until I could not lift my head from the l)illow without iK'lp, He spared me tlien. Ii now 8 HOW I GOT FAITH came to me that God had spared my life for a better purpose than to lie behind prison bars, or in the ditch of drunkenness, or in the cage of Intidelity. This encouraged me to make a surrender of my life and time for God. I made it for time and eternity. Seeing that I had done all that I knew to do, and willing to do anything that God would show me to do, I believed the God that healed the child would save me; and as I settled it, all darkness passed away, God's Spirit flooded my dead soul, and it be- came alive to God. All malice, murder, and hatred were gone. Joy, love and peace were flooding my soul; but the devil tried to make me doubt. But after calling on God for more evidence. He con- vinced me that I was saved, but again the devil im- pressed me, saying that I could not live it. My de- sire was to live it, and I called upon God for power to live it. After fifteen hours of constant prayer, God led me by His spirit to consecrate my time, my busi- ness and my life to Him. (This I did). My faith took hold of God's promises, and I felt every bit of self go out of my soul, and I felt as though I was a shadow. I was asked by one who knew I was seek- ing salvation, how I was getting along. I opened my mouth to say all right, when my faith took hold of God, and my soul was filled with overflowing joy which made me shout and rejoice. I had done all that I knew to do, and just believed God. now 1 GO'J- 1 AITH ('HAPTKK 11. WHAT THE HOLY GHOST HA8 DONE FOR MK 1 liavc never heard any one else testify to re- ceiving tlie Holy (Iliosr as I received Him. For this reason 1 do not olten tell it, bnt I leel that 1 should tell it now for the glory of God and the good of souls, for I have been made to believe that the rea- sor. mai»y do not stand is because they do not get cleansed. There is no certain time set for one to tarry befoie CJod to get the cleansing blood applied, but it depends upon the earnestness with which the seeking soul comes to (Jod for the same. We see the apostles tarried nine days and three hours, while Paul tarried only three days ; but Avhat he got was as genuine as what Peter and the others re- ceived: yet they tarried longer: For it kept him while he bore forty strips, less one, five times: al.so while he was being cast among false brethern and in prison. We hear him in his last testimony saying, "I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. 1 have fought a good light, I have finished my couise. I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4 :()-7, My dear reader, the thing we want to make sure of is this, that we get the faith, and the Holy Ohost that destroys and consumes the dross ami self which hinders faith. When self is destroyed it cer- tainly makes a change in feelings: it did in my case, and left an emptiness that I can no better explain than as I have said before — I felt like a shadow. I looked down to see my body — so light did I feel — and in an instance my entire being was filled with the consunnng fire and power of the Holy Ghost. Every particle of fear and shame was gone, and I bore the fruits at once of which the word tells. The 10 HOW I GOT FAITH iiist man tliat I met was Casper Fink, a dear, good Holy (xhost man. I greeted him with the holy kiss (see I Thes. 5:20, also Romans 1{):1()), something I nciver did before in my life — greet a man Avith a kiss — and I did not knoAv that God's word taught it. Next Avas Brother Bunch, the preacher, and when I greeted him he shouted, "Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost !" and the spirit in ine gave utterance and answered for itself with shouts of joy; and my whole soul and body was on fire for God. I do not mean that this fire was visible flames, such as I have heard poor, deluded and mistaught people say. But my very flesh and bones and soul burned with- i«i me, and every bit of the work of the devil was de^>troyed, and my Avhole soul and body was filled Avith the j)OAver of God ; so there was nothing left in my soul to doubt God. The Holy Ghost is God, and I was filled Avith the Holy Ghost. The reason so many fail to believe God is that they fail to get acquainted AA'ith Him; they do not I'ome near enough to Him to say from the depths of their hearts, "Anything Lord." I haA^e had people to ask me to pray for the salvation of their com- panion, or child. I would say, "Are you Availing for God to bring it about in his oavu Avay?*' They would say "yes." Then I would tell of some instance in my experience where it took the death of a child, or the loss of property, and they Avould not AA^ant it to come that way. My dear reader, if you are not ac- quainted Avith God enough to commit the whole thing to his hands, and let him bring it around His Avay, you cannot exercise faith in Him. For the Holy Ghost dictates the prayer of faith, and if you are not willing for it to be done God's Avay, the Holy Ghost AA'ill not work. Your just sajdng a prayer, as thousands of people do, brings no beneficial re- sults. My niece had a drunken husband; he died drunk and I brought him home dead; this was be- fore I Avas saA-ed. After I was saved, I went to pray ilUW 1 GOT FAITH 11 for her child. Slic had beloiigod to tlie Methodist Church from a child. I said, ''Don't you believe God will answer ])rayer?'' She said : '"No. for I prayed for God to brinu my husband home s()l)er. and he never did." I said, ''Yes he did, but all the way that God could answer your prayer, and bring him home sober was to bring him home dead ; so your j)rayer was answered." But had she known it would be done that way she would not have prayed. Just so it is 'wdth many, that want it done their way. But my dear reader, when you get well enough acquainted with God to be willing to let him answer prayer his way, knowing that he is allwise, and does all things for the best, and you ask believ- ing, it will come. God would let the heavens fall before he would fail to answer the prayer of faith. 12 HOW I GOT FAITH CHAPTER III. I row 1 GOT FAITH TO BE HEALED 111 a tow days at't(^i* I Avas saved I was riding alone along the road, meditating; and the following thoughts came to me, ''I have not taken a drop of medicine since I began to call on God for convic- tion, and it is no use for me to take medicine for the doctors say that they cannot cure me ; besides, I cannot take it without breaking my covenant Tvdth God, for I have committed my spirit, soul mind and body to Him ; have put all on the altar ; and if I trust man, I break my covenant with God." Then my mind ran to James 5 :13-15 ; and I thought, ''God has called me to preach, but I cannot preach, for I have no voice.'' Then I thought, ''God can make no mistake; he is able to do Avhat he has promised, and if I trust him, it puts all the responsibility on Him, therefore, I will not take another drop of medicine while I live." With this, my faith bound- ed through to the throne of God; I took hold of God's promises, and saw myself a well man, and a X3reaclier, just then, by faith. XoAv, if I did not tell you what was the matter Avirh me, 3'ou could not Avell understand what it meant for me to make a decision. I was given up to die of consumption by three ditferent physicians. I also had catarrh of the head until my hearing was at one time so bad that one would have to holler loudly to me. My eyes were very Aveak. Besides, I had other afflictions brought on by a dissipated life. I weighed only one, hundred, twenty-five pounds, walked A\ith a stick, coughed and spit blood, and suffered Avith head ache, back ache and heart trouble. I had not been, to my knowledge, free from pain for fourteen years. I decided to have now I GOT FAITH 13 the incaclici' pray for me iiecordiiig to the Word of CJod in tlu; Fifth Chapter of James, Tlurteenth and Fonit.eentli verses. Now, this docs not mean elders elected by men, but God sent eldcis rilled Avith (iod, who believe all of God's word, and do not try to hide behind Timothy's wine, or Hezekiah's fi<»s, or the man ]*anl left siek at Miletum. IJut they be- lieve, if the ])atient meets the eonditions. that God would let the heavens fall before lie Avonld fail to heal. I was prayed for the next morninii. and The pow- er of God went thiouiih my body: every ])ain left me, and 1 knew the work was done — 1 exi)eeted it to be done. You see, I had meditated and decided that it Avould be to God's glory to heal me; and since he liad called me to preach, I shoTdd be an example of what I ])reached. In a fcAv hours the test came: my lungs painecl me, my voice left me : but I stood on the AVord, and the Avitness which 1 had received. IJut T had to tight the devil a face to face fight for three months. Ofttimes the suggestion would come that I was not saved, or I would be healed. I had no one to go to but God. I would fall on my knees and ask (Jod, if I was right, to remove the pain or sore- ness at once, and it would go. This Avould encour- age me and I Avould get victory moie easily next time, until I got to where, when the test would come, I Avould rebuke the devil in Jet- l)le do not make an unconditional surrender lo ( mmI ; and in i)lace of having faith to receiAe the Aviine.ss they just presume on (Jod's promises, and say they are heah-d because God's AVord says so. lint there is no healing, and no faith : yet they claim to be stand- ing on the promises of God. They testify to heal- 14 now r (iOT FAITH iii.u without any witness from God. This is a re- proach to God's cause, hinders His work, and shakes the faith of others. HOW I GOT FAITH 15 CHAPTER IV. illRACLES THAT GAVE ME FAITH In the following chapters, I shall speak of some thiniis that I am sure Avill be doubted by some, ridi- culed and denied by others; but as there aic living witnesses to what I shall tell, I do it for the en- couragement and strengthening of the faith of those who are seeking light on God's Word, and promises to mankind. I shall give the names and addresses of those who Avitnessed the miracles that I shall speak of in these chapters. Xow, a description of the country where I was living Avhen converted, might be interesting to some. I was converted on what was known as Pitts' Hill, eleven miles from Cave in Rock, Harden County, Il- linois. Pitts' Hill was near what was known as Potts' Hill, on a road leading from the Southern States into the Xorthern States by Avay of Fords- ferry, Kentucky, and Eciuality, Illinois. There was a man, by the name of Potts, living on Potts' Hill — the hill got its name from him. He had a large house, and kej)t travelers in the early days before there were many steam boats on the Ohio River, or any railroads in that country. There was also a man by the name of Ford living at what is now known as Foi-d's Ferry, Kentucky, on the Ohio Riv- er. Potts' Hill is Ix'tween Fordslcrry and K(|uality. This Avas in John A. Merrill's lime, a noted horse thief and murderer. These three men — Foi-d, Potts, and ^Fci-rill, Avere notorious for their niurder-s and lobberies. There Avas a great deal of travel from the North to the South. There Avere large droves of horses and nudes driven through, ca'cu u]) to the time when I can remendxM-. Those going froui the Xru't.h to Tlie South, if anv wavs niiiii ni;Lilit. would 10 HOW I (iOT FAITH stop with Potts Oil l*otts' Hill, as tlioro was no other place between there and Ford's Ferry. If they could reach Ford's Ferry by night, and if Potts did not get them. Ford Avould get them. Those going from the Hoiith to the ^orth, if too early to stop with Ford, would stop with Potts, as his was the only place between Fordsferry and Equality: and it is said that they nuirdered and jobbed a great many people. My father told me that at one time a man going South Avith a drove of horses, stopped with Ford — Ford ran a ferry across the Ohio River, also kept a hotel. Ford pi-oposed buying this man's horses, but Avould not give the price the man asked for them. While they were talking, a nicely dressed stranger walked down stairs into the room Avhere they were, and joining in the conversation, pro- posed buying the horses himself. They soon made a trade, and he ijaid the man for the horses. Soon the stranger and Ford got on a trade, and Ford bought the horses and paid him for them in the presence of the first oAvner, who now started on his journey. But the first place he had a chance to spend money, he discovered that all the money he obtained for his horses Avas counterfeit. He took some men A^ith him, and Avent back to Ford, and told him his trouble. Ford told him he knew noth- ing about the man — that he Avas a stranger to him, that he Avas noAV gone, and he kncAv nothing of him : but that if he had sold his horses to him he Avould have given him good money. So the man could do no more, since the horses were gone, and he had no way of getting them back. My father kncAv of a number of instances similar to this: and in case they could not w^ork it that Avay, and had to pay real money for anything, they would destroy the man, and get back the money. At the time I lived in this country, this sort of robbery had been brok- en up, and some good citizens Avere living at those HOW 1 HOT FAITH 17 places; ])ut lln-ic aic a great iiiauy bad people there 3'et, and you Avould think so, if I should tell you of all the iiM-idents 1 know, and tell you of the things that I Avas Avell ae(iuainted with in Harden County, Illinois — known, yet, as Hiiypt. And, 1 am sure that if 1 should liive you a full descriplion of all the blood that was shed ; and of all the crime that was coniiiiitted : and tell you of the men Avho ran off Avith other men's Avives; and of tlie woman who cut another woman's husband's throat after she had left her own husband and run off" Asith him ; and of his brother uoinii after a Avarrant for her arrest, and a liml) of a tree fell on him, and killed him aa he was ictuininji with tlie Avarrant ; of the many young- girls who lost their character and had their lives blighted : of a i)i'ea(hei- holding the lani]) Avhile a memlu'r of his church killed his oavu step-o to heaven rijilit oft. She fell on her knees, made her surrender — iiave the child to the Lord, and her heart to (lod. I, also, was callinsj; on God, and the moment that the tire of (lod touched hei* dead soul, she gave a shout, antl life came into the child. This uave me more faith. I Inid not le. T kei)t ])reaclnnii. The sister that was holding the woman motioned for Sis- ters Lillian and Bertha Brown; they Avent to her and began praying in secret. The husband of the woman that had aj)pai-ently died came crowding up: he and his chum were drunk. I i-ebuked the devil, and Ood held them in check until I finished the sermon ; then I tuiiied the meeting over to some of the brethern, and I went to where the woman was. So far as I could see she Avas dead. Thei-e was no j)ulse and no appearances of life. Her drunken husband AA'as trying to pull hei- out of the la]) of the sister Avho Avas holding her: but who re- fused to give her up. 1 ]nayed foi- her — she rose up and fell back. I i)rayed the second tin)e and she did not i-ecover: 1 ])rayed the thiid, and fourth, and fifth time. IJy this time there was (piite a commo- tion in the back of the house,, and one fellow got A'ery boisterous, and said that he would Avatch us and see that she Avas not slipped out, ami he Avould see that she Avas sent out of thei-e in hei- box. So these Avere some of the i-emarks that the saints and ministers and all Avho Avere there heard — all looki'd scared — and in fact, it seemed that there was gi-eat 32 now I GOT FAITH trouble pciuliiig'. My faith was in God, I felt that it was for Ills uloiT. I pushed the -wild drunken mob back, laid on hands again, and took hold of God's promises b}' faith, claimed her life in the name of Jesus Christ; piaying God to defeat the devil, and to let life come into her body, and prove his power. She sprang to her feet, gave a shout, walked out of there alone, and got into the buggy with her drunken husband and Avent home ; and was back to the meeting next day, all right so far as we could see. This convinced manj^ It reminded me of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. While the powers of hell were against us, and seemingly the heavens were as brass, and God had turned a deaf ear, every one that professed to know God, with the exception of myself and company of workers, and the Avoman Avho held the Avoman in her arms, were spell-bound, and seemingly faithless, and excited : but the mo- ment that she sprang to her feet the shouts went OA^er the house, and the ministry gave great dem- onstrations, and made some discussions and boasts about God manifesting his poAver. There are a great many noAv, like those in the olden times when they could not shout until the Avails of Jericho had fallen. God Avants a ministry, and people who will stand faithful before the opposing poAvers, as Elijah did before the prophets of Baal, and knoAV that God Avill ansAver prayer. Elijah even made fun of them and said, "Cry aloud for he is God: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and nuist be aAvaked." He had not prayed yet, but he had no fear; he knew that God Avould hear him and when the time came for him to call on his God, he with boldness called on God, believing, and God answered by fire, and consumed the sacrifice and the Avood; and the stones and the dust and licked up the Avater that Avas in the trench. It might be possible that some would saA^ Ave do not knoAv Avhether these incidents now I GOT TAITH 33 Avhicli I relate in lliis hook aie tJiic or not. JJrotlicr Bi-owii "wrote so iiuniy tlii!i«>s in his otliei- l»ook l)Ut never gave siitticieiit ijroof to coiiviiice ine thai it was true. 1 want to ^ive proof in these incicU-nts that I speak of, so thai (Jcxl niav he iihu-ilied and people convinced. The woman's name that died, as far a« we could tell, was lOstelJe ( 'olhoiirii : i he wom- an that caught her in her arms was Mrs. Minnie Caiifman ; one of tlie ministers |)resenl was .lohn Cheuning, and their address is i;isli(>|»villc. South Carolina. The next incident that comes to my mind was one time when 1 was attending the camp-meeting at Anderson, Indiana: the tirst one that was held there, and it was held in a large tahernacle near where the auditorium now stands on the camp ground. Sister .Joyce Myers of Louisville. Ken- tticky. was preaching. 1 was sitting rather toward the hack of the tahernacle, and just as 1 turned my liead 1 noticed a woman walking down the aisle. For some reason 1 looked after her, 1 know not why. All at once she droi)|)e(l as thotigh she had heen shot. 1 saw from the way that she fell that she had not stumbled, but ha but lell ba(k--her eyes glassed — and from cNciy apj)earan<-e the last ])article of breath had gone. We Iaiy this time her husband (-aiue to where we were, and h(; took hold in my place, and he and IJiotlicr Porter led her a little ways. 8he looked up and said, "1 am very hunji,ry.'' She sat down on a bench, and her husband Aveut to a stand and bought her some bananas. Brother and Sister Por- ter and I Avent to the tabernacle and sat doAvn. By this time she was eating her bananas. Brother Por- ter looked out and said to me, "Look there, twenty minutes ago she was in eternity, and she sits on a bench noAv eating bananas." It was someAvhat a curiosity to me the Avay the Avoman acted. She did not even seem glad that she had come to life; she gave no demonstration of thankfulness or joy. She looked sad and discouraged, a little frightened, seemingly. I kept studying about her until it seemed that I must meet her and talk Avith her. Af- ter meeting Avas disnnssed I found her in the hall at the Gospel Trumpet home. I asked her if she cared to talk to me a little Avhih^ — that I Avas in- terested — she said that she did not care, that she Avould talk to me. I told her that her case Avas a peculiar one, and that God had permitted this for a purpose, and that I would like to knoAA' her ex- perience, and asked her if she had ever heard the truth before. She said that she had been saved and in the faith, but that her child got sick, and she trusted the Lord to heal it, but it died : and she blamed the ministers because they let her child die ; accused them, turned against the truth, and had fought it and opposed it. But that it seemed that she could not resist the impression to go to that meeting ; and that Avhile she tried to keep from go- ing the impression Avas so great that she gave Avay, and went. I said, ''Sister, that explains the whole matter. God has permitted you to have this experi- eji<. e that yuu might knoAv that there Avas a reality in salvation, iind that God's word is true; and I feel that this is God's last call to you.*' She said now I GOT FAITH 35 tlmt sht^ was iiitcMHliiiji to u:o home that ovoning. I said, "You had better not do it : do not leave tliis ground until you get salvation." I left her undeeid- ed, seemingly, morv' than she said, she was con- viened, and that she aimed to get saved. Some years later I was preaching in the chapel at the Gospel Trumpet Ollice at an Assendily meeting. ] told of this incident — and some others in my preach- ing — as I was ])reaching on divine healing, and I said that I did not learn the woman's name, and I did not know where the woman lived, and did not know whether any one in the house knew of her oi- not, when a brother si)oke up ajid said, "I know her, Brother Jirown : I was witness to the scene; she lived a neighboi- to me; she got saved, died in the faith, and is gone home to glory." I did not know him : 1 never met hiiii any more; I did not recognize his face^vhen he spoke, but 1 am sure that some who read this book will remember this incident and this statement. Another incident which, now, comes to my ndnd, occui-ed in the spring, I think, in 1911 — I am not sure. However, I was attending camp-meeting at the TrumiH't Ofifice, Anderson, Indiana. My room Avas on the thiid fiooi-. T did not go down wlien the rising bell rang, and did not go down stairs until they wei-e having prayer in the chapel. The chapel door which o])ens out into the hall was open, the cliaju'l i-oom was tilled, and (|uite a nundjer of jk'o- l)le had knelt in the hall. I knelt down by a table, dropped my head over on the table, and just as I knelt I heard a noise as if something had hit the floo!-, but thought nothing of it. Old Mother Wal- teis, who was once a neighbor of mine in Kssex, Il- linois, and who then lived, and now lives, at An- derson, Indiana, (*ame i-unning to me, and caught hold of me, and said. "Come hei'c, there is a man who fell dead." 1 went with her, and she led the Avay : we i-eaclicd the inside of a circle of people, and 36 HOW I GOT FAITH soiiM* brothei'ii had just picked a iiitiii up otf of the fioor and Ijiid him on a IxMich. His eyes looked glassy, and 1 saw no sign of lllc, hut the spirit of God impressed me to pray for him. I saw some bi-etheru, in the ministry, standing there Avho did not believe in miracles of this kind; and 1 had been infoi-med that they did not believe? some statements which 1 had made in my former book. The thought came to me, "If 3^ou pray for him and he is not raised up it Avill only be the worse for them, and make your persecution harder." The next impres- sion came from God, and the force and power Avith which it came Avas too great for me to i-esist; I re- buked the devil in my soul, and rushed to the man and laid hands on him and rebuked death, and the devil, and the poAvers of hell, and claimed his life through faith in Jesus Christ ; and commanded him to arise ; life came into his body, and he arose upon the bench. I soon Avas croAvded aAvay by people coming to see him — I gave back — I never saAv the man any more.. Mother Walters was witness to this. She is Avell knoAvn by the Gospel Trumpet family, and the saints at Anderson, Indiana: also, some of the saints in Chicago knoAV her, and many others. I told of this incident in my preaching at the same time I told of the former incident Avliich 1 spoke of; Sister Walters was present, and testified to it being true. I hope that she Avill live to read this book and testify to the public to this statement being true. XoA\', I feel that it Avould be to the glory of God for me to make a little explanation. There are many people Avho think that if you pray for a dead person, and they come to life, Avhy not pray for le conld be seen standing in crowds talking abont this ex- pected meeting, and that he wonld prei)are a plari; for th(? meeting, as tlieir honse wonld not be large enough — thought that we could get a tabermiclc I kept up a correspondence Avith him, and when I was at Sea Grove, Xorth Carolina, I received a letter from him, with check enclosed for seventy-tive dollars, to pay the car fare of my conipany and my- self to his town. When 1 arrived 1 found him a very honest man, and one who had great influence among the ])eople, and particularly with the i)eoi)le of the Metliodist chtirch at that place. lie could not se- cure a tabernacle, so he had put seats out in an open place by the mountains, as this Avas a very moiui- tainous country, and had built a staiul for the preachers to sit on and to ])r('ach from. The meet- ing began with good interest, and the people came in great crowds; the house wotild hold the people for the day meetings, but we i)reached out of doors at night until Sunday there came a wonderful large crowd and we had the meeting out of doors, and tlie people sat out in the hot sun on those ])lank bench- es — men with their hats off and Avomen wilh para- sols ovei- their heads lisleiiing lo the gospel. Finally, lirother Campbell i-ose up and lold them that when he came to that place he was a Methodist, and had Ihhmi from a boy, and had done the very best that he knew to do, and had walked in all the light tha t had been given him fr<>m the Methodists; but after reading my book whicli had been handed him, on the first day ol .hiimary, he decided that he Avas not saved, and made his snr- render to God, and God saved him, and now he had decided that sanctification Avas a Hible doctrine, and that he Avas seeking and longing for it. That there had been another (juestion in his mind, and 40 ' HOW 1 GOT FAITH li(i Wiis piayiiijj; that God would give him iiiider- staudiiig, and that more than likely they would see that he would take his tie off, as he was getting souiewdiat bothered about it. So in a night or tAvo he came Avithout his tie, and w^ent to the altar and conseci-ated for sanctilication, arose and told them that he saw the light on secret orders, the one church, and he made a clean sweep of the "whole thing, that he had written letters that w^ere uoaa* on the way to conference notifying them that he had resigned as preacher, also as President of the Ep- worth League; also a number of other positions in the Methodist church, and that he had also sent notices to the lodges to AA'hich he belonged and noti- fied them that he had receiAed light on the same, and saAv they Avere wrong and Avithdrew himself from them; and that now he had consecrated his life to God and had done all that he kncAA^ to do and Avas sanctified by faith. On the next evening he testified that he Avas sat- isfied and had the AVT.tness that the Avork would be done that he had done all he knew to do and took it by faith, but did not receive the exijerience just then. He prayed in his office that night before re- tiring, and Avent to sleep studying about the mat- ter. He Avoke up and said that he felt happy, and before he Avas entirely aAvake it came to him that it seemed something like when he was a boy and Avas counting the days and hours when hie Avould see grandma. That the thought struck him that he was a man and those days are past, by that time ''I was fully aAvake and all at once such great joy flooded my soul, and it came to me that I was sanctified; and had taken the Lord as my healer, and never expect to take another dose of medicine, and intend to preach the pure gospel as the Lord giA'es me light on it." The same day they sent a preacher down to shut us out of the house, and made quite a stir. Some of the people turned HOW I (iOT FAIT II 41 against the truth, sonic stnv the li.uht and stepped out on the promises of (Jod, so tlie nieetiiiii closed and we left. Bi-othei- Tulh'V iJeddin.ufield and wife, and Lil- lian and Bertha liiown were with me in this meet- ing. The people insisted that we should i-etuin lat- er and hold another meeting. So the next -lune I went from Anderson, Indiana, cami)-nieeting, in company with Brother Walker and wife, and Sis- ters Jjillian and Bertha Brown, and held another meeting in the tabernacle on the same ground. The powers of dai-kness came against us, and !romises of Jesus Christ. I prayed and he revived a little, then la- 42 HOW I GOT FAITH bei>aii to sink away again and I saw the man was breathing hard. I said, ''AVhere is he shot?" They said, "He is not shot at all, he is cnt to the skull hei-e on top of his liead." By this time his nniscles and nerves were jerking, and his head dropped over as if his life was going out of him. The spirit of God impressed me to claim his life by faith. I said, "Brother Campbell, cheer up, in the name of Jesus Christ take a stand for your life." We prayed, re- buked the powers of hell and death, and asked God to stop the flow of blood and to put strength and life into his body. He arose instantly and said, "Praise God, it's done. Brother Brown, let us go home." Just at that moment, the sinner that Avas holding his head said that as soon as I said "Amen" that the blood stopped, and there had been running a stream as big as his finger.' Someone said that it stopped before we prayed. The sinner said, "Xo, it did not until he said amen." I turned and saw a commotion around a bench and was informed that Sister Walker had fainted. Brother Campbell and Sisters Browji went with me and laid hands on her and agreed with me in prayer that God would raise her up, Avhich he did, and they both walked home, a distance of more than a quarter of a mile. The next morning Brother Campbell Avas able to go about his business, the gash was in his head, but no soreness. The outlaAvs that tried to break up the meeting, and tried to kill him, left the country, and the meeting went on. Quite a number accepted the truth and were baptized. I was called from there to Elgin, Oklahoma, to IDray for Sister May — the two Sisters Brown went to Birmingham, Alabama ; to where we had prom- ised to begin meeting, and Brother and Sister Wal- ker stayed and continued the meeting, and quite a number more accepted the truth. Since that time there have been a number accepted the truth in that country, and they have built a new meeting house, now I GOT FAITH 4:5 and I had a letter from ]>i-otli('i- CaiiiiilM'll a lew days aiio statiii.u that lie was pastor of the church there, and was preaching the gospel in all its ful- ness. I went from there to Louisville, Ky., on ni.v way to Oklahoma, preached one uight and went on to I'vlg'in, Oklahoma, reaching thei-e late in the even- ing. Was met at the depot by l>rother May: Ave reached his home and found his wife in a very seri- ous condition — had been confined to the bed foi- a time — but said that she knew that (lod would heal her when 1 jn-ayed for her. After talking with hei- awhile, giving her the promises of God, I anointed her and praycMl for her healing, and she arose out of the bed and said that it was done. lii'other May and I went out to the barn — the wind was blowing very hard, and we looked and saw his wife on her way up to a sect preachers house who knew about her affliction and said that if she was healed he would believe in our faith. It seemed that the wind would blow her down sometimes — she Avas very weak and thin in flesh, having been sick so long. Brother May .started towaids her; I said, ''Let her go: if God is sending liei- he will take care of her." AVe Avatched her until she reached the preacher's yard ; and the neighbors who knew of her being sick, together with the ]»reacher and his wife, came to meet her in the yard. They had (|uite an exciting time, and she preached to theui. Slie cauie on back home, still rejoicing. Said she was healed. In a short tiine the preacher came down and had a talk with me, and told lue that he was glad that I had come, and that he had received light on the scriptures, and said that he would come to hear me preach that night. I preached in a dwelling in town that night; he and his wife were theie, and took part in the singing and sat on the front seat. After meeting was over he shook hands with me and told me that he enjoyed the meeting, that he was thor- OUiihlv convinced, and ihat if T would stav and hold 44 HOW I GOT FAITH a iiieetiiig that lie Avould turn liis iiit'eting- house over to me ; but it was inipossibki for me to stay then on account of the arrangements I had made to hold a month's meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. He said if I Avould return later he would let me have the house. In August, following, I met Brother and Sister May at Oklahoma City camp-meeting. She was still rejoicing in the Lord, and said the preacher was still willing for me to have the house to hold the meeting, but as yet I have never been able to re- turn, I do not knoAV what has become of him. I have Avitnessed a number of experiences sim- ilar to this, in my late ministry, and I am' glad that I am still able to testify that God is just the same, and manifesting his power the same as he did in the beginning of my ministry nineteen years ago. My faith in God has not weakened, mj'' trust is in Him, the same: and I expect to stay in the faith that I began in while God lets me live. One time, while holding meeting at a certain place, an old lady who had been attending the meet- ing very regularly, and was crippled, hobbled on canes, and could scarcely Avalk without helj), if I remember correctlj^, she was seventy years old — ■ she and her husband came to the altar, and he claimed to be saved. He had a cancer on his face and wanted to be healed. The old lady surrendered to God and got saved, then wanted prayer for the healing of her body. AVe i^rayed for her and the Lord healed her. She jumped up, and leaping, Avent away from the altar ; said she Avas healed. The man claimed to get healed, but I ncA'er heard from him. I haA'e learned since that the old ladA' is still healed. HOW I GOT FAITH 45 CHArXEK Vlll. "And it came to pass. wIumi Jesus had iiiak's, lie depart- ed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now Avhen John had heard in tlie prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto Mm, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto tliem. Go and shew John again those things whicli ye do hear and see : The blind receive their sight, and the lame Avalk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." Matthew 11 :!-(). There are many today who are looking and wait- ing for the millenium; for this prophecy to be fid- filled Avhen all manner of diseases will be healed, and the devil defeated, and the people i)ermitted To walk and talk Avitli Jesus and enjoy full salvation. But I am glad that there are a fcAV in the Avorld that have found out that it is their privilege to reign with one Christ Jesus in this world over sin, sick- ness anpened in my l>oyhood days tliat made both these men seem very near to uh\ When 1 was a boy. and forced to leave home on account of my stei>-niother, VA) Dossctt's father took me into his arms, and into his home, and took the jdace of my (►wn father and ga\'e me a home. I speak of this incident in my book which 1 wrole eiil illed : "Fi-om Infidelity 1o Christianity." \\'c had lo say good-bye — (1<) not know that T will ever meet them again on this side of eleijiily. IJrcdhcr Dciiieiies' danghler was with him. 8he was a liiMc uirl when they lived neighbors to me at Marion, J\entucky. As she told me good-bye. she gave me a piece of money to help me on my journey. 50 now I GOT FAITH I went ill a car from I'oiiiona to Wliitlicr, Cali- fornia — a distance of about twenty-six miles. It was announced that I would be there, and when we arrived at the large meeting house it was filled with people. They were singing — had had prayer — and when singing was over I stepped into the pulpit and preached on divine healing, and what it took to get healing. At the close of the sermon I presented the altar, and a woman was led to the altar, who fell down on her knees, and a few more came for prayer. I spoke to this woman, and she told me that she was blind, and that she expected to see when I j>iayed for her ; and while I prayed for her she screamed out just at the time I said, "Amen," and sprang to her feet, saying, "I see, I see. Good people, I see." This made quite a stir for some time. I began to make my way to the door, as it was an- nounced that I would preach at Long Beach, Cali- fornia, and the time to start Avas up. They kept coming for prayer, and finally when I was pushing my way through the crowd to the door, a young lady came running and fell down on her knees, and said that she wanted salvation. We prayed for her ; she got up and said that she was saved. Again I started, and as I got to the car, Sister Warner, Brother Warner's wife, who is well known, was there to get into the car to go to the same place for lunch to which I was going before starting on my journey. She Avas blind, and had been for some time : she said they insisted on her being prayed for ; but that she did not have the faith, and could not grasp it. I told her it would be impossible for me to heal her, that God Avould have to do the Avork and he could not unless she had faith in him. She said she understood that, and that it would be use- less to pray when she could not exercise faith. She also said that there had been a time Avhen she felt like if she had some one to agree with her in prayer that she could have had faith for her healing, but HOW I GOT FAITH 51 it was not now. I agreed to lenieniber her in prayer tliat (}orea(he(l on the sid)ject of healing and what it took to get healed, presented the altar and a number came for prater. I exhorted them all to begin to call on God for what they wanted, and to expect God to heal tluMu, and not to expect anything else but that God would heal them. I saw a man at the altar and noticed that he was taking part in the singing, and I said to him, ''Brother, get hold of God in i)rayer.*' and I came very near i-ebuking him, because I thought he did not realize what he was there for. 1 prayed for sev- eral others and came to him. I said to him, "Do you believe that God will heal you?*' He said, ''I know it, or I would not have come here for healing. I have been looking forward to this time, and I ex- pect to be healed.-' 1 did not know what his afflic- tion was, but it seemed that God inspired faith in my heart foi- him, and 1 said, "All right, if you know it, that is suflicient, let us pray." I prayed with him, and he sprang to his feet, and began to rejoice, leaped, and said he was healed. I noticed that he atti-actc*! <|uite a good deal of attention, yet, I did not know who he was or what his aCllictiou was. 1 ])rayed for something like one hundred oth- ers. Finally I was called to a man in a wheel chaii". I questioned him very closely. Xo one else said anything, and they were ac(piainted with him, and he would say, "Yes, yes,'' to everything. I asked 52 now I (H)T FAITH him if he used remedies. He said, "Xo." Brotliers and sisters were standing around there wlio knew him, but they said nothing. 1 said, ''Wlien I say 'Amen/ will you jump out of this chair?"' He said, '^I will try." I said, "I did not say, 'will you try,' but, 'will you do it?' '' He said, "Yes." I did not feel right about praying for him. It seemed tluit there was something in the way, but I could not find what it Avas, and if I did not pray for him I would be accused of showing partiality. I prayed; he made an effort to jump out of his chair, but could not get up without help. I told him thei-e Avas some- thing wrong. >:Some one spoke to him about his us- ing Dr. Yoakum's Electric Battery that Yoakum sold him, and other things, and about being treated by an osteopath doctor. This showed very plain to me why he could not have faith, and why I could not have faith to pray for him. Strange, but true, people will lie to God as An- anias and Sapphira did, and by so doing reproach the cause of God and bring damnation on their own souls. This man brought nothing but condem- nation to his soul, helped the gain sayers to doubt God, and talk about how God Avould not heal. About this time a sister called the attention of the congregation and said that this brother — the one who was singing at the altar — wanted to testi- fy. He testified to having tuberculosis of the bone. That his lower limbs had been helpless, and that he Avas unable to get to his feet Avithout help, and could not bear his Aveight on his limbs. " He leaped and stamped his feet on the floor and said that he Avas healed. I do not knoAA' his name, but Brother George Bolds, Long Beach, California, knows him and can testify if you doubt it. I left Long Beach the next morning and started for Pheonix, Arizona ; reached there the following morning, and my wife and son, Anderson, met me at the depot — she had been A'isitiug him since Hanu- now I GOT 1 AITH 53 ary. He was i)ast()riii.u the chuicli at that place. We Avent to their looms, and lie liad bieaktast pre- pared for us at a boaidinu house. After coiiiiui: back to my Avife's room — she and I Avere talking — and AnchMson caHed me to his loom and said that there Avas a eouph' Avho Avanted me to marry tliem that nijiht, I said. '"Who are tliey?" He handed me a marriage license. I looked over it and saw that it Avas himself and Miss Ruth Keeraii. I preached to a large congregation ihat night in the tent. He invited them all to the hall, and I married them. The next morning, Avife and I came home to Kos- well, XeAV Mexico, Avhere I stayed one night, and the next morning I Aveiit on to Clovis Avhere my com- pany Avas. When I arrived there I found li rot her Tnruh from Pomona, California : Avhom I had pray- ed for his healing of tiiherculosis. He said thai after I left, he was afraid he would become discouraged, for there Avas lu) encourage- ment for him there, and he decided that if he ever got AA'ell, (Jod Avould have the Avork to do, and that he could never do it without faitli, and he need- ed some one who had faith to help him, so he came to stay Avith me iiniil he got Avell. When I got al- ready to leave there T told him to go to KoSAvell, XeAV Mexico, that I had a house theic on the lot of the property I had rented, and he could bring his Avife and child and stay there, and that I Avould do all for him that Leonid. He sent for liis Avife and child. the^,v came, and he began to amend for awhile. Then he became conline him of every disease and defect, and that when God got through with him he would begin to amend. He took hold of God by faith, and the disease all left him, and he was soon up and going about his business and began to preach, and sing in the meetings — something he had not been able to do for a long time ; for when he would sing or talk nuich he would have hemorrhag- es of his lungs, and he could not lift much without bringing on the hemorrhages. He helped in the spiritual work, and began to work about the house. I noticed he took an interest in what he did, and did it well, and was very handy with tools. After camp- meeting was over, and I was preparing to take an overland trip with my Company, I turned over the spiritual work and all the financial business and books to him. He had others to help him, but he was to super- intend the whole Work in my place during my ab- sence. He got along Avell mth the business and with the spiritual Avork. When I returned home I Avas very much broken down in body, so I let him keep the position, and he holds it yet, and has charge of the books, attending to all the business. He does all the repairing about the place, besides the plumbing and carpentering work. He is as busy a man as there is in Roswell, having good health, getting stout and looking well. Since returning home from Pomona, California, I have received letters from Brother Erickson ; he became discouraged and did not get along so well. I am going to say it — I am sure the de\i\ will not like it — and some people will object to it : but if Brother Erickson had taken the step that Brother Unruh took, I believe he would have been well, and Avalking long ago. Some experiences that I have had prove to me that it is great help to those trusting God under severe afflictions to have some one who will help us and preach faith to us, and HOW 1 COT FA I Til 55 assure us that it will Ix' to (lod's uloi-v lo lical us: and ready to aij;ree with us in prayer at any lime, and stand ajiieed and lioldinu a ie])uk(' in their souls against the devil and his impositions, instead of tellinii us that the main thinii is to be ready to die and consecrate to God's will and leave it all to the Lord; that if it is his will to take us we nuist be willin.i>- to die or just as willinju' to live, and that all do not jj^et healed. Then call tlieir attention to the man Paul left sick, 2 Timothy, 4:20, "lOrastus abode at Corintii; but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.'' And tell them that is necessary that they should not be too radical, and say that Taul pre- scribed wine for Timothy, and to drink no longer water and that it would not hurt us to use a few remedies, somethinii; like wine, or a few wet rags, and hot poultices and such like. These tliin.u's ai-e all unnecessary and do not tend to increase faith in God, but cause us to lose faith in God. ^Ve have faith in the remedies doin<>- us jiood or Ave would not use them, and to the extent we ])ut our faith in remedies we lose faith in God. If you j)ut on a cold rag or a hot rag you expect it to do you good, or you would not do it ; if you ])ut on a ])oultice you expect it to do good, or if you doju' and grease, you expect it to be a l)eneHt oi- you would not do it. This is double mindedness, and a double minded man cannot receive anything, is unstable in all his ways; and Jesus said if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed Ave can ask what Ave Avill and it shall be done — nuistard seed does not have reference to the size, as some believe: but it means the (puility. Mustard seed Avill not mix with other seed. Yon ])lant mus- tard anain strenjith and soon eoidd sinj»' bass and pi'each tlie word as freely as ever, be^an to do li^ht work, and about Septend)er 1st, 191.'i, took u}) spir- itual dutii^s and res[)onsibilities. We live at the Missionary Home and are able to do lots of work. Have been sick in some other ways since coniinji liei-e, but (Jod lias heah'd me. I am convinced in the depth of my heart that (Jod is the same today and that when every difliculty is re- moved siiius and Avonders will follow the preaching of the wt)rd, the same as in liible times. My heal- inii i-edounds to many thanksgivings to God, for He has save1 God, and it doth not vet ai>i»('ai- what ^\(' sliall Itc; but we kiioAV that, when lie sliall ai)pear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is." Ii is a hard matter for some people to eoiieeive in their mind how we can be like Jesus Christ, he being the son of (jod, and God himself. We want to notice the fact that he was a man as well as God, he was a man filled with God. flesh and bone as we ai-e: he walked, talked, ate, drank, slept and could feel as we do, had tests and temptations and trials, but the God i)()wer in him enabled him to overcome it. In this sense we shall be like him, when he comes we shall see him as he is. That is, as he was a man tilled with God so we must be men and women tilled with (tO(1: the thin<»s of the woi-ld put from us, wickedness ])ut behind, our affections on thin.us above, not on this I'arth. The God power in us can prove to the world, as it did throuuh Jesus Christ, that we are not of the world, and as Jesus says in his j»ra\('r in the ITth Chapter of John, "That he had chosen them out of the world." (Jod wants us to prove to the people that we are chosen out of the woi'ld. and as preachers that we cannot i>reach as the world. Xow, people have looked at this liuhtly, and mil- lions of ])eoi)le have read it and know no more about it when they got through with it than before they read it : do not know the meaning, or understand it, but have looked upon it as thongli Jesus was talk- ing to some one who was divine, and beyond what we could ever be. But readers, will yon draw a pic- ture of Christ in your mind now as an example, as one who said, 'Jjct him that will follow me deny him- self, take lip his cioss and come after me." Deny yourself of all things that wonld hinder yon from filling yoni- place in the body of ('liiist. and lelliiig the God ])ower that is in yon \\ork llirongli yon as it wonld in (Mirisl. Study now the lliird \eise of this chapter. "And 02 HOW I GOT FAITH evoi'Y iiuni that hath this hope in him puiifieth him- self, even as he is pure." "O," but one says, 'Sve can- not be like him, we cannot be pure as he is pure." If this is a fact, God nnist have been mistaken when talking throujih this inspired man, when he told us that we nnist be like him when he comes. AVe shall be like him. We note in the 17th chapter of John and the 9th verse, Jesus says while praying, ''I pray for them : I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." Also the 10th verse, ''And all mine are thine, and thine are mine ; and I am glorified in them." And in th» 13th verse he says, "And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves ;" and also the 14th verse, "I have given them thy word : and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the w^orld, even as I am not of the world." We note here that Jesus held those disciples up before his Father knowing that God could look down into their hearts as he made the statement, assuring the Father that they were not of the world, that the world hated them because they were not of the world eveai as he was not of the world, putting them on an equality with himself. In the 15th verse, ''I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." The l(>th verse, "They are not of the Avorld, even as I am not of the world." In the 17th verse, "Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth." Now, we will notice, reader, it means something to be ready for sanctification. It does not mean that you are going to places where you ought not to go, or doing things that you ought not to do. and leaving the things that you ought to do undone ; it does not mean that you are contMiually discouraged and living an up and down life, and then coming to God to get sanctified, but it means that your life is to be so pure, so holy, so perfect, so Christ like that HOW I GOT FAITH {hi you can easily be detected from the worldly people. Your dress is different, your aetions and your con- versation ai-e different. You are not trying to adorn the body with rutties, plumes, feathers, neck-ties and jewelry to attract the attention of the world, but that you are beholdinu the manner of love that (lod has bestowed upon us. and 'following the exanijde that he set for us, and have put off the old iJiiiius and have put on the new and fashioninii your life as Chiist, insomuch that it attracts the attention of the people and shows them that you are not like the woi'ld, then you ai'c i-eady foi- sanctification. And Jesus wanted you sanctilied for a purpose, as you will note in the 18th verse, "As thou hast sent me into the Avorld, even so have I also sent them into the woild." (}()d sent Jesus Christ into the world for an example, foi- an instrument, in his hands for his j)ower to work throujih, a man tilled with (Jod and the (Jod ])OWei- throuiih him made liie blind to see, the lame to walk, the dumb to sjx'ak. llie iepei-s to be healed and the dead to come to life. He was one man. haws the foot- steps of (Mnist. and the same j)o\vci- will Ite mani- fested thrcniiih the church as it was ihron.uh .lesns Chiist. ])erforminii' the same miracles, making ilic blind to see, the lame to walk, the dund) t«> speak, the lepeis healed, and the dead laiscd to life. And in the IDth verse he says. "And for their s;ikes I sanctifv rnvsell', tlnil tliev also mi'iht Ix' s.iikI ilicd ()4 1H»\V J GFT FAITH tlnoiiuli the truth." We note here that he set an cxaniple, and sanctified himself that we might fol- low in his steps. We do not consider it necessary for .Jesus Christ, the son of (jod and God himself to be sanctified for his own benefit, neither does he say here it is necessary, but for their sakes, whose sakes? Those who believe, for we see in the 20tli verse, "Xeither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." We have heard this read from the j^ulpit when a child, but never got the meaning. In fact those who read it did not understand it, and did not know what it meant, but looked upon this as being for the apostles, and when they died the power died and it was preached that way, and being preached that way it hung a veil between us and the God sent privileges which God granted unto us through Jesus Christ, and our attention has been called from this back to the Apostolic days when God loved his peo- ple and heard and answered prayer. We are again cited to the great, grand, glorious things that we will hav(^ if we succeed in getting inside of the Pearly Gates to be with Jesus and the angels, but we are taught that in this life we are not allowed this privilege ; and can only look back to the time when God did those things for his people and the sick, and look forward to the time that by chance we shall ivach heaven and live in fear that we will not make it, as we ai'e taught that Ave nuist sin more or less in this life and cannot be saved from sin : and God tells you in his word that no sin shall enter heaven. I am glad that God ever let me live until I found out that this was the doctrines and teachings of men, and was not the doctrine of Christ. We will notice the 20tli verse, which we scarcely ever heard read, and is as follows : "Xeither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall be- lieve on me through th(4r word." Not only for those living when he was praying, but for all those who now I COT rAiTii G5 will hclicvc on .Jesus (Mii-ist llirouiili the Xcw Tcsta- iiicMit. For Avliat did lie do this? In ilic 2 1st vcfSf, "That they all may be one: as thou, Farher, ai't in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."" My dear reader, this is why -Icsus Cjirist sanctilied himsell', and prayed lor liis followers to be sancti- lied, that the work of the devil and the carnal mind mijiht be destroyed, that which makes envy, divi- sion and strife, that the jK'ople of (lod miiiht be one as the Father and Son and Holy (Jliost are one. Can you see that there was any division with them? Would you think for a moment that they had any disturbances, any prating against each other, or clamoring to see which should be counted the high- est? You cannot do it no more than they. The oidy hope that God has for lost souls is the saved people that com])ose the Church of God, the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, that is one in spirit, one in mind, heart and doctrine. That He can prove through them to the world that there is a reality in salva- tion, and that the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, his life, his death on the cross and his burial and rsurrction was not a failure, but that it would accomplish a salvation that would deliver men and women frotn sin, and make them to love one another as Christ loved tis. ( ) that God cotdd bind this u])on the hearts of his ministry, that they could set the e.\am])le before the church, that they have that love and confidence, the oneness in spirit, oneness in ])rea( liing. to be such that the congregation Avould be encouraged to measure up to it. ^Vllen you see this you will see the ]>ower of God manifested as it was in the apostolic days, and it was manifested tlieii (he same as when Jesus was on earth. IMlate was once heard to (|Uestion, "What is truth?"" desus answers the (lUestion in (he 17th chai)ter of John ami in the ITth verse, "Thy word is truth.*" I*eo])le are crying all over llie world today. ()(> now I GOT FAITH what is truth, which is the ii,i>lit way? Tlicy lio on tlic street and see tlie pi-eachers pass, one witli a cijiai*, anotliei- one chewing and spittlnti,' tobacco. Once we could tell them from other people by them weaiiuii' lonu' tailed coats, but now the time has come that the showman, the uambler, and the white slave trader wears a long tailed coat. They smoke cigars and chew tobacco, wear gold rings and stick pins and ties just the same as the sect pi-eachers. You cannot tell them apart by their ac- tions on the street or their conversation. You stand in the doorAvay of the shoAv ; you see the preacher, the professor, the gambler, the harlot and all classes go into the shoAv. You cannot tell the one from the otlier by their dress, or their actions. Men and women with hungr}' souls looking for Jesus, asking what is the right way, and what is truth, are made to sit and wonder and look with amazement and gaze into eternity without any hope, no example. They have been taught that the Bible is not true, that part of it has passed away, that it is impossible to live like Jesus said in this life. They become discouraged. The bright young lady who has been schooled and trained by parents hoping to make something out of h©r, becomes discouraged. Conviction rests on her heart until she can see no way out, and decides to seek the pleasures of this Avor-ld to drive it away. She goes to the show, following the preach- er and the professors. She next goes to the ball room seeking satisfaction, next to the card party, next to the beer giass^ next to ruin, she next goes to hell. The young man travels in like channels. In this T\'ay the world is growing worse. God's great heart is grieved, and he is calling men and women to forsake all, to deny themselves of the pleasures of this world, to be like Jesus, to preach the gospel that he preached to warn souls to flee from the wrath to come, to raise up a people that now I COT I A IT 11 (m worldliiicss has no at I laclion for, thai will (h'liy thcnist'lvt'S of all the siipci-fiuiry and nauuhtincss and iiivc thcii- heart and life and time to (Jod. hcinu a pccidiai- people that will be noticed on the sticet because of theii- peculiar dress — no plumes, no feathers, no stick luns. no neck ties, and no unneces- sary thiniis about their di-ess — plain, neat and clean. All look alike and are beautilied with the salvation of God. This makes people beuin to ask (|Ueslions. Who is that man dressed so plain, yet so neat, sticli a l)eautiful countenance? He is a .saint pi-eacher. AN'ho are those people we see here? They are people -vvho live hero, they once fre(piented places of anuise- nient, thev have now (piit. They have been attend- ing this man's nieetinle have taken U]) with him, they are the most peculiar people you ever saw, as you see them now, they always are, they all dress plain and neat. They spend their money to .uet the .i>()sj)el toothers. They take uj* no hat collections, they have a treasure box and the means that they receive is not spent for supertlui- ties, and naiiiiktiness and tobacco and ties, and those who desire can dro]) their money into the treasure box, and it is used in i)ayinii the expenses of the meetin<>', and to help spread the iiospel. The minister ])uts in his full time in the "iospel : they search the town for ]K)or jx'ople, uather up little, dirty, rauucd children, clean them u|). clothe them, ami take them to Sunday school: and the parents seeinj»' the jjreat chanjie in the children are often ])ersMnuled to uo to meetinu' and hear the ;Li()spel. and feel that there is a reality in the |>r(>l'ession they make, ami the (Jod they serve: and they find that they use no remedies, take no medicine and have no doctor, they take eveiy thinii to God in pray- er. This is wliat desus meant in the 17th Chapter of doliii and the iMst verse. "That they all may be one: as thou. I'allier. art in me, and 1 in thee, thai ()8 iiuw I Gm]>let- ed — that would enable us, you and me, to be like him, and not of the world, even as lie was not of the M(>Tbl. TO HOW I GOT KAITH CHAPTER X. JESUS CHRIST AN EXAMPLE FOU PREACHEUS "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and foreyer." Heb. 13 :8. We want to look. at Christ a little while as a preacher. We find in the beginning when God made man he made him pure, perfect and holy. He made him in his own likeness and image. As we see in Gnesis 1 :27, '"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and fe- male created he them." We And, from stud;\ing the creation of man, that God made man out of the dirt, formed him to suit himself, breathed into his nos- trils, and he became a liying soul. This soul came from God. It is coexistant with God and ynll liye as long as God liyes. The soul is like God, for it is from him. This man was pure as God is pure : so we see that God created eyery beast of the field, the fowls of the air and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whateyer Adam called. eyery liying creature that was the name thereof. In the 20th yerse of the second chapter of Gene- sis, "And Adam gaye names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to eyery beast of the field : but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." And in the 21st yerse, "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; nad he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof :" In the 22nd yerse, "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a wom- an and brought her unto the man." 23rd yerse, "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." We see from this that God performed this miracle without any IIUW I COT 1 AITII 71 lu'lp, opciiiiiu tli('*si(l(' of this man, takiiiii out a rib and iiiakiiiii woman. lie made lici- as pui-c as the man, as holy and as clean as Himself. Man, ^Voman, Father, Son and Holy (Jhost, all were one in the jiai-(h'n of Kdeii. (Jod |)iit them niulei- a law and the penalty for bieakinti that law was death, and he told them that they had a ii«>ht to all the fniit and things of the jiarden with the exception of the fiuit of one tice which they nnist not eat. They iindei-stood him, tiiey knew what he said. This tnith no doubt laiiii in theii* eais and burned in their hearts, as it was spoken from (Jod's lips, but finally, we see that the devil in the form of a serpent ci-ept into the garden of Kdcn ami spoke to the woman — lie did not tell her there was no (Jod, that no part of his word was true, btit he told her, as we see in the 5th verse of the 3rd Chapter, "For (Jod doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, ami ye shall be as .uods, knowing jiood and evil," This seemin«>ly attracted the attention of the woman and she lost sii>ht of (jrod, and His word, in so nnuh that the devil put a desire in her heart to do what (Jod had said not do. She yielded and partook of the fruit. (Jod had said in the day that ye eat thereof ye shall surely die, and, now for this cause, (Jod put from him the only man and woman that he had to love and to love him. He had created them to love him and for him to love; but by disobeyinji one word that he had said, and doinji' one thinti that he told them not to do, he pnt tliem away fiom him. Here was division between mankiiul and (Jod. Here was a chasm made that could not be brid«i(Ml without the shed- dinu; of blood. (jJod was a holy (Jod : he had made a holy law, and he made no repeal froi-i this law, and being" (jJod there was no way whereby man could come back to God. But finally (Jod in his lii-eat love and com])assion, lookinu down on mankind and see- inii that all mankind had (H)me under the power of 72 HOW I GOT FAITH the devil, could look down throiiffli the an- nals of time to the present Avith his all seeinj>' eye and see what man was coming to. AVe behold him giving up his only Son to coiik^ down to this world that he might complete the plan of salvation by dy- ing on the cross for fallen humanity, and raise it from the curse of sin and back in touch with God to where they could enjoy the blessings which God had provided for them, and again walk and talk with God. They were .to be redeemed, not partly redeemed, but redeemed. Now, as w^e look at the devil, we see he had poAv- er to impose a curse on all humanity. We see that he took a clean holy man, and woman, from under the hand of God, and defiled them, and imposed up- on them every curse that Avas in his power. He has made liars, drunkards, robbers, murderers, tobacco cheAA'ers, and CAxry CA^il thing out of humanity that he Avants to. NoAV, God sent Jesus Christ into the Avorld to deliver mankind. He made a way whereby we might be delivered, Luke 1, beginning at the G8th verse, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; for he hath visited and redeemed his people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his seVvant DaAid ; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, AA'hich have been since the world began : That w^e should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us : To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remem- ber his holy covenant ;" and in the 73rd verse, "The oath AAiiich he sware to our father Abraham." Also the 74:th and 75th verses, "That he Avould grant un- to us, that Ave being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." NoAv we see that this deliverance was to come through Jesus Christ. In Matthew 1:21 we hear now I GOT FAITH iM the aiiiicl aniiouiiciiiu to Joscpli. "And she shall briiiii forth a son, and thou shalt call his naiiiL' Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins,'' So we see that he came to save us from oui- sins, not ill them. We find tliat he did come, in Luke, the 2nd chapter and 7th verse, "And she broujiht foilli her hrstboru sou, and wrapped him in swaddlinji clothes, and laid liim in a manger; because theie Avas no room for tliem in tlie inn.'' There arc many people who are looking for Jesus to come — they say that he has not yet come, but is coming to set uj) a literal kingdom ; but we find tliat he did come, "lie came to his own and his own reci'ived him not,'' '"But to as many as received him to them lie gave power to become the sons of God." He came in the flesh. AVe might take his life from the manger to tlie cross, but we Avilnt to com- mence where he began to set us an example, and look at liini as an exam])le for the preaclier. AVe liave in tlie former chapter given him as an example for the christian and the church. ]S\)w we want to look at him as a preaclier. We see the text, in tlie 13tli chapter of HebieAvs and 8tli verse, *'Jesiis Christ tlie same yesterday, and to-day and forever." So as Christ came in the flesh to the peo])le at the time here spoken of, he comes now in liis word and his Sj)irit, and he is the same today: has the same power to give to men and Avomeii to become the sons of Cod as he had when he walked on earth. AVe find that John the Baptist was the forerun- ner of Jesus Christ and preached i-epentance to the people, and baptized them unto repentance and faith in the Christ that should come, and we fiml that he told them so, in ]\latthcw 3:11. "I. indeed, baptize you with Avater unto repentance: but he Ihat Cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not Avorthy to bear: he shall baptize y(»n with the Holy Ghost, and Avitli lire." Xow we see Ik- had reference to Christ, and he told tlieni ihat he would 74 IKnV I GOT FAITH (Iccicasc but (Mirist Avould increase. Let us look at Mattliew 3 :13-17 : "Thfu conieth Jesus fioiii (iali- lee to Jordan unto John, to be baptizcMl of him. But John forbad him, sajVinji, I liave need to be baptized of thee, and comest tliou to me? And Jesus answering- said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Theu he suffered him. And Jesus, when he Avas baptized, Avent up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him : And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in Avhom I am Avell pleased." XoAV we see this is where Jesus began setting the example for us.. We never see Avhere he was bap- tized but the one time. In men's theories and opin- ions a great deal of division arises. Awhile back, I Avas preaching and some holiness preachers were sitting in fi'ont of me, and I said who is it that does not believe that eTohn was bai)tizing by immersion. One preacher raised his hand, and said he did not believe it. This is the first man that I ever met in all my ministry that said he did not believe John Avas baptizing by immersion. It looks reasonable to me that he was baptizing by immersion. We see that some translators call him John the immerser, and others John the dipper, and the King James version, John the Baptist. However, he baptized Jesus only once, and he came up out of the Avater, and he Avould have had to be in the water to come out of it, and Ave find that baptism represents a burial. We see by reading the Gth chapter of Rom- ans, beginning at the 1st verse and reading to the third verse, "What shall we say then, shall we con- tinue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall AA'e, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" This means a spiritual baptism as many of HOW 1 GOT lAlTIl 7.") US that liavt* been born of the spirit of (Jod liavc been iinimMscd into Jesus Christ by the birth of tlic spirit and dcjid to sin, as (Mirist died on the cross. We have eon»e by way of the eioss, repented of all our sins, they have been forgiven, we believed and a(eei)ted Christ, have Ihhmi boin of the spirit, ba|)tized in the s])iritual body of Christ, hence we iire dead to sin as Cliiist was natiii-ally deay baj*- tisni into death: tlnit like as Cliiist was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Fatliei-, even so we also should walk in newness of life." As Christ was laid in the tomb, so are we to be buried with him in the watery grave, typical of his burial in the tomb, Cliiist in onr hearts, and we in the water. liy this act we show forth to the world that as Christ was raised from the tomb we come forth from the watery grave, made alive to Cod to walk in newness of life with Christ, jiroving to the world that we are dead to sin. In the oth verse we see that as we have been buried in the likeness of his death we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection : ''For if we have been planted together in tlie like- ness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Planting certainly means to bury, to cover up. liirth means to come forth to life. So baptism typities the death and resurrection of the son of Cod. I see no reason why ]»eople should split and cavil ovei- bai)tism, seeing that Christ was baptized only once, and when we are baptized we say to the world we are dead to sin, then ]n-ove it to them by living without sin, taking Christ as our example, denying ourselves of the things of this world and walking in his ste])s. We .see that Christ set the e\aiii]»le of b;iptism: he now Itegiiis to give us an example by setting up a school for preachers, as we see in Matt. 4 :1. "'Then was Jesus led up ol' the spirit inl(» I he wilderness to 7() now I GOT FAITH be tempted of the devil ;" 2iid verse, '^Aiid when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he Avas after- wards an hungered." In this we see that Jesus shoAvs forth liis man weakness as well as his God power. He is here showing us Avhat God can enable us to do, and hoAv that Ave should tarry before God until Ave come in possession of the Holy Ghost, Avliicli is the Avriter of the Avord of God, that Avill enable us to preach just like the HoIa* Ghost has Avritten it. Xow we see here that after Jesus had fasted forty days and nights the tenq^ter came to him and said, Matt. 4 :3, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." This tempter Avas the same old devil that crept into the garden of Eden and attracted the attention of our foreparents and made them believe that God had made a mistake. This same devil was as aa ell aware that Jesus Christ had come to make a way to take sin cursed and fallen man from under his hand as he Avas av^are of the fact that God's Avord Avas true, and that the first man and Avoman that God made wei'e holy. He aiso kncAV that if he could get Jesus to perform one miracle for Mm that that would again block God's j)lan and stop the plan of salva- tion. Jesus had God power enough to knoAv this, and he gave him answer in the 4th verse, ''But he an- swered and said, It is written, Man shall not Ha'c by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Jesus knew that there would be some preachers that would follow his example, and here he gives them a club to fight the theolo- gian, and AA^hen they come and tell us tliat different parts of the scripture has passed aAAay, we can refer them to the language of Christ in the 4th chapter of Matthew and the 4th verse. The deA'il was defeated in this, but he was not satisfied, we see in the 5th verse, "Then the dcAdl taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple." now I GOT FAlTil 77 TIr* ()lii verse, "And saitli unto liiui, it lliuu be llie Son of God, cast tliAself down : for it is written, He shall iiive his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall ])ear thee np, lest ar any time thou dasli thy foot against a stone." Here the flevil Avas trying to get him to perform another miracle for him, and even quoted scripture, which he will do yet, but Jesus gives him the answer in the 7th verse, '"Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy (Jod." Jesus knew that we who follow him would be asked to speak water into wine, to raise the dead that had been dead for forty years, and to ])Ut on limbs that had been cut off and buried and decayed, and put in eyes that had been bursted out. I have been asked to do all these things, and a great many more: but I refer them to the 7th verse of the 4th chapter of Matthew, in Jesus language, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Also let us notice the 8th and 9th verses, ''Again, the devil takest him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shcAveth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the gloi-y of them ; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall doAvn and worship me." Xow then my brother minister if you can just lose sight of Jesus Christ as a (Jod and can see him standing there as a hungry man who had not eaten for forty days and nights, and who was suffering all the tortures that hunger can make a man suffer, and was there setting an exani]»h' for you and me and every minister of the gosi)el to not seil out to the devil. And in the 10th verse, "Then saith Jesus unto him. Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt Avorship the Lord thy (Jod, and him only shalt thou serve." Also the 11th vei-se, "•Tiien the de\'il leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and min- istered unto him." This is an exami>le thai .lesus has given ns as ministers, that Ave might deny ourselves of the 78 HOW I GOT FAITH thiiijis of this world, and tany bofoic CJod to know his will concoininii us, j-et the Holy (Jhost that will enable us to picach the word of God as Jesus preached it. In other words this is a school that Jesus has set up here for his preachers; to go to school to the Holy Ghost, to j»et that wisdom fioni above that Avill enable them to give their lives before they would compi-omise with the devil. Now^, we see here that Jesus would not attempt to speak the stones into bread, although he was hungry, neither would he jump off of the pinnacle to show that he could do it without hurting him- self. If he had done this for the devil he would have ruined the plan of salvation. Then in the wind-up we see that he did not bow down to the devil, though he offered him the Avhole world. Sad to say that today there are preachers that have bowed down to the devil and let down the standard for a little filthy lucre, and for the praise of man. There are, now, scores of young men and women who are taken in and educated to preach certain doctrines for a denomination. Whatever you are stamped for is wiiat you have to preach. If you are educated by the Presbyterian denomination for a preacher, you must preach Presbyterian doctrine: if you are educated by the Baptist denomination for a preacher, yuo must preach Baptist doctrine : if you are educated by the Methodist denomination for a preacher, you have to preach the Methodist doc- trine. You go out under their commands and in- structions ; belong to them and are sent of them. Xow this reminds me of an incident that oc- curred w hen I was a little boy, that I will give as an illustration to make more plain to you what this means, I Avas raised in the back woods of South- ern Illinois, and as I have before stated, my mother died before I could remember, and my father's sis- ter took mother's place to raise me. People Avere very poor then and did not have things as plentiful HOW I (ioT I Arni 79 as they <1() now: iicillici- (li thin<;;s that were not intended foi- tlieiii lo have. Hvei-y tliin<> was run on the economy phin. My aunt would raise cotton, card and spin it, and make clothinu for us children to wear through the summer. My lath- er raised sheep and they would wash, shear and spiu the wool and make our wintei- clothes, ^\'hen ihei-e was a piece of cloth taken out there was always some ends of thread that were called thumbs. It was the thread that went around the beams of the loom: they could not be woven in, as there was nothiuii else to hold it. This was cut oti" the cloth and used as thread to patch and do other sewinu. There was au old mau called, "Cheap -lohn" who came throuuh the country about once a year, and ho, sold iireat biii s[»ools of black tlax th)-ead. ( )ne spool would last a year. It was only used for spe( ial occasions, and was put away, and kept in a secret ])lace whei-e the children were supposed not to i»et it and waste it. This was the thtnu, I wanted. One day I stole the spool of thread, ;;ot a horse tly, lied the thread on to its leg and let it fly; and I would unwind the thread and it would fly hi.uhei- and liiuhei- into the air until I had all tlie rhi-ead un- wound, and then I had to stop it. The fly would flutter and j^o in all directions trying to go higher, but when I would decide to wind him in and save the thi-ead. and would begin to wind he would flut- ter and kick and try to get loose, l»ut he would have to come, for I had the thread on his leg. This may seem like foolishiu'ss to you, but this repr<'senls the preacluM- that is sent out to preach doctrines of men. His soul m:iy be honest, he tarries Itefoi-e (Jod, he is not satisfieibh' doctrine, but it wouhl not do to preacli it to the i)eopie that they sliould have it.'' Brother Moon told him that he had to preach it. The Elder said, "You cannot ])reach it. if you do I will turn you out of the church and take your credentials." lliotlier Moon said to him, "You cannot i-daineen the way for him to uo. and one morninii' a neiuhl»or knocked at liis (lo(U-. came in and told him that there was to lie a meeting at An- derson. Indiana. The brother tobl him that he had been wishinii that he micht g;o. lie also said. "If you will iio, I will i)ay your expenses Hwre and back.'' Tie went, was there for seveial davs, and OZ now I GOT FAITH one (lay lie and aiiotlicr hrotlici- were ])usily cii- gajucd in conversation and did not attend the fiist part of the preachinji services, but finally they went to the auditorium and just as they stepped into the* door he heard me announce that I was runninji a school at Koswell, Xew Mexico, and Avas standinj; in need of teachers, and if any one felt that Ood had his hand on them for this work to talk Avitli me or write to me. He said that he had been wishin<» that the Lord would open the way where he could teach in this kind of a school, as he had been ])rinci- pal in public schools and understood this kind of work. He said when he heard me make the an- nouncement, the Lord said to him, ''That is for- you." He came to me and had a talk with me, and Ave agreed that Ave Avould hold it before the Lord, Avhich we did, with the result that he is here, noAv has charge of the school and has tAvo teachers un- der him and more than fifty pupils, and (rod is blessing in the AVork. KoAV had he boAved doAvn to the devil and stuck to the doctrines of men and giAen up the Lord he could never have accomplished his purpose, neither could God have used him .for what he is noAv using him, to train children up for heaven. If Jesus had bowed down to the dcAil and wor- shiped him, this plan of salvation could never have been completed. I haAe seen many times in my ministry when this thought has been brought to my mind, Avhen it seemed that starvation was at the door, and the devil Avould tell me if I Avould weaken a little, and let up on my ideas of God's healing all manner of diseases and people living a pure life and making wrongs right that the people would support me but when I failed to listen to the devil and held a rebuke in my soul against him and held on to God, the Lord Avould provide a Avay and furnish our liv- ing. This is Avhat God w^ants his preachers to do. Failing to do this, locks the AA'heels of Zion and hin- HOW I GOT FAITH 83 (lers till' work of (Jod and prcvcul.s (Jod from iiiaui- fostiii*; his power thioujih the ministiy and the rhiirch today as he did in the Ai)ostolic days. My lirotlicr. my cxjxMiencc is. if we preach the trutli without compromise (Jod will ])r()vide loi- us. We may i>et a little hunuiy. our clothes may jiet a little thread bai-e, oui- furniture iiin down, our rents may become due, some ])ersecution aiise auainst us, but (lod will opi'U the way ami take care of us and his cause. If every preacher that has taken u]) the j»ospel to preach it had tairied befoi-e (Jod as the example liiven by -lesus Christ himself in the Fouith chapter of Matthew, and would have all {)reached the same thinjj, God would have had a miuhtier church and peojde throuuh whom he could have manifested his power as it was in the Apostolic days. I am goinji" to say somethinu else stronger than the above. Brethern, 1 know it will hurt, but (lod Almighty help you to be hundde enough to accept it and i»rofil by it. If the preachers wh(> claim to be of this reformation would take this example, tarry before (iod until they get the mind of (Jod, preach the full gosjud. deny themselves of the things if this life as .Jesus did, give the devil to undeistand rhat they would m)t bow down to him, that they would give their lives befoi-e they would do it, there M'ould be more of that love one foi* another that Jesus ])raye(l foi', and the {ticacliers in the apostolic days had. Tliei-e woubl be the same ]K)wer mani- fested that was manifested in the ai)ostolic church that Ave have on record in the r)th chapter of Acts when (lod had cleaned his chuich by the death of Ananias and Sa])phira. I i)ray (Jod to speed the time that we get a shaking and the nnnisters and the church cleaned up for (Jod nniil they will be on lire for (Jod, with the old time powci- and ilie signs following them who claim to believe. We see after . lesus set this e\aTii|)l(' lie ilien goes 84 now 1 GOT FAITH to pivac-liiiij> the go.spcl. His iirst text is Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Ke^K'nt : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We see that he preached repentance. He did not go into a place and accept everybody avIio professed to be saved, and preaching littk^ chalk water sermons that would tickle the ear and ease the conscience, rather than that act of grace that moves the hearts of men and women to repentance and enables them t^ bring their mind in from the world and review their past life and behold the goodness of God and liis love to them, and consider their past life and their unthankfulness and unholi- ness before God, and preaching to the men and women until they felt ashamed and sorry for the past and putting them into a position where they would rather have God than anything else. Then they are willing to turn everything loose for God. To one in this position it is no trouble for them to throw off neckties, gold collar buttons and gold cuff buttons, stick pins, plumes and feathers and super- fluities of all kinds, and make wrong s right, straighten up their back life until it "vvill read like the word of God, and from the depths of their hearts say, ''Anything Lord." This is the Bible plan of salvation, which is deliverance from sin, anchors the soul in God, brings satisfaction and enables us to be living examples and makes a craving in the heart and a hungering and thirsting for more of God; it soon brings them to the place where they make a deeper consecration, where they can present their bodies a living sacrifice to God which is their reasonable service, giving their time, talents, life, means and all over into the hands of God, then just being as clay in the potter's hands and realizing that what they have belongs to God, faith takes liold of God's promises and the blood of Jesus Clirist cleans- es from all sin and the Holy Ghost fills the soul until they have the power of God that enables them now I GOT lAITH 85 to be used as iiisti-uincnts in the hands of (lod lo prove to the world that they are not of the Avorl«l. A body of ]>reaehers of this kind can tire a coin- iininity, tliey ean stir a town or a eity. Tliey can make the devil tremble on his throne in hell. They can make Avicked sjnrits and deceivers Mee under their rebuke wliich thev <>ive in the name of Jesus Christ. Wq Avill now consider the kind of ])reacheis that Jesus called and sent. Matt. 10:1, "And wlww lie had called unto him his twelve disciples, lie liave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all man- ner of disease." Xow my brother I want to (all your attention auain to the text in the loth cliai)ter of Hebrews, and Stli verse, "Jesus Christ the same yesteiday, today and forever." We see in the lOth chapter of Acts, Peter telling Cornelius and others who were uathered toiiether that Ood had no res- pect of persons and that tlie Holy (Jhost was for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews. Let me reason with you. If Jesus Christ gave preachers this pow- er when on earth does he not do it yet, if he is the same Christ, if he has no respect of ])eisons, if he de- sires this truth to go to the people as he has i)reach- ed it, and if those that he has called and sent preach it, does he not desire that you and I have the san»e power and authority to ])reach the word that they did? If so will he not give it to us? The troul)le with many ministers today is they have been look- ing at it as being for the Apostles. They havi» lost sight of the fact that Jesus Christ is the same yes- terday, today and forevei-. They have taken man's wisdom in the place of what (lod says, and have not tarried on theii- faces befoi-e him to know his will. But they study commentaries and many books wiii- ten by men. study to know the opinions of men. in- jure their eyes and health di;L:i:iiig down after this kind of wisdom, until it lias Immoiih- tlic ilicoiv of 8() now I GOT FAITH 111011 instead of the power of (Jrod with the sect preachers in the modern pulpits of today. But my brotlier it is God's truth that he desires us to preach and God Avaiits the people to know it, and he does not want the rubbish of man to come up between the people and God's word. We iind that he told them Avhat to preach in the seventh verse of the tenth chapter of Matthew and continue reading to the seventeenth verse : "And as ye go preach, saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses. Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves : for the workman is worthy of his meat. And into what- soever city or town ye shall enter, in<|uire who in it is worthy ; and there abide till ye go thence. And Avhen ye come into an house salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come up on it, but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you. And Avhosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house ^r city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sod- om and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, that, for that city. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of w^olves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Now brethern, this means going as God's ministers were sent in the apostolic days, and he means it yet. They proved faithful, then he told them as recorded in Luke 22 :35-36, "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrij), and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said. Nothing. Then said he unto them. But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip." If we do not preach his word, do not believe it, and do not trust him he cannot send us forth, and God cannot use us as he used HOW I COT FAITH 87 tliciii. ^\'(• sec rlijit lie toJd tliciii llint tlicy should b(* scourjicd in the syiuiiiouiics. and Inoiiulil Ix'torc the ruk'is and Ixdorc couils for his sak«', l»nt to tako no thouiiht what thoy should say for it should bo <>iv('n thcni, for it was not thcni that spcakcth. but the spirit of your Father which s])('ak(*th in you. So they had the spiiit of (lod in llu-ni. 1 liavc ol'ttinics ^onc to coininunitics to preach, and have been accused and contU'nined because I did not run fi-om house to house, but wtuild stay at one place whei-e I went in the ]>e.uinninji. jn-ovided il proved to be a ])lace ])re])ared by tlie Loid for nie. It is the secret of success in the ndnistiy. Tf you visit at the ditTerent places and put in yiMii- lime g-ossij)inii and talking aljout thiniis and liai)i»eniiius of the e laised and (Jod will be jilorifled and the country will be stirred, the devil will howl, and mobs will come and (Jod will stay the hand of the enemy, and send out his ministeis as flaminji tii-e that will leave a repoit whei-evei- they lio that they are preachinn the word of (!o that when the iK'0])le that jio throuiih tlieic will know foi- years that something has hai»pene(l. Some say do you know that it was oidy the twelve apostles that wei-e j»iven that authority? No I did not know it, T have heaid it said, biu I find in 88 HOW I GOT FAITH tlie lOtli chapter of Luke where he called and sent seventy more, sendini>- them ont two and tAvo, e sure the kingdom of (iod is come nigh unto you." The thought came to me that I had not done what 1 did, under the dictation of the Holy Spirit. The Loid showed me to return to that town, I went back the next day to fill the ai)pointment as 1 had promised. There was (|uite a ciowd came out, the word of ( Jod went foil h in powei-, ( Jod wit nessed to his tinth, the jx'ople got under convi.v Ihis time he stinketh. But Jesus insisted upon tliem show- ing him where Lazai'us was laid, and they took liini to tlu' tond). He we])t witli tlu)se wlio wei)t, he showed his sympatliy, lie showed his lov<'. yet he did not compromise. They had ]u<)\('d to iiim thai they did not ha\'e faith in him. now he wanle^i ihem to ])rove to him tliat they did have faith, then lie said, take away the stone. He coidd have taken away the stone himself, but he wanted them to move it. My brother if you want to piay to (iod and act returns from him, you nnist take away the stone. There are many A^■ho would like to ]u-ea(h like the Apostle Taul, would like to l>eai' the name he bore, and would like to pi'ay the prayer of fail li I liai would heal the sick like he did, but they do iiol want to take away the stone, they do not want to live like he did. They do not like to bear llie persecu- tion that Paul bore, they would fail lo preach I lie whole ti-iilh and to staniven unto them the words which thou j»avest me: and they have received them, and have known suiely that I y his sti-ijies are we healed." (fO now I GOT FAITH prolcsscd s;iiii(s. My friend this makes no differ- ence. It w;is llici-e that Jesus atoned by the shed- rtinj>' of liis blood and made a way whereby all sick and suffering liumanity might come to the great healing fountain that flows from the heart of God tliat lieals all maniiei- of diseases. It is for the man or woman that loves, serves and obeys God in spite of all the opposing powers in hell. Now we see him bear his cross up Calvary, now he is nailed to the rugged cross and hangs between heaven and earth. Let us review his life a little : He came to the world, was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn, he was wrapped in swad- dling clothes. He said the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. When he dies he is drawn up between heaven and earth, no place for him to die on the earth. They mocking him platted a crown of thorns and placed it on his head and a reed in his right hand, and bowed the knee before him and mocked him, said Hail, King of the Jews. They spit upon him, and took the reed and smote him on the head, and they drove the spikes through the feet that carried the glad tidings over the hills of Judea. We hear him crying out with that voice that commanded the winds to cease and the Avaves to be still, '"I thirst." We see them giving him vinegar and gall, he refuses to take it. We hear him crying out, "My God, my God, Avhy hast thou forsaken me?'' Xow the Son of God cries with a loud voice it is finished, then this old Avorld was clothed in darkness, the veil of the temple was rent in tAvain from the top to the bot- tom : and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the gi-aves were opened : and many bodies of the saints came cmt of the graves. When the centurion, and those Avith him Avatching Jesus, saw the earth- (juake, and the things that Avere done, they feared liuw I c;()T I A ITU 97 and said, truly lliis was the Son ol ( lod. It was too late, lie was dead. My brother preacher, when you close your eyes ill death it will be too late then to ]»rea(li the irulli as God lias called you to preach it. It will be too late to say that (iod must have wanted iiie to be true to him, and not conform to the world, but to preach the whole liospel, it will be too late then, now is the time to do it. We see that Christ was taken trom the cross by Joseph and lairomis(Ml men and women who renunn in Christ, power over sin and the devil and to have faith in God to know that whatsoever they ask him he will grant them. Xot to come saying, if it is tin- will and if this or that or the other thing be thy will, but eome with boldness knowing that we have done our part, that we have fulfilled the commission that he has given us, that we are entitled to what he has ]»roniised us: that he c()nsiirit of (xod it is granted. Xow to consecrate for this, means more than to get down to the altar and peep through your fin- gers and watch, to see the j)reacher that you have confidence in to come to instruct you. It means to kee]> the commamlments of God to the letter, to all the ability that you have. To lay on your face be- fore (Jod and ask to know his will, to commit your whole soul, spirit mind and body into God's hands, for your will to be his will. That you can say from Ihe depths of your heart as Jesus Christ said in the 100 ilOW 1 GOT F.MTII iijirdcn of (Hctliscnitmc wlicic he prayed thin; times to the Fatlici- until he sweat as j^reat drops of blood and he knew that the mob was coming after him tjiat they were jioinj* to take him to the Judj^nient Hall, strip his raiment from his body, cut his back into juashes that the blood Avas to flow (h)wn his limbs that the prophesy of Isaiah mii;ht be ful- filled, where he says, "By his stripes we are healed." From that he was to go to the cross and there to iiive up his life for the salvation of the Avorld that all mankind might be redeemed from sin, sickness and disease. He said not my will, but thine be done. Reader when yon knoAv that there are great persecutions just in front of you God will never fail to give you the assistance that you need, he will give you the assurance in your heart and by his word that he will permit nothing to come on you more than you are able to bear, and that he will strengthen you by his spirit, and not let more come than is for his glory, the salvation of souls and convince the world that you are not of the world. XoAV, we see that he had made these promises on the condition that they would keep his commands, he said that he Avould send this Comforter, which Avas the Holy Ghost and that he should teach them all things which he had commanded. Xow, this means that he Avill teach you to live like he lived, to be like he was ; that he will kill all the pride in your heart, that there will be nothing there that Avill be reaching out for the things of this world, there will be no desire to adorn the body with the things of this world, such as plumes, feathers, rag flowers, neck ties, gold, stick pins, rings, ear rings, nose rings, hobble skirts, and such things as are con- dennied by the Avord of God and disgusting in the sight of moral people. Your heart has no desire for these things AAiien it is filled Asith God. We see that this is the kind of people that Jesus IKJW 1 GOT lAITll 101 Avas prnyiiim for in tlic ITtli (Miai)t('r of St. .loliii, bccaufsi' 111' told lliciii in tlie Fiftwiitli Chapter of 8t. John and the third verse, "Now ye are (lean throu' to them and says tlial iliey have kept his commandments, that they are clean through the Avord. To be clean through the word means to obey the Avord, that your lieart is emptied from all desire foi- such things as we have just named. In the 17th (Miaptei- of St. John he piays the prayer that he had projuised them in the 14th Chap- ter, and Avhile we referred to this in the preceeding chapter T think it Avotild be well to refer to it again in this chapter, as the text says he sent them foi-th as the Father sent him. "'As thou hast sent me into the woi'ld, even so have I also sent them into the Avoi-ld." So we see noAV that he says to the Father in his ]>rayei', beginning at the ninth vei-se, "T i)ray for them; 1 pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me ; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am gloritied in them." Hence, if he is not glorified in them then it is impossible for the infilling of the Holy Ghost to come destroying the carnal nature. Notice the 11th verse, "And now I aju no more in the world, but these are in the woild. and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through lliine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." He did not say they were to be kept in ^Ir. Luther's name, though he was a good man, nor in Mr. Wesley's name, though we lu'lieve he was a good man, ami he did not pray that they be kept in Mr. Fox's name or Mr. Calvin's name or Mr. Cam])beirs name, though they were all good men, and many others that we could name walking 102 now I GOT FAITH '" > ill all Mic liijlij Hint flicy luul, l)ut thoir time is past, but (}od's woi'd has not clunii'cd. For tliis reason he said to you through the Apos- tle John, 1 John 1 :7, "But if Ave walk in the light, as ]m is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us fi-oni all sin." It is impossible for peo- ple who have light on God's word that those early reformers did not have and fail to walk in that light to hold to the light, they had and get the cleansing- blood of Jesus and hold favor with God. He says to keep in thine own name. In the 12th verse of the 17th Chapter of St. John we read, "AVhile I was with them in the world, I kept them ill thy name : those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition ; that the scripture might be fulfilled." Xow it seems to me that Jesus called the Father's attention to the fact that Judas was lost because of not keep- ing the commandments, not being kept in his name, or in other words because he refused to be kept, and betrayed the Son of God. We do not have to kill today to betray the Son of God, but we are to be a light to the world. Jesus says in one place, "Ye are the light of the world." Now, we are to be lights, and prove by our life that the Bible is true and that Christ's prayer has been answered, and not do as Judas did, put him to an open shame. If we con- form to the world, look and act as the world, we say to the world there is nothing in the prayer of Christ in the 17th Chapter of St. John. In the 13th verse, "And now come I to thee ; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." He shows here that his prayer was not fulfilled in them, that it took the Comforter, wliich he had promised, and was now praying for, to fulfill his joy in them and put them in possession of power that would cause them to love to keep his HOW I GOT FAITH 1 (Ki name and hold his iiaiiic al)ov(' any otlici- iiaiiic on earth. Some say, well it does not matter anytliiiijn about the name. You ean be a Christian and be a Metlio- dist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Campbelite or bear any other denominational name, the name does not mat- ter. Reader, are you a married man or woman? ]f so, when you stepped on the tloor and took your bride by the hand and she was asked the question, would she forsake all for you, and she wouhl say that she was Avilling to many you, but she wanted to bear that other fellow's name that she had been going with, and that she would love you, but she Avould obey his orders. "Would the Avedding have gone any further? AVould yon not have stopped it? Are you a member of the bride of Christ today, if so are you ashamed of your name? Do you think that after him pi-aying this prayer to the Father to send this Comfortei', the Holy (Jihost, to enable us to be kept in the Father's name, and that now you are not Avilling to be called his child but you bear a sectar- ian name, yet you still want to be one of his bride. He is coming after his bride, it Avill liave to bear his name when he comes. Well, in this you say there is no body in sectar- ianism that is saved. No, I did not say that. I have just said furtluM- back in this chaptei-, that Luther, Wesley and those reformers weic good men. T l)elieve that they were saved and Avalking in all the light that they had, but had they had the light that you can have there would have been the church of God instead of the Lutheran, Methodist, l-.aptist, Campbelite, but they did not have the light that you now have. In ordei- to hold fellowship with Cod and his people you have to walk in the light of the gospel. In St. dohn 17:14, "I have given them thy word; and the woild hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." 104 UOW I GOT FAITH \ Is lluH Hie way tluif it is with lis today? Are you so tilled witli (Jod, Iceepinii his eoiuiuaiids so strict, bear liis name, discard all othei- iiaiues and hold to the Bible name, the church of the living God, the one that Jesus founded upon the rock, and said the gates of hell should not prevail against it. Are you doing this so much that it brings persecution against you aud causes the world and the worldly church members to make fuii and talk about you and call you a fanatic? If you are not you had bet- ter go to the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus did and lay on your face before God until you can get your worldly desires killed in your heart, until you can say like Jesus, not my mil, but thine be done. In the 15tli verse, "I pray not that thou sliould- est take them out of the world, but that thou should- est keep them from the evil.'' "From the evil." That would be to keep them from going any where that Jesus would not go Av^th them. Would he go to a fair, though it be a World's Fair, a picnic, bar- becue, a show, mix and conform with the world, box suppers, play j^arties, and such things as the world enjoys. You know he would not do it. Those for whom he was praying had so much God in them that they Avould not do it, for, he prays the Father to keep them from evil. He says they are not of the world as I am not of the world. He does not want them taken out of the world, he wants them to live in the world, as he will show later to be a Light in the world. Some people say we cannot be sanctified until death, and at the dying moment a person can be sanctified. I heard of an incident, I do not know how true it is, I only give it as a report. There was a Presb3i:erian that was d}4ng, they are taught that a person cannot be sanctified until they come to die, and they sent for the minister to come as he had to be sanctified before he died. The preacher and some others were gathered around the dying man's bed- now 1 GOT FAITH 105 yidc pi-ayiiiu for (lod to sanctify liiiii. tlic individual became vciy iiiucli iiitcicsicd alioul himself and they all became much interested and prayed earn- estly for (iod to sanctify him, they were Avalkine sanctified, he did not die, they did not know what to do, they could not kill liim without committinu' murder, they had prayed for him to be sanctitied and he had received wliat they had prayed for, CJod had answered prayer, and sanctification was con- trary to their church doctrine, they could not tell him to <>ive it uj), and they could not let him stay in the church without bicakinin the rule, so there they were in a mix-up and confusion, they did not know what to do. Xow Jesus i)rays the Father not to take them out of the world but to keep them from evil. This does not mean they nuist be sanctified to keep them from the evil, for these were not yet sanctified. It means to keep them from the evil in order to be sanctified. Jesus in the KJth verse says, '"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.'' And in the 17th verse, ''Sanctify them throuuh thy truth : thy word is truth." That is the only kind of peoi)le that can get sanctified, those that are not of the world even as Christ was not of the world. Then in the 18th verse, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." As (Jod sent Jesus Christ into flu- world to perfoi-m miracles so he sends his nnnisters and church Idled with the Holy Ghost to perform the nuracles and to preach the gospel in the world and to do all things he did in his ndnistry. In the l!)th verse, "And for theii- sakes I sancti- fy myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." My reader you know that Jesus Christ is the same, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and km; how I GOT FAITH today and foiever," that when he was here on earth lie opened the blind eyes, unstopped the deaf ears, made the dumb speak, the lame to walk and raised the dead. He was flesh and blood, had one body and one head, was filled with God. So the Church of (Jod that he was praying for here was to be one body, the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, composed of every saved man and women on earth, whether in sectis m or out of it, but he is calling his sheep into the one fold, that there may be one fold and one shepherd. This is why he says in Revelation, 18tli Chap- ter, ''Come out of her my people, saith the Lord God." That is why he said in 2 Cor. 6 :14, "'Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers : for what felloAvship hath righteousness with unright- eousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" There are no unbelievers in the Church of God. Hence if you are a child of God, a member of the one body and yoked up in sectism and secret orders and such things with unbelievers, you are out of your place, and Christ is calling you out. I have heard people say that they were never called out. I just say God is only calling his people, and if you are not one of his people he is not calling you out. It has been told me from my boyhood that the prayer that Jesus prayed and x)ower that he gave his ministers was only for the Apostolic church, and that the Apostolic days were past and the Apostles had died and the power had died with them, and it was not for us, and in this the plan of salvation had changed and God did not do for us as he did for them, and it was not possible for us to be sanctified in this day and time, and live like they lived. Let us note the 20th verse, which is as follows : St. John, 17 :20, "Xeither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through HOW I (lOT lAITll 107 tlicii- word.** ^Vllal js tlicir woi-d, it is the New Tcs- tanu'iit as they spoke it iiiidcr tlu* inspiration of the Holy (iliost and penned it down and God has pi-e- sorved it and lianded it down to U8 as a way-liill from eartli to heaven, which has been travehMl Ijy Christ, and liis followers, and yet can be followed by lis if we will take the way-bill, the New Testa- ment, instead of the doctrines of men. I now have a niunber of way-bills to different places over New Mexico. They are marked out on pai)er showing that at such a place is a wind-mill, which means a great deal in crossins; the ])lains of New Mexico wliere water is very scarce. Auain it might say at such a place is an empty house : at such a place you go through a gate. By coming to these places when on this route I know I am right. I have, before now, when crossing the plains, met with some that directed me another way, different from my way-bill, I did not pay any attention to what they said, I followed the way-bill, it had brought me right thus far, and I felt sure that it would be right the balance of the way, for it had been given by some one who had been over the road. I have a way-bill in my possession for an auto- mobile I'oute that runs from New York Tity to San Fi-ancisco, Califoi-nia. I have traveled over i)art of that route. I met a man who seemed to be smarter that the man who surveyed out this road, and he told me another way. But before I got through talking with him he told me of the many miles of heavy sand tliat he pulled ihrough, where, if he had taken the way this way-bill gives he would have missed the sand, so T kept the way-bill given me ])y the man who had been over the road. The word of God is the way-bill from eai'th to heaven. Now, my brother, sister, if you have start- ed and you find some one leaning up against their opinions on the way and tell you that it is true that God's wtud says so and so, l»ut explains that now lO.S now 1 GOT FAITH tli(M-(' is a (liffci'dif route, and you take their route, instead of (Jod's word, you Avill j^ct side tracked, and it will bo with you as it was with me and my company one time when ti-avelinji' over the plains of Xew Mexico. We lliouiLilit tliat we had found a nearer route, and we started on that route, as it Avent more in the direction, by our compass, that we wanted to travel, than the other road, which we had traveled before and kiu'w was the right road. By the compass we soon discovered that we Avere bearing too far to the left. We kept going on hoping to see where the road'Avould turn to our right. Miles and miles we Avent, our teams, as Avell as ourselves, began to suf- fer for Avater. We got out our field-glass and began to look for a Avind-mill, we looked and in the dis- tance Ave could see one. We turned and Avent in the direction of the Avind-mill. After traA'eling until the middle of the day and reaching it Ave found it to be out of commission, no good. This is to my mind like it is a\ ith a great many people AA^ho are traA^eling after the doctrine of men, they will hear of some experience just ahead and will go to hear and find that when they reach it, it is no satisfaction to the soul, and still they go from place to place, the soul Avants satisfaction, it is hungering and thirsting for God, not man made doctrine. They are like the AA'ind-mill which Ave found to be out of commission, before they get to it, or hear it explained, it seems that it Avill satisfy thirst, but it does not satisfy the soul thirsting for God. We took out our field glasses and looked again. We spied another aa ind-mill Avhich was in the direc- tion that we Avanted to travel to get back to our road. The road did not run to this wind-mill, but regardless of the road we traveled across the plains, and reached the wind-mill, and the water was very gJTPy? so full of alkali that we could scarcely drink it, but we were suffering for water, as well as our now I GOT FAITH 109 teams. We drank it, but it did not satisfy tliii'st, as pure water would. It was just sonu'thiii and drank a little truth, but it had such a bad tasie with it that it tailed to salisfy. ^Ve diank the water with great fear that it would kill our horses, and possibly us. Just so it is with a true child of Ood in a sect- arian meetinii, they may <>et a little truth, and their soul be I'efreshed a little ]>ut the fear on them that they will liet killed spiritually before they get out of it, destroys the pleasure. We took another view Avith the field glasses and found another wind-mill a long way off in the direc- tion that Ave thought the road was that we had left, judging by our compass. I got on a horse and rode to that wind-mill. M'hen I got there it Avas on the road that Ave had ti-aveled before, a ]mre stream of Avater running out the size of my Avrisl. The Avind was making the mill to Avhirl at a great speed. My horse kncAv the place as Avell as I did, he pulled {(gainst the bits to get to the Avater, and drank as fast as he could, Avhile I Avas getting off. 1 got my mouth under the stream of Avater as quickly as pos- sible. The Avater fioAved out of the pipe into the tank, and myself, as Avell as my horse, drank and drank until Ave Avere satisfied. This Avater Avas good, this AA'as pure Avater; this reminded me of one Avho had strayed aAvay from God's truth and had become alaiiued about his condition and had been search- ing through (lod's Avord for the liglit Avay, as we had been searching with the tield glasses and the use of the compass to find the old road, and when they got back, how reficshing the walci- of saha- tion, and the fioAving Avith (Jod's jM'ojde. XoAV 1 did not just Avait there and enjoy the Avater and be satisfied because T i-eceived Avhat T Avanted, but it seemed that I could iioi gel back (juickly enough to my company to tell them I he ueAVS. When 1 anived, we went to the mill and put 110 now I (JOT 1 AlTll ii|) our tents and caniix'd, and all had tlic jiiivilc^c of enjoying the water, and our horses also could be furnished with water. Brotln r, sister, if you have been wanderini^ around and have come back to God's fold, set your tent, camp there, and stay. Xow, possibly we have gotten a little off the subject, but my soul is stirred for those who are retrograding- from the truth and leaving and going into formality and worldliness, that I can hardly refrain from saying something in each chapter to try to persuade them to come back to God. For instance, I know ministers who have both hoa)'d and taught the truth for years — even taught me when I first met the people of this reformation ; and who once preached against worldly conformity, dressed neatly and plainly, stood on God's prom- ises, and trusted him for everything; but are now turning back to worldly conformity, and claiming they have been, hitherto, under a fanatical strain. In other words, they now step forth wearing neck- ties, and preaching ''liberty of conscience," claim- ing, that in the past, fanatical strain had swerved them from the truth, and that they had taught wrong — and, all this now, before those to whom they once preached, and influenced to strip off all superfluity. It grieves my soul, brother, I warn you in the name of Jesus you are headed for the dump ground. Next thing Mill be Life Insurance Policies, next will be Baseball, then remedies because you cannot get God to answer prayer, then how can we be told from Sect Holiness. God pity the man or woman that will lose sight of the old paths, fail to take Jesus Christ as the example, and failing to be like him, knowing they have to be when he comes. The devil may tell you, you cannot follow his example, that he Avas God, and it is impossible for human beings to follow his example of living in this life HOW I GOT FAITH 111 without coinmittiiig sin. It is true, lie Avas God as well as man. The success of the Apostolic church lay in this, that they followed the example that Jesus set, but they had to be tilled with (Jod to do it. But he said to them in John 17 :20, ••Xeithcr pray I for these alone, but for them also wliicli shall believe on me through their Avord.*" Also see verse 21, "That they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one iu. us: that the Avorld may believe that thou hast sent me.*' Also the 22nd verse, "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one." I want to say right here that after all the teaching which we have had on God's word in all its purity, and after seeing so many gathered out of sectism into one body, and the plain Uible teaching we have had against worldly confoi-mity and remedies, and the many ^-ases of healing we have witnessed, should there be l)rought into a congregation a pei-son lame, or one deaf or dumb or having any affliction to be prayed for their healing, then let some bi-other who has lived true to (}()d still holding the truth in all its purity, and without compromise as he has done for the last twenty or thirty years, and another minister come to agree in prayer with him who has known the truth anrayer of faith but the humble man, or one who has laid on his face before (Jod, and one who is not of tlie world even as Jesus Avas not of the woild. will ]»e the preacher in demand. It may be, like Mary Magdalene, that when the message is delivered it will not be believed as it was Avhen she told the a]K)stles that he had aiiseii. \lo. may send the second message, and they will not take that, but my friend it will be when -lesns comes wlien this old world is reeling and roeking as a drnnlc man and going np in llanies and the saints are boumling np in the air to meet him, that you will see those who have walked in the light of the gospel, that have kej)! their hearts oyrw and tilled with (Jod, those for whom the woi-ld lias no aiiiac- tion, aiul ai'e not c(mfoi'med to the world, going gladl V to meet him in I he air. 114 now I (;()T FAITH When Jesus apjK'aicd to his disciples and up- braided them for their uubelief, Tlionias had made the statement that he would not believe unless he should see the nail holes in his hands and thrust his hand in his side. Then after eiiiht days a«\'W Tcstainciit. If you liiil 1o do that because of youi- suiM-ouudiiiiis and of lliosc who liavc means aiul aie supporting you, yet do not believe it all, you are going to meet with some accident or misfortune where yon will want God and cannot find him. 1 might give you one little incident in my life that would make it ])lain(M- to you. After I had fasted and prayed for seven days and nights to know wheie (Jod would have me to go, and he showed me and I started, but without money and withotU friends after 1 had met with many acci- dents and misfortunes, reached a town three hun- dred twenty-five miles from home. I was turned down by the holiness ])eople because of preaching the whole word of (Jod and they did not believe in the one church. After being cast out and shut out, I took my valises and started, got about one (piarter of a mile from town, and it seemed that all the pow- ers of hell came against me, and the devil ma«le me to think that possibly I was mistaken. I fell on my knees on the pike and called on the (}oray (Jod that they may lay on tlieir face until the Lion of Judah will roar in i heir souls, until the uosjx'l truth will pour out of tlieir months, tmtil iiM'n and wom- en on earth will be stirred ami the de\il in hell he bothered on his throne because of the maidfestation of (lod's ])ower conlirnnnu the word Ity the siiiiis followiiiii. Let us preach the plain IJible way, live by every Avord of (Jod and let us have the power of Ood that the apostles had, it is for tis. Oo back with nie aiiain to the l(5th chajdei- of Mark, "(Jo ye into all the world ami preach t!ie iios- pel to every creature, he that believeih ami is bap- tized sluill be saved; but he that believeth iu)t shall be damned." And in the 17th verse, "And these siiius shall follow them that lu'lieve; In my name shall they cast out devils: they shall speak with new tonuiu's." It did not say with other touiiiies, but A\ith new ones. Thaid-: (Jod I have been speak- inii with a new tonune for seveicl years. This toniiue that used to curse, Ijlack-utiard and tell li<'s ami ch*- ceive and defiand has Iteen speakiuii new thin«>s, praises unto our (Jod. This is the new tongue tliat every child of (Jod is eiditled to and r(M-eives. There are other ton.mies si)oken of in the IJible, ami they are for them thai Itelieve. Also, "They shall take np ser|)enls: and if they drink any deadly thiim. ii shall not hurl them: they shall lay hands on the the sick, and they shall recover." This is for them that beliexc. It does not say il is for llie ])reachers. they already believe. It is for I hem I hat believe. It does not say that we must lake np serpents, thai we uuist driidc any deadly tliinu, bnl it said thai if we do it, in oilier woids .il' il is slipped on ns, like it A\as on me, he Avili heal ns and ii \\<»nld nol linri ns. 1 sulfered snflicieiil 1\ to show lo those ai'onnd me 118 ilOW I GOT FAITH that it liiul taken effect, but God healed me and showed tliat the word of God was true, I did not drink i)oison to prove to the j)eople that the Avord of (iod was tiiie, and that I was his child. I would not take up a serpent to prove this, but i^" by way of ac- cident I would take up a serpent 1 would trust God just as God's word says, and he will let the heavens fall before he will fail to answer. Oh, but you say, you might die. I will be trusting God, and I will go to heaven where serpents do not bite and there is no death. He was Avith them forty days and nights, talked and Avalked Avith them, opened up their understand- ing that they might understand the gospel, told them to tarry at Jerusalem until they Avere endued Avith poAver from on high, after he ascended to heaA'- en. They Avent to Jerusalem and tarried nine days and nights and three hours, they Avere all of one ac- cord. They did not become restless and dissatis- fied. They did not begin to complain and say it is all Peter's fault, and because he denied Christ is the reason we do not get it, or it is Mary Magda- lene's fault, who was possessed with dcAils, is the reason that we do not get it. But they lost sight of their surroundings, they were looking for That com- forter Avhich he promised and prayed for. If they had failed to keep Jesus' commands or had looked to their surroundings they would not have received the comforter, but they tarried until they kneAV that all was out of the way, and there was nothing be- tween them and God, and they laid hold of the promises as the voice of one man, "And suddenly there came a sound from heaAen as of a rushing mighty Avind, and it filled all tlie house where they Avere sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled Avith the Holy Ghost, and began to speak Avith other tongues, as the Spirit aave them utterance. And there Avere dAvelling at HOW I COT FAITH 111) Jerusaleiii Jews, dcvonl iiicii, oul of cvciy iiarioii under lioavcii."* Acts 2 :2-5. Xow lii-.st Ave want to notice that they were all filled with the Holy (Jliost. In order to be tilled they liad to he eni])ties'ow they s])oke with other tongues. Why was this? Because there was every national- ity under heaven there ami they heard the jiospel in their own tonuue, it was in their own lanes that they tin- derstood it and received the .uosj)el. It brouiiht con- viction to their heaits and they cried out, "Men and brethern what shall we do?" It was then that I'eter told them to repent and be baptized for the remis- sion of sins, and ye shall i-eceivc the Holy (Jhost. It is not only for you and your children, but it is for them who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shal' call. It was at this time that there were three thousand souls saved and baptized. Also see St. John 17:20, "Xeither ])ray 1 for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me throu on superlluities ami allow others of liis children to do the same thinii, but they were all with one a< cord. ILM) now I GOT FAITH CHAPTER XII. THE LIFE AND MIXI.STRi' OF THE APOSTLES AND THEIR EXPEUIEXCES^ AXD THE POWER OF THE CHURCH. We see tkat after the three thousand were con- verted on the day of Pentecost the one hundred twenty were sanctified. For instance we look at Acts 2 :41, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized : and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.'' And the 42nd verso, "And they continued steadfast in the fipostlos' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.'' Xow we see the Apostles' doctrine was the Xew Testament, and they did not follow the doctrine of nieiL Further we find in the 44:th verse, "And all that believed were together, and had all things com- mon." They were gathered together and they had all things common ; there was not a little bunch over here in one corner with ties on clammering for the world, and another little bunch over there without ties on and feeling cast down, afraid they would be renounced if they made objection against worldli- ness that was creeping in to sap their soids and break confidence in felloAvship, but tliat all believed and they were all gathered together and had all things common. And the 45th verse, "And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." They were not grasp- ing for the things of this world laying up treasures on earth and would not help a brother unless he could give him a mortgage and make him safe, but that they gave to him that needed. In other Avords they realized that Avhat they had belonged to God and they were stewards over it, and they divided as the Lord directed and led by the spiiit of God. God's HOW I GOT FAITH 121 child will do that toda3^ Read the 46th verse, "And they, continuing- daily Tvith one accord in the tem- ple, and breakinu bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." The 4Tth verse, ''Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Why did they have favor with the people? Because of the purity of the gospel which they preached. This raised up a people where they went and that gave them favor. This is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, that chui-ch spoken of in St. John 17 :1n'o more than they knew what to say when Jesus preached, no more than they did when this Ajjostolic church first devel- oped and God began to. manifest his poAver through the apostles. But as it was in those days, it was in our nunistry, the time came that they began to see that the x)ower of God w^as manifested in heal- ing the sick, but the meeting w^as killing the sects. The false friends told that Ave Avere imposing upon the people, and in fact w^as giving out false reports, and they saw if the meeting and interest continued it Avould break up sectism and make the people be- lieA^e in one Christ and one church, and many salar- ied preachers Avould be throAvn out of commission if it continued as it was going. They also saw by us preaching divine healing that even the doctors would be out of employment and the money that they had spent to learn Iioav to practice deception upon the people Avould be as if burned, and they would be turned out to get another job. Like it was in the days of Christ and the Apostolic church, the lioAAi began to raise against us, false reports began to b(^ published, spread by the sect preachers, law- yers and doctors, from factories and even lodges, and were raised to the point to where they cA^en turned the ones who were healed under our minis- try against us, and even refused us a drink of Avater, and would close their doors against us when they would see us coming. They had been told that we Avere as poison to them, Avere deceivers, had hypnot- ic poAver, that Ave Avould make them unconscious and when under our control they had to do Avhat we said for them to do. So it Avas AA'hen Peter and John Avent up to the temple to pray. We see Acts 3, and beginning at HOW I GOT FAITH 123 the first verse, ''Now Peter and John went up to- gether into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid chilly at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him Avith John, said. Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said. Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Xazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up ; and imniediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leajnng up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.'' And in the loth verse, "'And they knew that it Avas he which sat for alms at the Pcautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that Avhich had happened unto him." In the 11 th verse we sec the jieople iMuming to see the man Avho Avas healed, "And as the la me man Avhich Avas healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly Avondering."' NoAV, there is no doubt but Avhat this is as I have seen it in my minisliy. that the i)eo})le not knowing that God did this healing Avas ready to give the praise to Peter and .John, and thought that they were great men, and they wcic icady to worship them. 1 remend)er at one time Avhen a Methodist preacher and I Avent to a ])lace for breakfast, it be- ing something near tAvo or three o'clock bc'fore the meeting closed at the meeting house, and there Avas a ladv that had been an invalid tor seven A'ears. 124 HOW I GOT FAITH She was tlie daughtei' of a man and Avoiiian who lived there. I had talked to her and shown her that it was God's will to heal her, and she accejited Jesus Christ as her healer, and was prayed for, and she, like the lame man, leaped and shouted for joy, ran out of the liouse and her mother began shouting and came to me and threw her arms around me and caHed me second Paul. I pushed her back and said, ^'Tliis is Willis M. Brown, that w^as God that did the healing." So I have thought when instances like this would occur in my ministry that it was like it was "v\dth Peter and John, and the people looked on them the same. Now to make it more plain to you these people that morning thought I was the most won- derful man on earth. They had never heard me preach much, the people belonged to the Baptist sect. When they heard me explain the gospel in its fulness, the plan of salvation, the duty of man to God, and what it takes to serve God and be entitled to his blessings, and that the people were not en- joying all that God had in store for them, but w^ere living beneath their privileges, they turned against me, 1 was not welcome at their houses and tJiey were ready, if they had it in their power to put me in jail, as they were to put Peter and John in jail. We see in the 12th verse, '*And when Peter saw it, lie answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, iviiy mar\'el ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?'- Also the 13th, 11th, 15th and IGtli verses, ''The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus ; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. And killed the Prince of life, w^liom God hath raised from the dead : whereof we now I GOT FAITJl 125 are witiicssos. And his naiiic throu.uh failli in his name hath made this man stroiiii, wlioin ye see and know : yea, the faith Avhieh is by liim liatli j»iven hiui this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. This stirred them as it did in the day of Christ wlicn lie set forth the trutli, perfoiined mira( les, healed the sick and claimed that it was God that did the Avork and not man, and insisted on them losing" siiiht of his man power, and lookinm' to his (Jod i)o\v- er. They took Christ and crucified liim lu'canse the gospel he preached, and the miracles he performed were convincing' the people that there was some- thing better for them than they had. It Avas the same in the days Avhen .John and Peter AA'ere at the gate of the temple Avhen the poAver of Ood Avas mani- fested through them to make this lame man walk Avho had never Avalked, they AA'ere glad to see the Avork done, they Avere ready to Avorshi]) Peter and John, and Avhen they testified it Avas the power that Avas in Christ that it Avas the same AVork that he had done, and that they did it in his name, then they Avei-e ready to i)ut Peter and dolm in ])ris()n. We see in Acts 4:1-4, "And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of tlie temi)le, and the Hadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the ])eople, and ])reached throngh Jesus the resni-rection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it Avas noAV eventide. IIoAvbeit many of tliem Avliich heard the Avord believed: and the number of the men Avas al)onl live thousand." We see here that the people putting John and IVter into ])rison did not stop the AVork of the Holy Spirit. The ]>(>wer of (Jod had been manifested there in the healing of this lame man, and the ]»eople saw the humbleness and honesty of John and I'eler, and befoi-e they Avould deny the AVork of Christ and lake the honor ni)on themselves they Avould go behind the ])i-is()n bars and bear the reproach of being gixcn 126 HOW I GOT FAITH the iijinic of jail-birds. As the people would see the lame man Avalkiiij'- and praising God, the Holy Spir- it would move upoji their hearts and consciences and convict them until they yielded to the call of God and surrendered. This great revival was going on while Peter and John were in prison. Of course the preaching that Peter and John had been preach- ing to them was like a new revelation from heaven, and opened up their understanding to the fact that there was something better for them than they had. Now this was certainly quite a revelation and attracted the attention of a great many people, and from what I have seen myself in my ministry I am satisfied there was quite a stir there, but it seems to me that God's power worked on the hearts of the authorities of the law as well as on the others that brought Peter and John out of the prison and set them before them to ask some questions and go through a mock trial. But Peter was ready. He was not backslid and scared, as he was when he denied his Christ, we find in Acts 4 :7-10, "And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by Avhat means he is made Avhole ; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Is- rael, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you Avhole." And in the 12tli verse, "Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." AYe see here that they did not Aveaken or seem scared or afraid that if they told the truth that they Avould receive greater persecution, but with bold- ness thev stood before them, and the Holv Ghost now I GOT FAITH 127 talked through I'ctcr, and gave these rulers to un- derstand that they wotihl not take the honor upon themselves, but tliat it was the Clirist to wlioni they belonged, and there is no other name by which it might be done. This same thing that happened IIumc is the cause in many instances ol" men on whom God lias laid his hand and sent to proclaim the triitli as he did Peter and John, not being used and God is not glorified, and the ])eople are not convinced as the people were then because of the fear of man which falls on them and they weaken and let down and obey the commands of man rather than the com- mands of ( Jod. This does not convince any one that God has sent them, or that -lesus Christ is the same toda> , but rather to the contrary. Xow we find in the 13th verse, that after Peter had exi)lained this truth they saw something: "Now wiien they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that tliey had been with Jesus." Also 14th, 15th. Kith and 17th verses, •"And Iteholding the man which was healed standing Avith them, they coidd say nothing against it. But Avhen they had com- manded them to go aside out of tlie council, they conferred among tliemselves, saying. What sliall we do to these men? for tlnit indeed a notable mira- cle liatli been (h)ne by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem: and we cannot deny it. But that it s|»read no furthei- among the i»eo])le, let US straitly tlireaten them, that they s}K'ak hence- forth to no man in this name." And they called them ami demanded them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus, and IN'ter and John said unto tliem, as follows: X'erses 1!>, L*(). iM , '2'2, "Whether it be right in the sight of (Jod to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot ])nt speak the things which we liave seen and 128 now I GOT FAITH heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them s>o, finding nothing how they ndght punisli them, because of the people : for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this mira- cle of healing was shewed." Xow we find that after they were convinced of the fact that they could not scare them, and that they could not weaken them, and that they still gave God the honor, they no doubt would have gladly punished them, or put them to death, but as they saw the great multitude of people who were con- vinced, and the five thousand who were just con- verted, and no doubt saw many others who were thoroughly convinced that these men were the men of God because of their boldness and they saw that they stood steadfast in their calling, and by them so doing this they gained the people's favor and the threatening authorities were afraid to do anything, for fear the people would turn against them. I saw this one time in my ministry when God had manifested his power wonderfully and the gos- pel in all its fulness had been preached and I had been exposing sectism and preaching the oneness of God's children and opposing sin in all forms, their preacher came and shut me out of the house and the wicked men in that country arose against him, opened the doors and came after me to go ahead with the meeting, and said if I did not there should not be a splinter of the house left; that they had helped to build that house to have the gospel preach- ed, and that they had never heard it until I came, and now they did not intend that I should be shut out, and they deprived of the privilege of hearing the truth. So I went and preached ten days longer, and they had a bundle of hickories laying under the house to whip the preacher if he even came to meet- ing. It seems to me that this is just the same spirit now I GOT FAITH 129 that existed in the time of tlie Aposth's. Those that the iiospel uncovered their sin were the ones who got mad and the ones who made a profession and bv their influence they stirred up their kindred and friends wlio were not saved. They do the same thing today. But the ones who stand out without a profession and are honest in heart, those looking for some way out of their trouble and bondage, are the ones Avho protect tlie man of God wlio will stand fast, unmovable and will love him and protect him and support him. Xow we see in the 23rd verse, ''And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them." We see here that Peter and John did not take upon themselves the honor and glory, nor did they desire to separate themselves from the children of God that they had left down there. God was manifesting his power where they were and they had things common and the Lord was adding to the church sucli as sliould be saved. Tliere was something drawing their hearts back there. It seems that 1 can see them as they went, Peter and John in the lead, the scoffers, rulers and professors making fun of them and looking upon them as jail- birds, and the God of heaven looking down on them with a smile, his great heart was made glad because he had preachers that would stand for the truth thougli they lost their reputation and had gone to jail. They were assured of the fact as they would look back to the great procession that was follow- ing them, the five thousand that were saved while they Avere in jail, and the lame man also, no doubt, was in the crowd, they realized that they had com- mission to preacli the gospel, that God was con- firming the word with signs following which gave them greater joy and more pleasure than tlie jU'ople who have the honor and a])plause of men. We see in the 21th and 2r>ih verses, "And when loO now I GOT FAITH they heard that, they lifted up tlieir voices to God with one aecoid, and said, I^ord thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is : Wlio by the mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why did the heathen rai^e, and the people imaoine vain things?" And hear in the 29th verse, also the 30th verse, ''And now, Lord, behold their threatenings.: and grant unto thy servants, that Avith all boldness they may speak thy Avord, by stretching forth thine hand to heal ; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." They did not ask God to withhold his power a little, and to give them better judgment that they might be more careful and please the people better, that they Avould not get into jail again : but they asked God for poAver to speak Avitli boldness, that the people might be conAinced, the deA'il defeated and that honest souls might haA^e the privilege of hearing the gosi)el. The 31st and 32nd verses, ''And when they had prayed the place w^as shaken where they were as- sembled together: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Avord of God ^\itll boldness. And the multitude of them that believed Avere of one heart and of one soul : neither said any of them that ought of tlie things which he possessed was his OAvn ; but they had all things common." We find by reading the word of God that on the day of Pentecost there were one hundred twenty that were sanctified, three thousand that were con- verted, and they had all things common, stood stead- fast in the Apostles' doctrine, and were all togeth- er, not apart. God honored their worship and preaching and added to the church daily such as should be saved. Peter and John went up there and had this great rcAival and victory over the power of hell and Avere still humble and did not become ex- now I (;(»'i' FAITH 131 alted, and forgot the dear ones where they liad been ; but their hearts kept tender towards their l)rethern and they had a longing to see tlieni, and they (k'sired to retiiiii to where they received the Holy Ghost, that which makes lis one, so tliey went back there, and when they came together they were still one, and Avhen they told of the great re\'ival they had had and of the experiences tliey had gone tlirough, none of the brethern envied them or looked down on them, or felt hard towards them because tliey had had great success. At that time they did not say how many had been added to the church while they were up there, but we have an account, taking the three thousand as converted on the day of Pentecost and the five thousand when Peter and John were preaching, making over eight thousand that were not sanctified, and one hundred twenty that were. ^Vhen the place was shaken where they were and when they prayed the Holy Ghost filled them, and they were all filled Avith the Holy (Jhost. This cer- tainly nuist have been a Avondei'ful revival and the power of God Avas manifested in answer to prayer and convinced many that these were the people of (lod. But still the devil did not quit: he was still in ])usiness. P>ut God's mighty ]>ower moved U])on those who now Avere sanctified and were all together and had all things common. As you know they had not heard nuich preaching, the spirit began to lead them to consecrate, to make sacrifice foi* the gospel's sake, and to have that care one for another as Jesus said, where one member sutTer all the Tnembers suf- fer with it. We fiiul in verses 33, 34. ami 35, "And with great power gave the Apostles' witness of the resurrection of the liord Jesus : and great grace Avas upon them all. Neither Avas there any among them that lack- ed : for as many as AA'ere possessors of lands or hous- es sold them, and brouglit the i)rices of the things that Ave re sold, and laid I hem down at tlie Apostles' 132 now I GOT FAITII feet : and distribution was made unto every man ac- cordini; as lie had need." Now, we see lieie that they realized that all their possessions belonged to God, and that they were members of the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, and one member was not above another, and that where one member suffered all the other members suffered with it, and where one member was in need the oth- er members were willing to supply. This is what God wants today. It does not mean that we shall throw down and give away everything that we have, as some people teach, and go out as tramps in the world ; but he means that what you have you shall realize that it belongs to the Lord, and that you are stewards over it, and then you live so close to God that he can impress you by his spirit where to give and whom to give to. It is true that you can make mistakes sometimes, but God does not impute mis- takes as sins, and because you might give in the Avrong place sometimes, and it would afterwards prove so that does not mean that you close up your heart and pocketbook and never again give where the Lord wants you to give. \\'e And they began to practice this and there were two people who began to get scared, and the spirit of covetousness and deceit began to take hold of them and we see in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, as you will find in Acts 5 : 1-11, '*But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his i;\ife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these now I GOT FAITH ]o3 words fell doAvii, and uavc u[) llie lihost : and uroat foar came on all them that heard these Ihin.us. And the young- men arose, wound him u[», and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, Avhen his wife, not know- ing what Avas done, came in. And l*eter answered unto liei', Tell me Avhether ye sold the land for so much. And she said. Yea, for so nuich. Then l*eter said unto her. How is it that ye have agreed to- gether to tempt th(? Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them whi<-h have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost; and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things."' Now, we see that God ])ermitted this to clean up his church. As it is in great revivals today, it was then. Some get hasty and without counting the cost properly make a profession, they might have made a surrender and be saved, doing all they knew to do, but not counting the cost, not settling- it in their hearts that they Avould go tlirongh for God at any cost, when the trine came that God re- quired something of them, that they did not desire to do, it was then that they failed. Had God let this go on he could never have had the church that he prayed for in the 17th chapter of St. John. There have been covetous ])e()])le, ])eople conforming to the world, loving the Avorld better than they loved the truth, ashamed of the gospel of Jesns Glirist and of the power of God, not having the fear of (Jod: which would have made a mixed multitude like sect ism is today, and God could not have woiked through them, lint God wanted a jM'ople that was wholly given up to him, that had lost sight of the world, had no desire to adorn their bodies in order to make them look nice to the world, but to be 134 HOW I GOT FAITH neat and tleaii, to be in a position that they could conimaud the respect of honest people, that they could be a light to the Avorld, and an example like Christ left for us, a peculiar people filled with all the fulness of God, and a people so devoted to God that God could work through them as he did through Jesus Christ, and convince the world that Christ's mission to earth was not a failure, this is what it took then and is what it takes now. We find in Acts 5 :12-1C, "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all Avith one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them : but the people mag- nified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women). Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might over- shadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bring- ing sick folks, and them which were vexed with un- clean spirits : and they were healed every one." Now here is the church that Jesus had reference to in the ITth chaptei' of St. John and the 18th verse, when he said in his prayer to the Father, "As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world." We find that when Jesus Avalked upon earth he healed all manner of sickness, and he healed all manner of diseases. Xow while prating to the Father in the 17th chapter of John he was making his preparations to leave the world, and he was organizing the church that would represent him, and that God could use as He had used him, so he sent them as the Father had sent him. Now, Ave see after the gospel had been preached by the Apostles and the power of God manifested to heal and this great number had been brought to- HOW I (.;oT FAITH 135 getlier, God coiild see that there were some that Avould not stand, and that he could not use, so he gave them a eleaning up by tlie death of Ananias and Sapphira and the fear of God came upon them all, and tliose who were not willing to i)ay the price and subndt to the rules that God had laid down by his Sidrit in the church, they durst not join them- selves unto them, ami was afraid to do it, for fear that their fate would be as Ananias and Sapphira, and none would join themselves to them but those willing to pay the price who had lost sight of all things around them, and would go through on the Bible line, then God could keep his church pure, that was the one body that was the one people and they were of one mind. As God's great nund moved, the church moved, and in this the power of God was manifested in healing all nmnner of sickness and disease, as it was when Jesus was on earth, and this convinced the people, and nuiltitudes were saved. IJiother, sister, and friend, God wants it this way today. God cannot Avork, and talk, through a divided body, and if we Avho claim to be the body of Jesus Christ Avill let the fear of God come on us until everything is purged out of our hearts that clamors for the world or for style or for super- lluities, or for anything that is contrary to God's will, and to have our whole hearts, time, talents and all surrendered to God to his service, for his glory for tile salvation of souls, the healing of the afliict- ed, for the convincing of the world that Jesus Christ's nussion was not a failure on earth, that the same things can be done through the church that we have on record before us in tlie 5th Cliaptcr of Acts. God wants his churcli pure, and it takes that, and God will have it pure before he comes. This is the kind of church that he is coming after, and you had ])ett('r I'c ])repared and ready. My brother minister, do not clamor for the world and put in your time trying to convince the 13G now I GOT FAITH people tliat tliey .should give all men the privilege of conscience and to recognize them and fellowship them and try to agree with them in prayer for the healing of the sick. You can never do it. It is im- possible. It is contrary to God's word and teach- ings, and God will never work through any such a mess. But if you will lay on your face before God, seek to know his will, pray God to keep you out of this and cn^erything that is not of God, and every- thing that is inclined to lead you away from God or cause you to want the praise of men rather than the approval of God, you can pray the prayer of faith as the Apostles did after they had left the temple and had gone to the other brethern. You can call on God to stretch forth his hand to heal, and to send the Holy Ghost, that you may preach the "word of God. with boldness. Let your commission be for the benefit of humanity, for the glory of God instead of to the detriment of humanity and a re- proach to God's cause. We cannot gain the favor of all the people, cannot make sectism come to accept the truth, ( except those that God moves on, and those whom he has called out of sectism to come out and join in mth the saints of God), but Ood says, "Come out of her my people," and those are all that we can expect, except some honest souls who are w^on to the Truth by our trueness and faith- fulness to God and being w^here God can manifest his power through us, as he did through the Apos- tolic church, and convince them that there is some- thing better for them than what they have. It is not the multitudes that God is expecting hiis church to mn, but it is the few, for straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it. Be careful brother, that you do not get into the wide road where you have favor ^-ith sectism, w^here you can preach in their meeting houses and hold meetings with them, and they hold meetings with you, you are in danger. God is liable now I GOT FAITH 137 to give you an expeiieiice like Ananias and ^Sap- phira, especially you who have known the truth for years, and liave preached it, and told the people that they should not conlorm to the woi'ld, have preached against plumes and featliers, i-ag liowers, ruffles, laces, neck-ties, corsets and superfluity of all kind and all conformity to the world. Foi- you to now think that you have a new revelation from God, and let down to favor those things that you have preached against, you are in danger. You are grieving God's great heart, you are reproaching the cause of God. You are saying tlnit all these years you have been deluded, and have been preach- ing the wrong things to them. Then the people ^ill say if there is a mistake in your preaching against superfluity and worldly conformity and in the tie, then were you not mistaken in the other things, and probably divine healing has passed away, and the oneness of God's people has passed away and the re- formation is not of God, and you will mis-lead peo- ple and bring their reproach upon your own soul, and at the jtidgment bar of God when you say w^e have prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many v/onderful things, then He Avill answer you, "I know you not, depart from me ye workers of in- iquity into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels, I never knew you." NoAV, certainly if we lived the life the Apostles lived, preach the doctrine that the}- preached, prac- tice what they practiced, we may expect persecu- tion, and this is what some preachers are getting afraid of now, is persecution, and that their needs will not be supplied. They i)ro])al)ly have not man- aged just right, and have used their own wisdom in place, of the wisdom of God and gotten in debt, became somewhat discouraged, and let down in their experience, then the devil tells them that Ihcy are too strict and that you never can get out of debt, and that you are reproaching the cause, and 138 now r got faith tliat you sliould be a little more lenient and easier, and give the i)eople libeity of conscience, it would move tlieii' hearts, and more would accept the truth, and more means would come into the church and their needs would be supplied. This is a lie and a trick of the devil, and he tried to tempt Jesus in the same Avay, as you will see in the 4th Chapter of St. Matthew when the devil offered Jesus the whole world if he would fall down and worship him. He was hungry, had not eaten for forty days and nights, and he would not do it, and God sent angels to minister unto him. If you have gotten beidnd and in debt and the devil is tempting you in this Avay, you do just as Jesus Christ did, he would not fall down and worship the devil for the whole Avorld, and don't you do it for a few dollars, or for anything that he may present to you, and God will bring you through, so be strong and of good cheer and leave it in God's hands, and God will prove to you that you are not of the world and God has chosen you out of the World, and that you are an instrument in his hands, and God will in some way bring it around that you shall have your needs sup- plied. You Avill not have to suffer with hunger. He will take care of his own cause. If you will stand true he will take care of you, you may have to stand persecution, and possibly get hungry and have very little to eat, your clothes get bare, and the devil will try to make you ashamed, he did me once, and my clothes were hardly fit to go into the pulpit, and the devil was trying me very hard, but I covenanted with God that I would stand true to him, and God opened up the way mysteriously for me to get what I needed, and he will supply your needs, tarry before him and he will help you. I was stopping at a house, the woman was a professor of religion, her husband was a sinner, yet friendly to the truth. They had a little grandchild — their children were all grown, and this nine-year- now 1 ciOT FAITH ]o9 old gi-aiiddau<>ht('i- was with tliciii. 'IMicv w orsliijx'd her. One iiioht slic took tlic toothaclic I was called iq) two or tluee times in the ni.uht lo piay for her, then she came to my room a time or tw^o. Her tooth would get easy, but would commence hiu'ting again, and went ou until some time during the next day. If I aui not mistaken 1 prayed for her eight times, aud finally she was almost going into spasms. They called me into the room and she was down on tlie Hoor, lier grandmother and gi-and- father were liolding lier and almost l)athing her in tears, and seemingly she would have spasms. I went on my knees and put my hand on "her jaw, called on God mightily that he would heal her and manifest his power to that man and woman, who had failed to give the best of their life and was just about ready to step into eternity and they un- prepared. She was healed instantly, and went to sleep while I was praying for her, as she had not slept all night. I did not know why God liad per- mitted all this, but in a day or so this old lady took me in the buggy with her to town, and took me into a clothing store and bought me a nice suit of clothes, a pair of shoes and a hat, and then I could see why God had permitted it. If I had been com- promising with the world, going against the light that God had given me, I never could have prayed the prayer of faith, hence I would never have gotten the clothes. If you w^ant God to supply you, you stand true, preach the radical truth. Go through the tests, you will come out all right, as Jesus set the example, in the end. This will bring persecution, as it did to the Apostles, as we see after this great revival. In Acts 5:17-18 you will find that after God had so manifested his power the ])erse(uti()n arose, "Then the high ])riest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sad- duccees) and were filled with indignation, and laid 140 now I GOT FAITH tlu'ii- hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison." Tliey may do that for us, and will no doubt in some instances, if we stand as true as God wants us to. If they do not do tliat, they will do other thin.i»s, and God is just as able to care for us now as he Avas then. In the 18th verse we find they put them in prison but the Lord sent an angel and opened the prison doors, Acts 5 :19, ''But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth and said," (20tli verse) "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." We find that they went to the temple and began to preach, and they had the officers come together, as Ave find in the 21st Averse, "And AAiien they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that Avere Avith him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to haA^e them brought." Also verses 22 and 23, "But when officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told, saying. The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors : but when we had opened, Ave found no man within." Also A^erses 21, 25, 26, "XoAv AAiien the high priest and the cap- tain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them Avhereunto this would groAV. Then came one and told them saying, Be- hold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them Avithout violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned." Just as easy as God delivered those Apostles out of prison and sent them to preach in the temple, he can deliA^er you out of debt and bondage of CA^ery kind, and set you free to where you can preach the now I GOT lAlTU 1-41 gospel Avitli liberty. You Avill never get liberty by eoiupi-oinisiiig. There is no use to eomproniise and bow down to the devil, and acknowledge to him that you have been too hard on him, and preached the gospel too straight, and think that you will ever get favor and out of debt, and out of troulde, and get to Avhere 3'ou can do more for God. You may gain some of the things of this world, and win the favor of people and get money and can pay off your debts and have plenty, and when you come to pray your last prayer you find that you have weak- ened, and that you are a false prophet, have sold out to the devil, and then you will realize that your financial standing lias cost you your soul and that after you have preached to others that you your- self would have to be a castaway, what shall it profit you. This is not only for the preacher, it is also for the children of God. Xow brother and sister if you want to have the power of God manifested in these last days as it was in the Apostolic days you line up to the Avord of God, like they did in the 5th cha])ter of Acts, and God Avill use us as he did tlien. But he never can do it with some clamoring for the superfluity of the world, etc., and others afraid to differ and op- pose the compromise, for fear of making divisicm and hold them in full fellowshi]) and tliink tliat God Avill manifest his power throngli them, he will never do it, could not do it through Ananias and Sap])hira, and he Avill not do it in this day. We (iml that when Ihey had tried the Apostles and beaten them and commanded that they should not sj)eak in the name of Jesus they let them go. They did iiot quit ])reaching, but Avherever they went Ave see the spiiit of God Avent Avilh tliein, and Avherever they preached the poAver of G«od Avas man- ifested. AVe see in the 8th chapter of Acts whei-e rhilip Avent doAvn to Samaria and preached Ghiist unto 142 now 1 GOT lAlTll thciii, and how lliat God's power Avas iiiaiiifostcd and the jjeopie believed. Acts 8 :5-8, "Then Tliilip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those tliini;s which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them : and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city." He preached Christ. He did not preach what the people believed and Avhat thej had come to the conclusion was right, and how that forty or fifty of them got together and made rules for all to go by, but he preached Christ. Brother, how is it with you where you go. Are there unclean spirits cast out, is any one healed in your ministry? Is the congregation better when you leave, hj them being filled with God and faith and cominced of the fact that the slightest remedy hinders faith, but put their whole trust in God, and that the means that they have been spending for superfluities and foolishness should be turned into the treasury box the first day of each Aveek, and at least once a month there should be collection made to go to missionaries in the heathen lands, because they are to keep up the work at home and support the preacher and loose his hands so he can have opportunity to study the word of God and devote his time in preaching, that he may be able to preach the truth when he comes. Or do you leave them believing that they have all the time been very fanatic, and that it is not necessary to be so particular, and it is all foolishness about how long the ribbon, or how big the bow on the chil- dren's hat, and that it does not matter if you use three yards of ribbon or a shorter piece on the children's hair, and that you have been in bondage, and that you should have liberty of conscience, and Avear what you felt would make you more commend- HOW I GOT FAITH 143 able to the people with whom you associate. If tliis is your condition may (Jod bother you and convict you and send you to tlie wilderness where you cau lay on your face before God, until you can find out for what purpose Jesus Christ sent you, I know this is plain but it is trnth and you must acknowl- edge it. You can see there is something wrong, the power of God is not manifested among the saints as it sliould be. the devil has always tried to defeat the plan of salvation and he will try it until Jesus comes. Let us take courage. Let the standard of truth and the old time Pentecostal fire come against the devil and the powers of hell, and let us follow our example and lead souls to God, as they did in the Apostolic church. Let us preach and pray for God to protect them, so that not only in a camp- meeting occasionally, but that our little meetings in our own congregation may be alive for God, and with such faith in him that the blind may see, the lame may walk, and the deaf may hear, the dumb speak and all manner of affliction be healed, and oc- casionally the dead raised, that God may be glori- fied and the people convinced that we are not of the world, that w^e are not a sect, but that we are mem- bers of the great chiirch Avhich Jesus built to take ])eo})le to heaven in, and that he has no other way to go than this way. Do not condenui this, brother, consider it. You get on your knees and call on God to help you to give it justice bei'oi-e setting it aside, and see when you get through if you cannot ask (Jod to bear witness to the truth, and let it be edifying and beneficial to all who read it, is my prayer. 144 now I GOT FAITH CHAPTER XIII HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESFUL PREACHER WHEN GOD HAS CALLED Acts G :S^ ^'And Stephen, fiill of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." When God has called one to preach they can be helped in many ways to fill the call. But there are some gifts that they have to have before God will call. First is the gift of faith. Now I believe that God has given all mankind faith to a certain extent. Faith can be cultivated just like a plant. You have a plant in your garden, if you do not see to keeping the weeds cut down, the ground loosened up, and well Avatered it will not grow. If you do not cultivate what faith God has given you, by putting it into practice it will not grow. If you take every- thing by sight and by chance and do not exercise any faith, your faith will become dormant. AVe can exercise faith by commencing in small things. Pur- pose in our hearts to give so much to God's cause by a certain time, then pray God to provide the way for you to get it, and accept any way God pro^ades. He ndght provide a job of work. It is not faith to sit down and not do anything and expect God to hand it down to you, but if you pray and then the Lord opens up the way, then you move. You have to have faith to make a preacher. Stephen, we find, was a man that had faith. He was full of the Holy Ghost, and it seems that the ministry and the congregation recognized him as a man of faith, for he Avas chosen to do the work of a deacon, and when God saw Ms trueness and faithfulness he put more responsibility upon him, as he will upon every individual on whom he lays HOW I GOT FAITH 145 his hand. You cannot make a "successful preacher and not have faith in God. It is necessary to be- come acquainted with God to have faith in liim. Jesus set this example, as exphiined in the former chapter. So "we take his example. I kncAV a preacher one time that God called to preach. He felt his call, the people opposed him, and the devil opposed him, and none thought that he could preach. He could not read the Bible, and did not kno"\v what the Bible taught concerninp: a call to the ministry, but felt God's hand on him for the work. He took his Bilde and went to his room and locked himself up, went on his knees be- fore God and prayed God to give him understand- ing of the Word, and let the Bible fall open to the place where he could get some understanding and faith, it fell open at the first chapter of Matthew, It was a little hard to understand, until he came to the twenty-first verse, then seemingly God began to open u]) his understanding, and as he would s])ell and stammer along, ])raying earnestly for God to unfold his Avord to him, the tears flowed down his cheeks, as he stayed on his knees. He reached the latter part of the third chapter of ^Matthew, and saw where Jesus set the example for baptism. When he got into the fourth chapter he saw tliere where Jesus tarricsl in the wilderness forty days and nights without eating. God began to ])nll back the veil of ignorance, and turn on the light from the courts of heaven, and bind that truth on his heart, and in this he got an understanding that Jesus was a ])rea(her, and that (iod .sent him as an exam])le not only as a Glnistian and for the church, but as a preacher, and here in this he had set an exam])le where the )>re;i(lier niiglil liirry before God until he lost sight of all men. and must tarry there until lu' come in possession of the Holy Ghost, which was tiie wiiter of the Word and that they wonld have tlie same (Jod ])ower Ihnt was in 140 now I GOT FA ITU Christ and would preach the word of God just like the Holy Ghost luid dictated it to the men of God who wrote it, and they wrote it just like Jesus preached it. Already having come into possession of the Holy Ghost, he now became better acquainted with God by reading and lalking with him. By the time he got to where Jesus did not bow down to the devil for the whole world, as you will find in the 4th chapter and 10th verse. 'Then saith Jesus unto him. Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written. Thou Shalt Avorship the Lord Thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." See also the 11th verse, ''Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." He saw in this that Jesus did not want him to compromise with the devil, because of the surround- ings and circumstances, and that He does not want part of the Word cast off or leave out part of his word to get favor with the people, and there he de- cided if Jesus would not bow down to the devil for the whole world he would not bow down to him for anything that was in the world. And as Jesus had told his disciples that when the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, would come that He would teach them all things that he had told them, he be- lieved it, and that it Avould teach him. He lost sight of man and the teachings of man, and the writings of man, and put his faith and trust in God. At one time this brother and three other preach- ers each preached a trial sermon, he thought he had preached a wonderful sermon, and thought that he had certainly proved to the people that God had called him to preach. He thought he had done better than they, so on going up to Avhere some men were talking next day, he discovered that they were talking about the preaching, and as they did not see him he stopped to listen. They made some re- marks about the three other pi-eachers and said HOW I GOT FAITH 147 they were going to be preachers, and then spoke of him. They called his name and pitying him, said that he could never preach, that God liad called some one else and lie had answered. It was a ter- rible shock to him, and a surprise and came like a thunder bolt out of a clear sky, as he was expecting everybody to be pleased with the things that he did, but it was the very tiling that he needed. You see he was on the very eve of getting exalted, and if they had spoken of him as Avell as they had of the others the devil would have taken advantage of this and made him become exalted but the devil took advantage of what they said and tried to discour- age him, and it seemed for a while that he would succeed, but he attended to his business as well as possible, and on reaching home he went to a grove which was his place of secret ])rayer, and he tried to give up i)reaching, and get out from under the call, and promised God that if he would lift his hand off of him and release him of the burden of the ministry, and would ])r()si)er him in making nKmey that he would give one half of all lie made to the cause. It seemed that darkness came around liim and God's Spirit was leaving him, and he (juickly felt tlie mistake that he had made. He tarried there before God until he cjillcd Icick what he had said and told God to give him wisdom and power to till the place that he had called him to, and that he would fill it at any cost. He did not know that was not the last trial. God encouraged him and })repar(Ml him for the next trial, and for the many others which came thick and fast, but he stood true to God, and Avhen it came time that he had to say g<)(MM)y(' to wife and childicn and tnrn ovt'r all his possessions to his creditors and step out on the promises of God, he did it. and God blessed him in doing so, and stood by him in tinu's that looked like starvation was just at the dooi-. and provided in niystei'ions ways 148 now 1 GOT FAITH for liis lurcls. In discoui'agemeut.s and in mobs and in many other oppositions too numerous to mention, Cxod proved himself to him, and made it very plain that if he Avould trust him, and him alone and not sell out to the devil, nor bow down to him for the least or the greatest offer he could make, he would be with him alway, even until the end of the world, and this has continued for more than nineteen years. He has witnessed the lame to walk, the blind to see, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, and the dead raised that Avere given up by doctors to be dead, and he is still in the battle. Ofttimes the dcA'il has tried to take his life, but just before the death angel came, God stepped in, as he did when Abraham had raised his knife to slay his son, and manifested his jiower and extend- ed Ms life longer. We see that sainted Stephen was a man of faith and determination, and that he did not weaken because the people did not believe what he preached, and because of his faith in God, and the power that God manifested through him, the old murder- ous spirit Avas stirred as in the hearts of those Avho crucified or Avas in favor of crucifying the Son of God. That spirit still exists today, the pure gospel will stir it when it is preached, and the x^ower of God is manifested in healing the sick and all man- ner of diseases, the same spirit is just the same today and it aaHI do the same as it did in the days of Stephen was it not for the laws of our land, the true ministers of Jesus Christ AAould be put to death today the same as Christ and Sainted Ste- phen Avere. But Ave see when Jesus Christ came to die he loved his enemies and even asks the Father to forgive them, ( they kncAA' not what they did ) , with his last breath, and it was only God that could do this. We know that it Avas only the God in man that enabled him to do this, the God in Jesus now I GOT FAlTli 149 Christ that eiiabk'd liim to indv lor those who mocked him. We tiiid that it ^vas the same God in Stephen, when tliey liad gnashed on him with their teeth and tortnred him, he still continned to pray, and when he lifted liis eyes to heaven and testified, as we see in Acts 7 :5(>, ''And said Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the riiiht hand of God." Also veises 57, 5S, 51), (JO. ^*Then they cried ont with a lond voice, and stopjx'd their oars, and ran upon him with one accord. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the ■witnesses laid down their clothes at a youni* man's feet, whose name Avas Saul. And they stoned Ste- phen, calling upon God, and saying. Lord, -lesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled dow^i, and cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell aslee})." God has given us an examjde or rather an inci- dent of the man who followed the example that Jesus laid down, and proves to us here that if we have faith sufficient to coiimiit our all into his hands that in the dying lionr we can have the same God power that Christ had, that will enable us, like him, with our last breath to pray for those who are putting us to death. Stephen, like Christ, had his Avhole heart, mind and soul in the woi-k. He did not value his life anything. God does not want his ministers to value their lives any thing, I mean in this way, he wants them to be as Stephen, not to lu)l(l back the truth. If he had submitted to coni- pronuse with them they would not have killed him, if he had turned to them, tliey would not have turned against him ami the truth which he was ])i'ea(hing, and even if he ha now I GOT FAITH will not call on you to pray for them, or help them out of trouble. It is true where there are several hundred preachers it would be impossible for every minister to preach. But it would uot be impossible for every one sometime durin<^ the meetin<4 to tes- tify. To tell of the goodness of God, aud of his power to save, sanctify and heal. Give some in- stances where God had answered prayer, and tell of their faith in God. Testimony similar to this in a congregation of one or two thousand people will nuike an impression upon some one who needs help. It will not be long before someone will come to you asking for prayer or for counsel or some help in some Avay. By the time you get through with them there will be some one else. Before you leave that camp-meeting you will have a number of invitations to go to different places. If you fill calls and preach the whole word of God, hold against compromise and hold up Christ, pray for the sick, God will confirm the word with the manifestations of his power with the signs fol- lowing and heal the sick, you will have many calls. In this way the people will become acquainted with you, and Avhen you get into a congregation you will always find people wanting help and you need never he idle. Since the beginning of my ministry I have not had nuuh idle time in protracted meetings or camp- meetings. The seven years I preached before I met the saints, my time was all put in helping suffering and accused humanity and those who were in trouble, and did not know the way out. When I would preach the word of God I would refer to the work that I had witnessed God do. This would cause some one in the congregation to grasp faith, and believe that there was a chance for them. If they did not have a chance to speak to me I would receive letters from them. There is no time in my ministry where I have J low I GOT FAITH 157 preached in a large congregation but what as soon as meeting was over some one was wanting help. If 1 would leave there 1 would receive letters fioni different parties stating their condition, lecjuesting prayer, and ofttimes want an anointed liandker- chief. If you do not tell the people that God will answer prayer and that you have witnessed prayer answered, they will not know what your faith is. If you go to meeting and never seem to take any interest in sick and sufl'eriiig liunianity, and those "who are devil possessed, or those who are cast down or discouraged, those who are in this condition will not likely want to call on you for help. I have known in time past of people becoming offended because certain parties wouUl be called on to pray for the people and to help in private coun- sel, and for hel]) in different ways, and those that were older and had been in the ministry longer would be ignored and passed l)y to get to some one that had not been in the ndnistry so long. There is a cause for this. It seems to me that there was a reason for Jesus sending Mary Magdalene with his first message after he arose from the tomb. It seems plain to me why he sent her. She was closest to him, she Avas looking after him. Brother, sister, if you want CJod to give you a message you stay close to him. When he gives y«)U a message deliver it. and some one will get a bene- fit. Others will lind (tut your faith, your calling, and they will want help. I have known ])reachers for years, and met rhein in meetings, frequently in camp-meetings, Assembly meetings, where there were but few preaehers, and I have never heard them preach. 1 have seen their rejmrts through the ])aper stating that they were ready to fill any call. 1 heal- of I hem occasionally having a job of work l)ecause of linancial emban-asment. 1 do not believe there is anv need, or that it was ever in- 158 HOW I GOT FAITH tended by God himself for a man or woman that he laid his hand on to preach the gospel to lay down the Bible and go out and hunt a job of work to supply their needs. My experience is if we preach the gospel, teach the Avliole Avord of God, fill our place in the body, and the calling God has given us, He will make a way where there is no way, will provide such things as we stand in need of. If the preacher takes the pulpit and tells about the customs of the country, the change in the tiyies an things that concern the world, gives a few his- torical incidents, makes most of his sermon out of such things as that, never tells how God saves from sin, sanctifies and keeps, heals all manner of sick- ness and diseases, opens the blind eyes, unstops the deaf ears, makes the dumb to speak and raises the dead, he is not going to get many calls after the meeting is over. If you want to be in demand prove by your preaching and your testimony and your life that God is using you. That your time is taken up with, the work of God, and that your desire is to be an honor to God and a blessing to humanity. Not simply tell of Avhat God has promised to do and ncA'er have any evidence to give of what he has done in your ministry, but have some incidents that you can relate that Avill interest the i)eople who are in need of some help and cause them to call on you for help. Do not think that you can do this and not be condemned by some. For possibly in a con- gregation of one or tAvo thousand people, one fourth, of the congregation might condemn you, and say that you are advertising yourself, while possibly one fourth or one half of that congregation Avill be edified and encouraged, and aaHI see a AA'ay out of the trouble they are in, or the affliction from AAiiich they are suffering. You cannot please CA'ery one, do not think of that, l^ut if you please God, you will HOW I GOT FAITH 159 please hi.s people, i merest siiiueis and eneourage people that are needing help. Xo doubt when the Apostles Peter and John "were instruments in (lod's hands in healing the man at the gate of the temple, there was a great multitude of people witnessed that. Probably there were men that eondennied them then, and woidd not believe that it was the work of God, and there ■were otheis that became interested abotit their own souls and their condition. But we find by the nura- cle wliich (lod jH'rformed, and by their trueness to God they would not take any honor to themselves but gave God the lionor and went to jail, rather than to do otherwise, and there were five thousand brought to salvation. So in the ministry of Paul. AVe find that he stood steadfast in the doctrine, taught the whole word of God, and God manifested his power through him, and by him being true, teaching the whole word of God, many condemned him, tried to put him to death, ofttimes i)ut him in prison. He was scourged fre(|uently, but in spite of all this, there were soids wlio believed, got salvation and were healed, and Ave find from the rea in defense of the gospel, when he saAV that it was death. But Ave see that God got glory otit of it. No doubt it Avas through the testi- mony and death of sainted, Stephen that brought Saul of Tarsus to salvation. lie took the ]>la<(' of Ste])hen. carried on t lie Avoi-k of (!od and ]»reached the gosi>el as Cluisi di had been healed — she Avas healed of that and it did not return — but she got sick and died the same as any one. some ten years after she AA'as healed. He gaA'e me five dollars Avhen he first came. When he returned with his sisicr he ujnc me fwcn- 1()4 now 1 GOT FAITH ty dollars more, which enabled me to go out of that city to another place to where tliey would hear the gospel. Had I let down Avhen the devil first turned the people against me, and began to look for work, God would never have sent that man there to be healed. Bu:: I was there praying for God to make a way. I did not choose the way, and God moved on that man's heart many miles away from there in another state, just by hearing the testimony of a woman that had heard me preach, and saw me pray for the sick. If you want to be a preacher in demand, teach the whole w^ord of God, and practice it. Keep your- self in such a position that God can use you to confirm the w^ord Avith signs following, and you will have plenty of calls and plenty to do. Do not get scared because your provisions give out. 1 remem- ber a number of times that we have eaten the last bite we had in the house, and did not know where the next meal was coming from. My wife and chil- dren Avould agree with me in prayer and God would provide provision for the next meal, and Ave never suffered. My wife is still living and my children are groAvn, and I am Avilling for you to get their testimony if there was ever a time that they suf- fered for something to eat, and could not get it. I gave the deAdl to understand when I first started to preach that I had given up making mon- ey, and doing his Avork, and had quit working on the farm in order to preach the gospel, and that I was going to preach. At different times I gaA'e him to understand that if my family and myself all starved that T would preach the gospel as long as I liA'ed. God gave us this example in the Fourth Chap- ter of Matthew. Jesus Avould not bow down to the deAil, and God proA^ided for him through the angels. If we AA^ill preach the gospel, teaching the whole Avord of God, and fill our place in the ministry, He . now 1 (;0T FAITJI 1G5 will provide for us. If you do not thiuk that your couuuission reaches as far as that of some otlier minister, and that you are not called and sent to ])(' a minister like Paul and the other Apostles for Avliom God answered their prayers and lieal(?d I lie sick, you go to the wilderness in secret with. God and tarry there, and see if you can find any place that God has ever made any difference. Stay there until you get thoroughly convinced that you have a call from God and get so well acquainted with, him that you can stand on his promises. And though you get hungry, and your clothes get worn you will find out that God will make a way for you to have the necessities of life, and make you a min- ister in demand. One who will always have some- thing to do. He said call for the elders of the church. He tells the people to do this : "Is any sick among you let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up."^ If you are called to preach the gospel, you are an elder of the church, and God wants you qualified to fill that place. You can only get your qualifi- cations from lliiii. Do not let the doctrines of men guide you, or the promises of man. Take a stand against the devil, and claim the gifts that God has given you. God will not manifest a gift through you if you do not cultivate it. God has the material in every [)reacher that he has called to fill the place of a bible minister. He has shown in the Fourth Ghai)ter of Matthew how the preacher can come in ]»ossession of knowledge to use those gifts and talents that he has, and if he will tarry there and follow the impressions that the Holy Spirit gives him he will make a success and be a preacher in demand. If when the spirit of God tries to teach him, he 100 now I GOT FAITH grieves His spirit and accepts the opinions of men, and thinks of what some one might say in fear of being called fanatical, and will refnse to do Avhat God says, he Avill make a preacher looking for a job of work, to get means to provide for his needs. May God bless this little message and make it a blessing to those who feel that God has his hand on them to preach the gospel. God needs preach- ers in demand. The world is crying for the gospel. God's great heart is grieved because djdng men and women are going to eternity without God and with- out hope, never hearing the gospel preached in its purity; and going to their graves without being saved because they do not know" how to trust God. Get busy, turn loose the world. Get your mind on Christ, and resolve in your heart that you will be a preacher in demand. HOW I GOT FAITH 1G7 CHA1»TEK XV. HEALED OF A RATTLESNAKE BITE Wednesday eve, July 9th, 1913, while we were at meeting', six miles from home, we received a telephone message that our little four-year-old Ruth (whom we had left at home with the older children) had been bitten by a rattlesnake. As soon as we received the message (which was not until about one and a lialf hours after she was bit- ten) the saints agreed Avith us in prayer, claiming the promise. ("They shall take up serpents; and if thev drink anv deadlv thing it shall not hurt tliem.'"' Mark 1(>':18). In the meantime our oldest boy had gone to a neighbor's house one mile away to phone us. They urged him to telephone for a doctor, as she would likely be dead before we could get there. But as we have trusted the Lord for healing for nearly eight- een years, the children, instead of sending for a doctor, got down on their knees and asked tlie Lord to heal their little sister. When we reached home we found that the Lord h;id heard and answered prayer, as she was not suffering at all, only (piite sick and constantly asking for water. Our elder, Bi-other Willis M. Brown, and Sister Lillian Brown came home with us. We prayed nearly all night, and the Lord re- warded us by giving her a good night's rest. Still, by morning her limb was badly swollen and she was very sick, although not in any ])ain, only as we wonld move hei'. She continued this way until Saturday morning, when the Lord wonderfully witiK^SRcd to hei" healing by raising her up so she walked a few stops, and sat at the tal)le and ate a good breakfast (The first that she had eaten) and 1()a(k to Uic bed and (diinbed upon it, her limb swollen to twice its natural size and blaek to her body. Aft(u- tliis she inipi-oved rapidly until on on Monday, Avhen slie over ate, and Tuesday Utiug a V(;ry hot day she felt quite badly, and the poison spread very rapidly, going nearly all over her body. We could not understand at the time wiiy the Lord pei'mitted this, but as there were unbelievers in to see her this day in such a condition and then saw her completely .healed in so short a time, the Lord soon showed us that he would get glory out of letting the poison go over her body as it did. On Saturday after this (less than two w^eeks after she was bitten) , she rode to town, five and one half miles. A lady, an unbeliever, who had been a nurse, saw her this day and after examining her closely and seeing her discolored clear to her neck, said she looked like she was mortif}dng. In a few days the same lady saw her again greatly improved, ^nd then in a short time saw her completely healed. It Avas a wonder to her that it did not even break out anywhere, not even making the foot sore where it Avas bitten. She said it was truly remarkable and since has told others that there was surely something done. All Praise and Glory be to our God, "Who for- giveth all our iniquities, Avho healeth all our dis- eases." In less than three weeks after she was bitten she went to meeting and Avalked into the house, a living witness to God's power to heal, even 1 he bite of a poisonous serpent. One lady asked a doctor in town what he thought was the reason she got well so soon, and he said it was because she had shoes and stockings on and the poison did not go into the system, but ^le had no stockings on, only had on little sandals and the snake bit between the straps and unbe- lievers who saw her with the poison nearly all over the body know how badly she was poisoned and HOW 1 COT FAITH 1G9 were made to admit that only a miracle saved her. Some who read this may question if it was really a rattlesnake. I will say for the benefit of such, that her brother and sister, fourteen and twelve years old, saw her standing- on the snake, and the boy killed it and took the rattles off. May the Lord bless this for the sake of honest souls, is our prayer. Yours in Jesus, Henry Henrichs and Wife. Roswell. X. Mex. 170 HOW I GOT FAITH CHAPTER X\ I. While praying for the sick on the camp-ground at Anderson, Indiana, June, 1913, I saw a boy pusliing a \vhe(d chair across the rough ground some distance away with a woman in it, coming in the direction where I was. The ground was rough, and he was coming fast and it was rocking the Avoman about in the chair. As I looked at her it touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes, and I felt impressed to meet them. As I started some one said "Pray for me before you go." I did so, and by the time I had prayed for the invididual the woman was sitting in her chair close to where I was standing. I asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted to be healed. I said, "Do you be- lieve that God will heal you?" She said, "I know he Mill." I said, "When I pray for you, will you jump out of your chair in the name of Jesus?" She said she would. When I prayed for her she sprang out of the chair on her feet and began to walk. She walked for some distance, and she was given her chair to sit down to rest, and she sat there and testified to a great number of people how she had not walked for over nine years, and that she had not been able to get out of her chair for years and that God had healed her. By holding to some one else she walked from there to her tent which was some distance away, and continued walking during the meeting. I have received a letter from her since she reach- ed home that she was still walking, but not com- pletely healed. There are a great many like my niece was, she was a Methodist, and did not believe that God would heal in answer to prayer. While in company with me I prayed for a young man that had an J low 1 GOT FAITH 17L abcess in liis side aihl was paralyzed in his limb and v.as going on crutches. He threw his crutches down and leaped and jumped and rejoiced, got into a buggy with me and went to meeting, a distance of several miles. When he arose to testify he did not stand straight, but bent over a little, on account of the crookedness of his side. After meeting my niece came to me and said noAV if God healed that man why didn't he straighten up. "O," 1 said, ''do you doubt God healing him, after knowing that he could not use that limb, and seeing him walk after he had been prayed for. '^O,'* she said, '"bur he don't stranghtcn up."* I told her that Jesus says, "As your faith is so be it unto you" and he got all that his faith took in. So it was with this woman, sfie got all that her faith took in. If she had had faith for complete healing she would have received com- plete healing. But as her faith did not reach that point, she only got faith to get out of her chair and walk. I left the camp ground before the meeting was over, but I am told by a brother Avho is here now that he saw her walking aAvay from the camp ground after the meeting closed. She is ]\rrs. Willis R. BradshaAv, Beaver Falls, Penn. At the same stump Avhere I was praying for the afflicted when she came uj), there was a man par- tially paralyzed who was helped there and sat on the stump. He said that he had been afflicted for some time and could not walk alone. I ask(Ml hin; if he believed that God would heal him if I would pray for him. He said he did. I said to him, "When I pray for you and I say 'amen,' will you jump up and run in the name of Jesus?" Ho said lie would. As I said "Amen" he sprang to his feet and ran out through the crowd and ran a few steps, when, crossing a rough wagon road he fell. I started to him. Some one caught hold of me and asked me to pray for them, and after I ])i'ayed for them I saw the man running up the road shouting aiid rcjoic- 172 now I GOT FAITH iiig. He ran up and down the road, until the jjeoplc gathered around him until he had no room to run, and I could liear hini still shouting and praising the Lord. Another incident which took place near the same time w^as a lady who came on crutches, and said she had not a\ alked Avithout crutches for nineteen j^ears. I asked her if she believed God would heal her. She said she did. I asked her the same question, would she jump up and run when I prayed for her and said ''Amen." She said she would try, I said, ''Not try, Avill you do it in the name of Jesus?'' She said she would. She sat down on the stump, threw down her crutches and I prayed for her, and as I said, "Amen" she sprang to her feet and ran out through the crowd. There was a 3 oung lady school teacher standing by me and had been talking to me just a few min- utes before this, and she said that she wished that she could see some one healed that she knew there was something the matter with. them. That she had never happened to be around when a cripple was healed. I said to her, "There are a number of peo- ple gathering around that stump now and I prom- ised to meet some people there to pray for them this afternoon and the time is up, and if you A\ill go with me you Avill likely see some one healed." She and another school teacher that was with her went with me. When this woman and man were healed they ran out past her, which occurred a few minutes after we arrived at the place. I saw her crying, and I said to her, ""What do you think now, Lizzie? Have you seen any one healed?" She said, "Yes, that was satisfactory," Her name is (Miss) Elizabeth Becker, Anderson, Indiana. Another incident is that of a blind man who came to the meeting, and said that he had been blind for six years, and could not see an arc light in two inches of his face, and that he believed God HOW I GO'i FAITH 173 would lunil liiiii. He was pi'ctyed for and said that God Jiad done the work, and that lie could see and picked his wife, whom he had not seen in six years, out of the congregation, and could tell tlie ditter- ence in the color of her w^aist and skirt. His name is (jeorge C. Petty, Urbana, Ohio. There are enough cases of healing similar to the above named that occurred there in answer to prayer during the camp-meeting to make a book nearly as large as this one. I prayed for something like six or eight hundred people on the camp ground betAveen meetings, besides the many that T visited in their rooms, and that were i^rayed for in the auditorium in the regular services. I w^as called to a room in the basement of the office building while there to pray for a man who had consumption. He was not able to come out to meetings. He sent for me a number of times before I got time to go. I learned that he had sent for otlicf parlies a number of times. Finally when T did go I found a pitiful sight. A num in a dying condition Avitli a lot of little children playing around him. He had come there hoping to be healed. He seemed to have pei'fect faith in God, believed the Avoi'k Avould be done. WIkmi T i)rayed foi- him he shouted and lejoiced and said that the work was done. In a short time I saw him going across the camp ground to the auditoi-ium to meet- ing. At one time while at a camp meeting at Ander- son, ])revious to the one of which I have just s])<>ken T Avas railed to pray for a Avoman that Avas in a Avheel chair. Th(\v had started Avith her to the auditorium to meeting. 8he could not sjx-ak above a AAiiisper. She seemed to be in the last stage of tubei'culosis. Her eyes began to sparkle and her faith go up as T told her of the AA'ondei-ful cases of healing T had AA'itnessed, and the pi'onnses in the Word, and it was for her. I asked her the same 174 now I (iOT FAITH question that I asked the others before spoken of in this chapter, that if 1 Avoiild pray for her in the name of Jesus would she jump out of the cliair and run. Slie said she would. I laid hands on her and prayed for her, and as I said ''Amen," she sprang out of the chair and started toward the auditorium, leaving the chair standing there on the ground, and walked on into the auditorium. Brother James B. Peterman and wife, who have charge of the Missionary Home at Kansas City, Missouri, were present; they were the ones who called me to pray for her. I do not know what became of her. If her faith held out I realize that she got well. If her faith went down her body would go. Jesus said, "As your faith is be it unto you." There are many that lose healing because of giving way to the impiessions of the flevil and dis- couragement. When one is prayed for and God touches the body with partial healing, or gives encouragement to the soul, I consider this a ^dtness to the healing. I do not mean by this that just because we have been prayed for, have no impression in the prayer and no faith exercised and no mtness to the soul nor to the body by pain being removed, but just to be the same, still sick, crippled, or still afflicted as we were before we were prayed for, then to go on and testify that we were healed, and every one can see that we are just like we were. I do not believe in this. It is a reproach to God's cause, and has driven many from the truth and caused many to doubt God, and to believe that he did not heal. I can possibly explain this to you by gi\'ing a little of my own testimony concerning my healing of con- sumption, and a number of other diseases of which I have been healed. But I think that this is the most important as it was the first time that I was ever healed. It was onlv a few day^ after I was con- now I GOT FAITH 175 veiled and just a few Aveeks since I had been an infidel, that 1 Avas prayed for for healing of con- suni[)ti()n and other afHictions, cliionic diseases that I had liad for years. I believed that God would heal me. I had already meditated on the matter and made tip my mind that wa}^ I was expecting it. I had met every condition that 1 knew and I had covenanted with God that I would do every- thinii that he showed me to do. AVhen I was prayed for my faith grasped the promises, the healing power of God went through my body, removing ever}- pain and giving me per- fect, instant relief. I knew that I was healed, and I testified to it. I did not know what the result would be, but very soon the test came. I knew that God had healed me, and 1 knew that his word was true, and I stood on the witness and the word. The pains were just as severe, and I suffered just as much at times, but I Avoiild stand on the witness and the Avord and told God I kncAV that he had done it, and I told the people that I had the A\itness of it. I Avould not testify that I Avas healed, but tliat [ had the AA'itness that God had done the Avork, and I kncAV that this Avas an imposition of the devil to keep me suffering. I fought the battle for three months and gained the A'ictory and came out a Avell man. At one time when I was healed of the rheuma- tism I had charge of a Missionary Home. Brotliers Hyr.um, Cole and Ball and other ministers Avere tliere and they had set me in a rocking chair in the front I'oom. Brother Byrum said, ''Brother P.i-own, I dreamed last night that we were sitting here and I prayed for you and God healed you, and you jumped up and ran across the house." I said, ''All right, 1 am ready to be healed, and I believe he Avill do it."' They all gathered around me at once ami they prayed for me; as they said, "Amen" I s]>rang out of the chair and walked around the room. T 170 now I (iOT J AiTii was healed, 1 felt the power of God go through my body. 1 called for my overcoat and put it on and started down the street to the barber shop to get a shave, as I had not been shaved for some time. I walked on the board walk and down the steps to the brick sidew' alk. As my heel struck the sidewalk a shock went up my limbs and spine clear up to the back of my head, the next step it w^as the same, and the next and the next, and I began to tremble all over. I rebuked the devil, told God that I knew that he had healed me and that 1 stood on the wit- ness and the word. I Avent on to the barber shop, having quite a battle, but gained the victory before I got to the shop. Walked into the shop, the barber, who was a colored man, arose and came crippling across the shop as 1 pulled off my coat. I said, ''AVhat is the matter with you?'' He told me he had been having an aw^ful time with rheumatism and told me of Ms suffering. "Well," I said, "w^hat are you doing for it?" He said that he had done nearly everything, and kept telling me of his reme- dies until I had gotten into the chair and Avas ready to be shaved. I said, "Well, I have just had quite a siege of rheumatism, and I just got healed a bit ago and w^alked down from the house here the first time that I have been out of the house for so many weeks." He said, "What remedv did you take?" I said, ."The Holy Ghost." That God healed me in answer to prayer. I laid there and preached to that colored man while he shaved me. When he took the napkins and the apron off of me I could not get out of that chair, I could not move. I w^as perfectly helpless. The de^il said now you have fixed it. I took a stand against the devil in the name of Jesus Christ, and I told the devil that I would get out of that chair. This was all done in secret and the colored man did not know the battle that was going on, and I got up from there with as much freedom as I ever got up in my life. HOW I GOT FAITH 177 I put Oil my coats, bid him good-bye and left the shop; as I stepped out on the sidewalk those ner- vous shocks began to run up my limbs from my heel to my head, until I gave Avay, let down and had to be helped to the house. I did not get so that I could not Avalk any more, I did not give up the fight. I renewed my strength, and Avas prayed lor again and my faith was some- what incr(:ased, but I could not get the faith that I had before. I fought this battle for days, and fiimlly I received a message to come to a neighbor- ing city on special business for tlie Lord. I sent for my co-laborer, who was in another town with a company holding meeting, to come and go with me. We arrived there and walked out to the house, wliich was probably a quarter or a half mile away, and I was feeling the elfects of my trip considera- bly. It began to thunder, and a terrible cloudburst came up and the roads and the walks were covered with water, and the basement of the house where I stayed was full of water. I stayed in that damp place over the water the remainder of that day and night and also the next day and night. However, I preached there the "first night, the ])arties came in by wading some Avater, the Avater liad subsided some so that they could get along Avell by being very careful in hunting for places to Avalk. After we came home my company went on to another toAvn to hold a meeting, and finally ])lioned for me to come, that I was needed. I Avent, but by this time I had become so tliat I could not dress or undress myself and could scarcely Avalk Avithout help. I left in tiie afteiiioon and AV(Mit to meeting that night, took a seat on tlie lostiuni. After ])rayer and song service no one attempted to preach, and God began to ]>nt a message on me on divine healing. It Avas ceilainly embai-iasing to me to get U]) beCore tlie ]»eople in tlie condition that 1 Avas, to pi-eacli on (liNJnc liealiiig. bui 1 had pinnnsed 178 now I GOT FAITH God to never refuse to give the message that he gave me under any circumstance, I pulled up by the pulpit, stood in a stooping position, Avith my legs drawn rather crooked, leaning upon the pulpit. M}^ hands and fingers were all drawn. I said, ''It may seem a little strange to you peo- ple to see me get up here in this condition and preach on divine healing, but God has given me the message and I promised him that I would never refuse to give the message that he gives to me. It is settled with me that I will trust God to heal me even if the joints twist out of their sockets and every limb is torn from my body and I die, I will die in the faith which I preach." At that moment the healing poAver of God went through my body and I began to leap and jump and the people Avere convinced that God did heal. This sounds queer to some people, and I realize that you cannot understand Avhy this happened. But it is very plain to me. First God said aac should be purified, made white and tried as gold is tried in the fire. God permitted .me to have these tests that God could help me to be a help to others. God AAithheld my healing until the time that he could get the most glory out of it. Certainly to be in- stantly healed in the presence of a large congrega- tion, mostly all unbelievers, Avas a miracle that would cause God to get the gloi-y and the people would be benefitted. This is not the only incident similar to this that I have had but a number like this. What I am trying to get you to see is that aaIicu you get the A\i.tness of healing ignore the impression and the symptoms of the devil, stand on the Avltness and the word, and hold your faith up to God and you will Avin the battle. The deA'il is a Avliip])ed deA'il, Jesus Christ whipped him over 1900 years ago, and Christ in us is greater than he that is in the world, and HOW I GOT FAITH 179 ■with Christ we can whip the devil. I decided many years ago not to be whij)])ed by a Avhip]K*d devil, and it is my decision yet. My faith is as strong in God today as ever in life, thongh I am going throngh a battle, and for the past six or eight weeks I have had a battle for my life, but the victory is won. God witnessed to my liealing, and assurred me that my life is again extended for an unlimited time, and I am expecting to soon be out in the battle field (iring the gospel gun warning men and women to flee from the wiath to come, and helping precious souls to get that Avhieh (iod himself willed unto them through the death of his son Jesus Christ. There was an old colored man lived at Musca- tine, Iowa, who drove a huckster wagon. He had known the truth for years, but had gotten into some trouble and there was considerable dissatis- faction between himself and seveial others, which caused him to get away from God. He was turned .igaiiisi the ti-uth and against the saints, saying hard things about the saints, and he fell out with me because I preached the truth against the decep- tion they were niuler. I moved away from there leaving liim feeling very badly towards us. Some time after I left there he Avas coming home one night and on crossing a bridge his horses became brightened and ran off of the bridge. The wagon and the man fell on top of the hoi'scs. Tlic horses made their ('S(a[K' some way from under the wagiui, but he was fastened and could not get aAvay, and the wagon was laying on the old man. The noise attracted the attention of the (higs at the neighbor- ing honses and they Itegan to bailc and ke|»t uj» the ])arking for a couple of ht)urs. There was one huly Avho lived a short distance away kept insisting there was something wi-ong and living to jiersuade her husband to g(> and .see what was the t ronble. I'inal- ly she persuaded him to go, and they took their lantern and weic imi)i-essed to go to the bridge, and 180 now I COT FAITH they looked down in the creek bed find saw tlie horses and the wauon piled there, and tlie old man laying crushed under the Avagon, and the dog laying by his head. They spoke to him, he could hear them and kne^' what was going on but he could not- speak so that they could hear him. As they started to go to see if the}'' could help him, his dog raised up to protect him, and would not let them come near the old man, but he said he spoke to the dog in a whisper and said, "Let them come." The dog stood back and the man then went to him and got him from under the wagon, and got his team loose and carried him to the house and phoned to his family, some miles away, and they got a carriage and hauled him home. He was examined by the doctor, who told him that there w^as no chance for life, giving a number of reasons why he could not be expected to live. He laid for some weeks, could not turn his head or move any part of his body. He saw his condition and began to pray, as he was in his right mind all the time. God showed him how that he had turned against His Word, the saints, and that he was not walking in the light that he had, but had turned against it, and had failed to walk in the light of the gospel, and for foolishness had sold his soul, and had lost sight of the Church of God and her beauty, and that she had no more attraction for him. He got saved and God gave him a vision and showed him the church as white as snow, pure and spotless and no unclean thing could be in it, and that the way that he and others had done they were not in the church, but had a profession and were on the outside. God showed him the promises that were to the church, the power that he had given the church, and the authority that he had given his ministers, and who his nunisters were that he him- self was acquainted T\dth. He told him that if they now I GOT r.MTii 181 would send for iiie, and if 1 wouhl vouw that God would heal him. He had lain there souk* weeks before he was saved. It was in the fall of IJM)") that he fell off of the bridge, and it was in December following that he sent for me, making some two or three months that he had lain there i)erfe(tly help- less, could not move a liml) by himself or tnni his head. I, in company with a few saints, readied tliere at a late hour in the night, and I went into the room, the tears were streaming down his face, and he, with a trembling voice, asked forgiveness, and told me of his wrongs, that God had liad mercy on Mm, and permitted this to occur to save his soul from hell, and that he knew that (xod was going to heal him : that he had shown him that if he wonld send for me and T would come and pray for him that he would be heided. After talking with hiTii a while we prayed for him, anointed him with oil in the name of Jesus, commanded him in the name of Jesus to arise, as Jesus did the paralyzed man who had been paralyzed for thirty and eight years, and innnediatcly he raised up in bed and sat thei-e ])rais- ing ChM. and said, ''I am going to get out of here," and he did get out of bed and put a (pult around him ami sat dcnvn in a rocking cliair and sat thei-e rocking and bnighing and praising God. Ii was but a short time until he Avas i-cady to go to W(nk, and the last T knew (d' him he was living for God, There aic many incidents that I know of like this where God has almost let individnals die be- fore he could l)reak their stnbl)oin will and get them to surrendei' to his call. T was called from Cedar IJapids to lied rick, low^a, to hold a meeting. While T Avas thcic ilic people began talking among tlieiiiselves, coneei-ning me moving thei-e. After ( Jod had done a great work there, the church and minister ])r()posed to an
erty. The executor iclused to at- tend to her business foi- her, and she sent for me to come home. When I i-eaclied home she repeated wliat lie had told me about the business, s;ii(l tlu^ pa})ers were in the bank ami that there was noth- ing to do there. I said those pa])ers are in the baidv and we must have them if we have to serve m)lice on them, and we talked of what her husband had told me that she had heai-d him s;iy. 1 went to the bank with her and told them th;it she re- quested the ])a])ers: also told them wlnit her hus- band h;iable of attending to business, more so than tliosc who Itroughl tlie suit against her. I was in the worst condition during this time that T was ever in before in my life. T had thous- ands of dollars worth of ])ro])erty in ni.v own name. Tt Avas known by the ])eople generally that 1 liad it. I would go to cam])-meetings ;ind as.scmbly meet- 180 HOW I GOT FAITH iiigB and not one dollar would be given nie. Wlien the money, wliicli \\as received in the meeting; lor the nunisters, was divided they would «ay, ''Brother Brown has plenty and he does not need any money," and they would divide the money according to the need, as they thought. I would have to look out for my car fare, and often I would not liave any money and would have to get down and pray for the money to get away from the meeting. The de\'il would tell me that I already had it and was deceiv ing the people. So it wus as Solomon said, '"All is vanity and vexation of spirit." This old lady was very childish and thought that I should pay my respects to her before my wife or any other person, and frequently told me this. A number of ministers who would go there and hold meeting would council with her. In their presence, time and again I have offered to deed back to her everything that she had given me, and she would not have it. When she was on the A\'it- ness stand when they were trying her for insanity the Judge asked me if I was willing to change the deed, and put it so she could have control of it until death and then the property to go to me. I said, "I am willing to do anything that she Avants done." I also told them that I was ^dlling to deed it back to her at that time, if she would accept it. She called the attention of the court and the jury and the audience, and asked them to listen to what she had to say. She said, ''I will not have it back, I have given it to him, it is his. If he was to give it to me I Avould give it back to him before I left this town. If he would not have it I would give it to some one else before morning, my people will kill me for it." Some time passed on and they kept talking to her and looking after her to try to influence her, and finally succeeded in getting her to turn against Die, and when I was on the eastern coast and several HOW I GOT FAITH 187 niiles from home she notified me to come at once and attend to business. I A\'rote her that I had a number of meetings in view, and could not come, and that there was nothing to attend to. She wrote me that she was giving me a last notice, and that I had better come, or 1 Avould wish that I had ; that she would do something that I would be sorry for. I wrote back to her to do wliat she pleased and thought best. She brought suit against me for the property. I then owned a seven room house, Avith a base- ment; eigiit lots, two lots in orchard and about three and one-half lots in meadow ; a barn and two nice chicken houses; coal houses and other neces- saiy buildings and all in good condition. Assessed at three thousand dollars, this was mine and paid for. She had given five hundred dollars at the start, and two hundi-ed fifty dollars afterwards, wliich I had more than worked out attending to lior busi- ness. She was advised by her lawyers to sue for the wliole thing, which she did. T came home and went to see my lawyers and told them to get settlement out of her any way they could to save my home. They finally got a settlement out of her by me giving a mortgage on my home for fourteen hun- dred dollars to pay her debts, or money that T had borrowed for her, and this is the way that I got out of the trouble. Since commencing to write this book I have sold my home. She mfirried a d^'unken wreck ; since that lie lias died. TToAvever, I Avas back there and went to visit her since I moved away, and before he died. She was very feeble. I learn that she is still living. T pity hoi', and T liave love and respect for lici- for whnt she did for me in the beginning, tliougli she ruined me financially in the end: but it was about the best thing that ever happened for me. T found out by experience that a preacher does not ncccl 3SS HOW I (lOT FAITH a big farm ; a lot of stock to look after ; or a miinber of houses in toAvn fo rent; or a big' ]>ank aeeonnt. It is too apt to make liim independent, and Avlien he goes to a place God Avants liim to stand tests. I have tried it without money and with it, and my honest opinion is, that the most successful preacher for God is the one called to preach the gospel filled with the Holy Ghost, Avith a Bible and a knowl- edge of how to use it. The folloAA'ing is AA'hat the business men of Hed- rick, la., said about me after this trouble. "Hedrick, loAva, Xovend)er 2, 11)10. We, the undersigned, having been acquainted vith Reverend Willis M. Brown for the past six years, take pleasure in saying that he is a gentle- man of sobriety, honesty, integrity, and has a sin- cere interest in his Avork ; and Ave cheerfully rec- ommend him to the good people of any community lAiiich he may enter."' Wade Kirkpatrick^ Vice President First Xat'l Bank ; L. Dudgeon^ Merchant ; James W. Jones, Wholesale Flour and Feed ; A. F. Broadavell^ Lumber Dealer : G. W. Story^ HardAvare Dealer ; W. H. YouxG, Ex-banker ; E. B. Jackson & Son^ Grocermen : W. C. McWiLLiAMS, Boot & Shoe Dealer: G. T. DuKE^ Real-Estate Agent : C. T. HOLCOMB, Foot-Avear Dealer ; J. W. Porter, M. D. One time Avhile living in Marion, Ivy., I held a meeting in Tennessee and an editor there published a false report about me through his paper and when I left Marion, Ky., the people gave me the folloAving recommendation : "Marion, Crittendon County, Kentucky. We, the undersigned, liaA'ing been acquainted with ReA'erend Willis M. Brown, take pleasure in now I GOT FAITH 189 saying that lie is a uciitlemen of sobi-iety, honest y, integrity, luul is sincerely interested in liis woik : and we eheeifully reconnnend him to the good peo- ple of any eonununify lie may enter." C. S. NuNN, Attorney at Law : J. \y. Blue. Attorney at Law: President of ]Marion liank : 1). ^\'ooD, Clerk of County Court ; J. Bell Kevel, County Attorney : J. AV. Cu AW i-oiu). M I).; .1. \V. Roc'iiKSTKU, County Couit .Indge; A. .]. ricKEX, Ex-Sherid" ; T. B. HuBBAKD, Cashier Marion Baidc ; John T. 1'ickens, Sheriff; O. M. P.AUXKTT. Pastor M K Cliureli. X.: H. A. llAiNES, Clerk Circuit Court ; A. M. Henry^ Marbleman & Grocerman : T. J. XuNN, Circuit Judge, (Now Judge of Court of Appeal, Frankfort, Ky. ) ; Willl^m J. De Boe, U. S. Senator ; K. C. Walker, I^]ditor Crittendon County Press ; (Xow at Grand Junction, Colorado i ; H. ]M. Cook. Brop. Long Hotel: W. ^I. I'^oWLEU, Pres. Farmers' Ilank." "Marion, Crittendon County, Ky. "I being personally ac(|uainted witli Willis y\. Brown, and knowing him to be a man who feai-s God ami a faithful workeiin the gospel, recommend him to the love and fellowship of all where his lot may be cast. (Signed I T. J. Bamxm.imi . Pastor of the M. E. Cliuich. South." These people were all ac(piainted with me f(»i' years, before I was converted. exce])t the two preachers that are named here. 190 now I GOT FAITH CHAPTER XVII. MY CALL TO NEW MEXICO In August, 1911, I Avas called to RosA\ell, New Mexico, to help in a camp meeting. Previous to this time I liad put a notice in the Gospel Tiaiinpet, stating that I expected to quit traveling so exten- siveh^ and settle down and start a Missionary Home wherever the Lord opened the way. At the time of ^he meeting at Roswell I had about five proposi- tions offered me. One night while meditating and pravdng, God flashed it on my mind that Roswell, K^ew Mexico, was the place he wanted me. I went from Roswell to Oklahoma City, then to a town in Tennessee, where I met my company of workers and held a meeting. I went from there to Hedrick, Iowa, began to sell off my property and make arrangements to move. Before reaching Hed- rick, I had notified the saints at Roswell to rent a house and make arrangements for me to come. Sis- ter A. J. Brown and her two daughters, Lillian and Bertha, left Decatur, Alabama. T\ith the under- staiuliiig that they were to reach Roswell by the first of October, the time I expected to arrive there. I sold my personal property, except two horses, a carriage, a buggy and some chickens and our household goods, chartered a car on the third day of October, and started in an immigrant car from Hedrick, Iowa, to Roswell, New Mexico. We reached Roswell on October 9, 1911, went into the Home that they had already lented at twenty-eight dollars per month. Had less than thirty dollars in money, our household goods, two horses, a carriage and a buggy. There were only four saints in the town, except those who were in HOW I GOT rAITII 191 the Missionary Home. There were seven oC us in the home, counting niy wife and I. I rented a hall for meeting on Main .street, in the business part of town. God gave me favor with the ugent, and we obtained the hall at half price; it rented for forty dollars and they let us have it for twenty dollars i)er month. Sometimes there would be ten saints, sometimes there would be twen- ty, present, other times fifteen, and sometimes as many as fifty. But nearly all the i)eoi)le in Koswell that go to meeting heard us preach ay our bills. Be- fore night the money AA'ould. come in on the mail. Our expenses Avould average about one hundred forty dollars per month. On the first day of April, 1912, Ave did not have money to pay even the small bills. We had prayer as usual and asked (Jod to move in his own Avay; to keep the rejjroach from his cause; that Ave had committed it all into his hands. T Avent up toAvn and checked out Avhat I had in the bank, came home about ten o'clock and ojx'ned my mail. Tn tlie first letter 1 oitened IImmc was n ciieck for seventy-one dollars from Nebraska. The next letter had a check in it from a lady in Augusta, (icoi'gia. She said, "Brother BroAvn, we have been expecting Brother Warren here to hold a meeting, and I have been saving money to pay the exi)enses of the meeting. While in prayer God moved on my heart to send it to yon. \(}\\ nnisl lie needing it." We opened let- 192 now I GOT FAITH ters until we received enough to pay off the bills, including' house rent, and had enough left to pay our expenses on the next over-land trij), on which we started in a few days. now 1 (;()T I A nil l, but lie was gcMug in a different direction. I keitt calling to him iinlil 194 now I GOT FAITH he found his way back to the camp, but the horses had no "vvater. We took our wash basin and put all of the water we had in it and gave it to the horses that they might wash the dust out of their throats. Next morning Anderson arose early and walked and led the horses until he found water for them. We went through without any accident or dam- age, with the exception of suffering for water occa- sionally. We held a meeting there and the Lord blessed in the meeting. TAvelve or fifteen were saved, closed the meeting on Sunday night. On the following morning we were loaded and ready to start by day light. It looked very much like storming. We traveled thirty-five miles that day in order to reach a place where Ave had camped before wliere there A^'ere some buildings. AVhen we reached here we found the buildings Avere all locked, except the chicken house and one stall where we could put one horse. There Avas a cloud rising in the Northeast when we camped, and the wind was bloAving from the Southwest. We put one horse in the stall, and hitclied the other horse on the opposite side of the chicken house from the way the Avind Avas blowing. We then set up the tent by the dAvelling house which was empty and just about dark we began to eat of the good things the people had given us. Bread and butter, baked fowl, roast beef, cakes and pies. Just as we finished our supper we heard a noise and An- derson looked out and the wind had changed and in a moment every thing on the table Avas covered Avith sand until you could not have told butter from meat or cake from pie. Some of the dishes AA'ere blown away and lost, and everything on the table Avas scattered in different directions. The wind backed the hack up and turned it sideways some distance from where it was, one wheel resting on the tent, which kept it from blowing away. The now 1 i;()T 1 AiTii 195 chicken liousc; was our only i)i-ol(*ction. So, while some held the tent together, Andeison and Beitha took the lantern and started for it, she to hold the lantern while he took the heddiiiii. As he started to the chicken hous(i with his lirst load of l)(*dding the light blew out, the wind caught nie and threw me against the house rolling me around the corner. By the time I got straightened up I heard Anderson call, and [ could hear Bertha screandng down at the chicken house. I called to Anderson and he an- swered me, and in this way found his way back to the tent, then to the chicken house and brought Bertha back. It was so dark Ave could not see our hand before us and it was impossible to liglit a Ian tern, the whole elements were tilled with flying sand. We saw that it was no use trying to stay in the tents that night. We remembered seeing a large dugout which was locked. Anderson said tliat he was going to break it open, and I told him to do so if he could, as we Avere suffering with the cold by this time. He took the ax and struck it once and it came open. He shouted for the rest to come on. We found it to be a nice large dugout, well cemented on the inside. AVe began to pile the bedding doAvn in the dugotit, the sand was blowing in the door and was covering the bedding as fast as we could put itdown. In live minutes time one pillow was completely buried in the sand and we never found it until the next day. We got all our things that were not bloAvn away down into the dugout and at last we were secure from the storm. Anderson took the horse that was standing by the chicken house, and crowded him in the stall beside the other horse, and they stood there all night. The next morning the Aviiul Avas still bloAving and it Avas snowing and bitter cold. We stayed there all day, in the evening the sun came out bright and we picked up some things that the wind had bloAvu aAvay. On looking across the plains we saAv a man com- 19G now I GOT FAITH iii.U, with Avhat 1 took to be a gun in liis hand. Bulore he came up to where we were I saw lie had a broom. I asked him if he knew whose ranch this was, and he said that it belonged to him. I told him that I had an apology to make to him and some damages to pay, that we had broken the lock to his dugout and had gone in out of the storm. He said if it had been him he would have broken the house open, and he supposed that we had and had brought the broom t j sweep the floor, lie said that w^e were perfectly welcome to the house; that he had started for home the cAening before but had to go back to town and stay until the Mind ax as quiet. We started on our journey the next day, had bad winds and occasionally some snow. AVe traveled for two and a half days and came to what was known as Twelve Mile Ci-eek, just thirty miles from Roswell. We met a cowboy and he told us that we could get water a mile and a half east or the same distance west, and he thought that it was going to storm and ^ye had better go with him to Avhere he was boarding and stay all night. AYe asked him how far it was to the breaks. He said it was six miles. Anderson and I took the horses to water and the rest of the company picked up "skeef roots, pre- paring for a fire that night. AAlien we got back we loaded in the wood, and started and drove about a mile and a half. Clouds were rising in the north- east, and the Axind was bloTsing from the soutliAvest. I told them that if the wind changed we would have a storm and could never make it to the breaks before it came. In a few moments the wind changed, and I turned the horses and droAe fast back to the creek bed, one mile and ed to get the hack i-eady. The snow came Avith great force, and felt like shot striking our faces. We could not see ten feet before us on account of the blinding snoAV. It was as hard a blizzaid as I oA'er saAv. Our horses were only three years old. and it seemed unreasonable to think that ♦^hey <()uld pull a i)oMnd in their chilled ((Midilidn. 198 HOW I GOT FAITH It took somo tinio to <;et the frozen harness on them. We were gone so long that Bertha became uneasy, and thought that we were lost and that she was left there to be covered up in the snow. We heard her screaming, and Anderson went to the top of the bank and answered her. He told her to get ]iold of the rope, which she did, and we pulled her up the bank, leaving our tents and bedding and all behind, we started in the direction the storm was going (it Avould have been impossible to have gone against it), and drove a mile and a half and came to the house. It was blasted out of rock in the side of a hill. Half of it was rock and it was finished out with lumber. They had then blasted out anoth- er room fourteen feat square back of this one out of solid rock. The snow was banked around the doors and windows until you could scarcely see the win- dow. These people gave us a hearty welcome. They put our horses in a rock stable. They had a fire place and burned skeet roots. It made a very hot fire. The man was in the back part of the house getting breakfast. His wife was lying in bed, as she was in poor health. There were six children. After we all came in and were sitting by the fire the snow commenced to melt and run down on the dirt floor, then they brought in a cat and melted the snow off of her and put it in bed with the wom- an. Next they brought in the dog and it was thawed out. Then the eight-year-old boy and the twelve- year-old girl began to make trouble about their lambs. They finally got the consent of the mother to go bring them in. They dug their way through the snow and after awhile they came in with five sheep that had been covered up in a tin tank that they had out in the yard somewhere. They had been well covered and fared well, but they brought them into the house. Here was now the cat, the HOW I GOT FAITH 199 dog, the five sheep and the family and our company housed up together. The man invited us out to breakfast. We rel- ished everything and Avere Avclcoiiie and made to feel free. They all seemed to be really glad that we had come. They had seen us pass there the evening befoie and supposed that Ave had fiozen. After breakfast the man and I were talking in the front room. I heard playing on string instru- ments. He called to them to put them up. I heard Anderson begging them to go ahead and play. I told him to let them play. They started to playing. They all played extremely well — were natural musi- cians. A\'e soon leaiiicd tliat the mother was a graduate from a Philadelphia university. The fath- er was an intelligent man and the children were very intelligent. They had been very wealthy, h*ad met with misfortune and lost their wealth. They had gone out there and entered that land on the Pecos Kiver, made their hou.'^e in that blufif, and were making a good living taking care of sheep for the sheep men, and caring for the bnnbs. After playing the instruments for a wliile, one of the little girls stepped out and commenced danc- ing; they soon became tired' of that. I suggested that we sing some. We took out our song books, commenced singing, and they joined right in with the rest of the company. Finally I said to them, we have had instrumental music, dancing and sing- ing. I am a preacher and I suggest that Ave noAV haA'e some preaching. I preached to them; they all listened A'ery attentively. We leained that they all belonged to the Campbellite church. The young man said he used to be religious, but he left his religion hanging on the Texas line Avhen lie came over and did not try to bring it to Ncav Mexico Avith him. They took their wagon an nuiles and went back to Avhere we had camped and dug out all our 200 HOW I GOT FAITH (•ain[) out lit tluit tlic.v could tiiid jiud biouuiit it to the liouso. The snow melted fast, and avc Ix'^au preparing to start the next Hiorniup(»int«'d all ricjht. Had a very successful meetinu. The jx'o- ple became interested in the truth. I met some people there that had been my neiuhhors when I was a young man. One night while preaching I told of an incident that occurred in Calvert City. Kentucky, of a pai-alyzed woman wlio was healed. She was a very ignorant woman. The doct(H- brought her to where 1 was ]>reaching and pushed her in at the door. The doctor gave her a note to give to me. I read it aloud to the congregation. It was as follows: "•>rr. Brown, heal this woman." It was signed Dr. -Tones. I felt that the note was from the devil, but God assured me from heaven that he would heal the woman. T talk(Ml to her a while, told her to listen to the ])reaching. She hnew nothing about (Jod, had never been to meet- ing before, and she was very ragged and dirty. After preaching she fell on her knees; a nundM'r came to the altar. When T went to her she was praying for salvation. 1 jigreed in luayer with her, soon she jum])e(l to her feet clap]»ing her hands above her head and said the work was d«me. As 1 was relating this incident 1 noticed a young man in the congregation that was |)aying close at tent ion. and was making some demonstrations as though sanctioning what I was saying. When I dismissed the meeting he rame and shook hands with un\ and said, ^'r»rother Urown, 1 was a witness of that case 202 now I GOT FAITH of healiiiii you told of in your sermon. I knew the woman and he calhul her name." He said he was only a boy when this oecurred, but he assured the people that it was true. This man lived in that community and was respected by the people, and they had confidence in him and they believed what he said After the meeting- closed we started back home. Had no serious accident. Had considerable sand to go through, but no damage done. We returned safely, and held another meeting in our tent, and visited over the town during the winter and spring. We put literature all over the town and visited about five hundred homes. God began to save the people, others began to be encouraged, and the Lord added to the church such as should be saved. The next overland trip was to the West through the mountains. This trip was quite different from the other trips. A great part of the way was by beautiful brooks, through timber and through the Indian Reservation. This is a very beautiful place. We crossed the summit, over nine thousand feet high. It was the first experience some of our com- pany had had vdth Indians. We had to camp in the Indian Reservation one night, and some of our com- pany w^ere very uneasy. No one molested us in the least. We reached Tularosa, New Mexico and held a meeting there. From there we went to Alamagor- do. Then we came back to Tularosa, held a few ser- vices and baptized those who were saved at Alama- gordo, as there was no water for baptizing at Alam- agordo. AVe have had a good many experiences in New Mexico. Any one desiring to prepare for the heath- en lands, or foreign countries, would do well to have a little experience in New Mexico. Here they could learn self sacrifice: learn what it means to want HOW I (JOT FAITH 203 things and cannot get tlu'iii : know how to he s;iiis- fied with Avliat they get. Our next trip overhmd was oui in a western direction, through ('apitan mountains and the towns of Capitan, Lincoln and (Jarrizozo, and across the Malipies. The Malipies is quite a scene to those who liave never witnessed anything like this. There seemed to have V»een a volcano there and the rocks had melted and run out a distance of about thirty or thirty-five ndles, and from a quarter to a ndle wide. I can describe it best by say- ing it looked like a peison had taken a buay liim then. He said, "No pay comini;. (Jo feed your horses, g.o ri*iht into the house and ct)ok and eat Avhat you find that you want, make yourselves at home." We hitched both teams to the jjospel waj;- tied the hack beliind and all tlie company ^ot into th(Mvai>on and the horses struck a irol. Drox'eiii \]\o. direction they told us to txo. Just about five o'clock we came in sight of the two windmills as they had described to us. We reached the ]>lace, and it was just as they had des< ibed it. While some were taking care of the liorses, some were looking in the house to see what they could find. They found U\(> or tlii-ee big buckets of cream ready to churn. I found three-(piaiters of a beef hanging out in a litt'e shed. They found ]»lenty of lard and flour. Soon one of the com])any churned, one made the biscuits, and so on. It was not long until we liad an ap])etizing meal prepareicke(l up and i-ead and ii was from the lady she had become ac(|uaiuled with, and haportnnitv."" lie said tliat he liad l»eeu praying for an opjjortunity of lliat kind. That lie had qualified himself for that business, and was cap- able of teaching all the l)ran(hes. We held (piite a long conversation. He told me his condition, that he had jnst come out of llabylon. ; Ihat lliis was his first trip to a saints cam])-meeting, and his fii-st introduction to the saints: that he intended to l)e trne to God. I said to liim we will hold it before God and if he still impresses you to come, and T still feel like it is of God you come. He came witli me to St. Louis an liel!> his wife to be willing to come with him. W'e sdoii heard fioiii him saying lliiit his wife li;iiir expenses tliere Avere about lliiilv dollars ; our d<>u;i- lions about se\(Mi ook to describe all the experiences wliich we liaxc liad at little settlements and in little towns, and with what is known as '"dry landers" in this c(wniliy. They are i)eople who have settled on ianody. Their body is from three to six or seven inches long. When they get mashed or dis- turbed they close dow^n with their legs, sticking them in the flesh and where they do this the flesh rots out. We have seen quite a number of people that have seen the effects of centipedes crawling over persons. One Avoman told us of a baby that was almost ruined by one that had fastened its claws in its flesh. The babe was crying and it was some time before they could discover what was the trouble as it was under the clothing of the child. When they found the centipede it had clasped its r^aws over a good part of the child's body. The flesh where it had crawled rotted off to the bone. About the 17th of September Brother Jim Eden and wife. Sisters Lillian and Bertha Brown, and Sister Annie Phillips and myself started overland to Phoenix, Arizona. This is where Ave planned to go. Some days before starting I Avas very much impressed to not start. It seemed to me that the responsibilities here of the home and school Avere greater than I should leave. However, when we reached Tularosa, ]S^eAV Mexico. I received a letter from home that convinced me that I should return. On our wav doAvn Ave struck the Indian Eeser- HOW I c;(/i' FAITH I'll) vatioii about tlie middle of the aftcjuooii. Sister Eden became very siek and «lie and liei- husband jjjot into the gospel wagon that I was driving in order that she eould lay ed and were very nitich frightened, fearing they were Indians, but Avhen they came to where they were they found they were white people. It was only a short distance to the well where Ave Avere to camp. They reached there and began to put up the tents and prepare supper. Sister Annie Avas trying to get her bed arianged. Just as she got ]wv bed in her tent she began to smother auvl lost her breath, be- cause of it being such high altitude. lieitha was out getting pine knots to make the fire. Lillian lan to her and began to unloose her clothinLi fioni arouiul her neck, bu! saAV that did no good. Lillian then called iiertha and they had i)rayer and (!od restored her. Anide took a good cry, and about this time Ave reached llieic. They had llu' tents u|) and supper ready when we got to the canij*. Ily this time it Avas very dark. When the girls lefl us tln'y thought it Avas only about live miles to the well, but when Ave counted it up, we fonnd that it w;is thirteen miles that they had traveled. The next dav we reachcil Tnlarosa and com- 220 now I (;oT faith menced meeting. In a few days we decided to start back home. We traveled until noon the first day, on our Avay home, and it began to rain. At four o'clock in the evening we reached Mes- calero. This is Avhere the Indian School is, and a number of Indian camps. These are just as they were in their natural life, wigwams and blankets and living iust like they lived when wild. On the 25th day of September it began to snow on us. Brother Eden and some of the rest of the company drove ahead to find a camping place, and finally struck camp. When Ave overtook them they had commenced to put up the tents. The ground w^as covered "v\ith snow. We had to make our beds down on the snow. We built a campfire, blanketed our horses and tied them to a chain that we had stretched from one tree to another and fed them. It snowed all night. The next morning it Avas still snowing. Breakfast Avas prepared, and eaten, and AA^e Avere taking down our tents and loading our camp outfit Avhen Ave found Ave had a very sick horse. We laid hands on him, prayed for him and the Lord healed him. It might be well for me to give a little of my experience here, as many have asked me if the healing of horses Avas provided for in the atonement. I think one text of scripture ^yi\l explain. In John 15 :7 Ave find, "If ye abide in me and my Avords abide in a on, ye shall ask what ye' A\ill, and it shall be done unto yoii." I do not claim that horses can exercise faith. They are dumb animals. But I do claim and knoAV by experience that when Ave have our stock consecrated to God, and live to all the light that aac knoAV, that this text gives us the privilege of coming to God in prayer and ask- ing him to heal them. I used to be a horse doctor before I A^■as saved, l^nt have ahvays prayed for my stock since God saved me. We traveled in the snoAv until three o'clock that daA'. The roads W(Me very bad and the Avind Avas now I COT lArrii L'L'l cold and il was daii'|> and clnllv. WC did not slop for diiiiic)- and we wcic all vcrv ((dd and liicd and huiiiiry ; also, oiii- teams Avcro huniayed for me, and the healing touch went through my l)ody and i-estoicd every weak nerve; took out the stiffness and .-joienes.s ;ni(l I felt like a well man. Monday morning following I began dictating this book and T oveitaxed my l)rains and nerv^•^. On Friday evening I had to give up and go to bed. I Avas confined to my bed and room until the next Saturday morning. On Friday night l)efore, how- ever, 1 was meditating and praying, when I decid- <■(! tliat it was a tiick of the devil. Thai i had the 224 HOW 1 GOT FAITli I witness from God that lie wanted nie to live, and the devil was trying to kill nie and keep nie from writing this book. On Saturday morning while alone in my room with the Lord the healing power went through my body, and 1 felt that I was a well man. 1 began to dress, and the song of Moses and the Israelites began to run through my mind, and I could hardly keep from singing aloud until I could get dressed and out of my room, when I commenced singing : ^'When Moses and the Israelites from Egypt's land did flee, Behind them was proud Pharoah's hosts, in front of them the sea ; God raised the waters like a wall and robbed them of their prey, And the God that lived in Moses time is just the same today. IJe is just the same today, He is just the same today." I walked down stairs singing that song. All the inmates of the Home from the school teachers down to the pupils came running to see what had hap- pened, and we had a glorious meeting. Now, one would suppose that that w^ould have settled it, that there was no more trouble. But the battle is still going on, the devil has not shaken my faith or made me to think any more that my time is ended. But it seems that I cannot get my strength back and be myself the same as I was before this nervous breakdown came on me. However, I am expecting when I get this book completed and off of my mind that I can then exer- cise faith for complete restoration. It might be thought by some who read this that I had made a mistake in coming to this country and taking upon myself the responsibilities that I have, and by so doing overtaxed my mind and body and brought about this trouble. ]i(»\v I (Mcr lAiTii 225 It is no doubt that the exi)osui(' J Imvc uonc through in these overland trips, and the great st rain that has been on uj.v mind in stariiiiu ilic woik here has had sonietliing to do witli tliis i loubh*, but I am sure that (iod lias sent me licic Just because "we break down in oui- IxkIv. or get ptit in prison or Inippcn h* sonic disjistcr, as I'anl and llie other apostles, it is no sign that (lod's hand is not in Avhat we are doing. I know that if I had not come here there are many ()\er these plains that have the truth now, woidd never liave heard it. Also in this town there are many that have gone from here to other jdaces that were saved here. Also there have been [K'ople healed of eon- sumption and other dreadful diseases, i)()ssibly would never have known the privilege (Jod had granted unto them, had I not said, "■Yes," to the Lord. Just how long the Lord wants me to remain hei-e I cannot tell. He is bringing in other workers and ministers, and possibly as others come in that can take up the Avork, He will release me and give me another field of labor. 1 can say as Jesus said in the garden of Gethseniane, ''2sot my will but thine be done.'- Yet 1 am sure it w^ould be much better if I Avas located in a more central \K\vt of the Ignited States Avliere people from ditCereiit stales could more easily reach the school and ])atroni/e ii. It seems that the Lord is moving in that direction now , as I have a ])roposition of this kind made me from an Eastern state. 22G now I GOT FAITH CHAPTER XIX. FALSE PROPHETS One time I was going to Dallas, Texas, on the train, and a number of preachers got on the train. They all took seats together. After looking at me and whispering among themselves for a while one came to me and said, ''How do you do. Are you a minister?" I answered, "Yes, sir." He then in- quired, "Going to Dallas?" I said, "Yes, sir." Then he said,"0, by the way, you are going to the Asso- ciation?" I said, "Xo, sir, I am not going to the Association." He said, "What church do you rep- resent?" I said, "I represent the church of God." Then he said, "AYell, I know, we all do, but what branch do you represent?" I said, "I do not rep- resent any branch at all, I represent the body." He went back to his crowd and sat down, and the following song came to me, and I sang it as it came to my mind. All the sect preachers preach by note. All of their flock are principally goats ; But now and then there's a lamb, a lamb, Xow and then there's a lamb. Sanctification they don't believe, The Holy Ghost they won't receive ; But now and then there's a lamb, a lamb, X^ow and then there's a lamb. They say Di^dne Healing is a thing of the past, That there is no Bible, that man shall fast ; But now and then there's a lamb, a lamb, Xow and then there's a lamb. O sinner, don't you believe if you will repent That Jesus will save? HOW I GOT FAITH 227 For now and then there's a lamb, a lamb, iNow and then there's a lamb. For several years I have preached this gospel round, And still my name is \Mlli.s M. Brown; And now and then there's a lamb, a lamb, Xow and then there's a lamb. Tlicy could all hear me, they did not botlier me any more. I never heard this song before, it just came to me as I sang it, and I have never forgotten it. It must have been sent of the Lord. Xow, Avo find in 2 Teter 2:1 -.3, ''But there were false ])rophets also among the people, even as there sliall be false teachers among you, wlio privily shall bring danniable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves SA\ift destruction. And many shall follow their ])erni- cious ways; by reason of Avhoiii the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make mcM'chandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time linger- eth not, and their damnation sluiiibcrcth not." We notice here in the first verse there was^a time that there were false prophets and God through the A])ostl(' here tells us that there shall be false teach- ers among us. The question would come to many who are not acquainted with the gospel in its pur- ity, Who are false teachers? They are those wlio pervert the word of God, take from the word of (Jod and add to it: gi\ing it a diffei-eiit iiH'aniiig from what (}oliecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things. Go^30crisy and iniquity." Also verse twenty-nine, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepul- chres of the righteous." And verses 30, 31, 32, and 33, "And say. If Ave had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the i)rophets. Wherefore ye be Avitnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the chil- dren of them AAiiich killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, hoAV can ye escape the dam- nation of hell?" Different times Avhen I have sung the song that now 1 UOT FAITH 231 1 gave in the heudiiig of this chaphT and pi-eached on this subject it has raised gicat peiseciilioii and caused people to say hard tilings about nic Es- pecially in a numbcf ol' iiishinccs wlicic I li;i\c ol- fered from tAventy-tive cents to one dollar a])ic<»' to preachers to sit on the rostrum and face the con- gregation Avhile I i)reached on this subject. In a few instances they have accei)ted my iiroposiiion, but they got very restless and faih'd to face the con- gregation until the discourse, was over. People that were following their pernicious ways sai(l I was too hard on them in exposing them that way. Jesus said, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the danniation of hell?"' 1 li;ivc never put it any stronger that He did. We find in Isaiali 1):1[-17. ••Thctcfoic the Lord will cut olT from Israel head and tail, brancli ami rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head : and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. I'or the leaders of this ju'ople cause them to err: and they that are led of them are des- troyed. Therefore the J^ord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an liy|>o- crite and an evildoer, and every mouth s))eaketh folly. For all this his anger is not luiiieit and would see a sister come in the congregation, that had been very spir- itual and dressed with a little extra adornment such as a j)lume on her hat, or a bunch of rag flow- ers or any other superfluity, we could not speak against it. Why? Because we were not examples ourselves. If we had on no tie, no stick pin, no su- perfluity, then we would not fear to speak against the sin that we see, and would not be afraid of any one condemning us for what we condemn in others, and would be free to warn them of the danger they w^ere in. If I was to take the pulpit with a tie on, since preacliing these many years against it as I have, and dressing as I have, and see one who liad been a saint of God come into the congregation dressed as the world, with a plume on her hat as long as a horse's tail, also wearing a gold ring, I could not say anything to her. I w^ould be afraid she would expose me to the people, and call attention to what I once preached, and to what I now was. Brother, if we see these things creeping in and we keep still, we are dumb dogs. God cannot use us if we do not bark and w^arn the people to shun the appearance of evil, and walk in the light of the gospel. One says, "There is no harm in putting on a lit- tle tie, it is nothing more than a matter of con- now 1 GOT FAITH i*:57 science." Let us consider it a little. In June, i\)VA, I attended the Anderson canip-nieeting. There was reported to be four hundred preachers there. I did not see but one of them ^vitll a tie on. I called a brother's attention to it and he went to this biotlici- and talked to him and he took his tie off. I judj^cd from the appearance of that tie that it cost about one dollar and a half. Let us count them at a lea- sonable price, and say those four hundred pi-eacii- ers had on ties that cost seventy-live ceiiis apiece, that would make the ties for those four hundred preachei's cost three hundred dollars. Who would pay foi- them? The saints of ( Jod. 1 know a woman that washes for a li\ iiii; that puiposed in her heart to give one dollar per month to tlie cause of Christ to support the work of CJod. A\'ouldn't it be a shame for a minister to take that Avoman's hard earned money that she sweat over the wasliltoard to earn for him and he give seventy-five cents of that month's donation for a tie. This woman I have in mind has four deaf and dumb children that she is anxious for (lod to heal. It Avould l)e a shame to see that woman's hard earned money going to l)uy a necktie for the preacher to mak(? him look l>e- coming when he takes his ])lace in the ]>ulpil. Can she have contidence to ask him to pray for her deaf and dund) children to be healed? God Almighty put shame on the nntiisters and i>ull the scales back from our eyes and help us to behold Jesus flirist in his puiity as he stood before the people ami si)oke as nnm nevei* spake, and set an example that Ave nnght follow in his steps. Spoke as nevei- man spake. Ui-othei-, h^t us not be dnnil) dogs, bnt cry aloiul and spare not. \<)\\ may get luMsecution. and you may meet with hard ships. Those who haxc catei-eroken, neith- er have ye brought again that which was diiven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost : but with force and with cruelty have ye tided them."' Bretliern, 1 have been taught for years that I should dress plain. I have taught it to others, and they have conformed to my teaching. Tliey have separated themselves from the world, like Jesus said to his father in the 17th chapter of St. John when praying for the disciples that they were not of the world even as he is not of the worhl. So these people Inive looked, dressed and lived so that people in watching them can see that they are not of the world even as Christ is not of the world, and like him their lives and examides have Iteeii a re- buke to sin. Now, in case 1 should coiitoiiii lo the world, juit on my tie, go back to conroiiniiig to the world, go to i)reaT lAiTii 241 work of The devil that is ti^viiiu to dcslioy ilic unity of tlic chin'ch of (iod. In flu- eighth and ninth verses, we see as fol- lows: "As I live, saith the Loid (Jod, stirely be- cause my tlock brM-anie a piey, and my Hock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no she])herd, neither did my shepherds search for my fiock. l)ut the shei)herds fed themselves, and fed not my Hock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord." Also the Tenth verse, "Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am against the shep- hei-ds : any the minis- ters, but I have already received a letter from a minister wiio has Ix'cn a minister of the hosjm'I foi- years, who once was radical for the truth, but now has begun to compromise, and he said that he had to get him a job of work to suport his family. (Jod will not su]>poi"t men who Avill not stand for the truth of the gospel. (Jod will not force his . and seek iliciii out. As a shepherd seeketh out his Hock in the day that he is among his sheeji that ai-e scattered: so will I seek out my sheej), and will deliver them out of all places A\ here they have been scatteicd in the cloudy 242 now I GOT FAITH and dark day." Now, we realize that this has re- ference to the false teachers and sectarian preach- ers, but my brotlier, if we have retroiiraded from the truth, though we have been used of God and Avon others to the truth ; are we aiiy diffk^rent from them? Do we not come under this scripture as well as they? Also see verses eighteen ar»d nineteen : "Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep Avaters, but ye nuist foul the residue Avith your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that Avhicli ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet." The man that claims to be called of God: and denies the promises of God to his children, such as sanctification as a second Avork of grace, divine healing of the body, oneness of God's people; that ignores the scriptures that teach this and makes fun of them, he has eaten the good pasture, he has trodden down Avith his feet the good things that God has given, he has ignored them. But God's people eat that Avhicli has been trodden with their feet, and they drink that Avhich has been fouled A\dth their feet. They rejoice in the truth of God. The saints of God accept the word of God wliich the false teachers reject and it is food for their soul while the sheep fed by the hireling shepherd are starAdng for the word of God. In the verses 20, 21, 22, 23 : "Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them : Behold, I, even I, Avill judge between the fat cattle and betAveen the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and Avith shoulder, and pushed all the diseased Avith your horns, till ye liaAe scattered them abroad; Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge betAAcen cattle and cattle. And I A\all set up one shepherd over jiow I (ioT 1 AiTii I'i;; them.'" I would say i(» i lie jx-oidc of (iod. Id us le that have this experience, that have been led out of sect coid'usion, and brought into the light of the gospel, and when they first heard the truth they thought it was ter- rible. Thought that it was destroying tlic church, and tearing down the work of (Jod. IJut when they received the light from (Jod they walked in the light, and God turned their darkness to light. The man of (Jod that stood pei-secution and pi-eached the truth clear and plain and showed to them their crooked ways shall not lose his reward. (Jod led those peoj)le by n Avay that they knew not of and opened the l)lind eyes of those who wanted to un- derstand and showed them tlie way unto the House rf the liord. Jeremiah 14:14, "Then the Lord said unto me, The ])rophets ])rophesy lies in my name: I sent them not. neither have I connnanded them, licit hei* spake unto them: they pr()j)he.sy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their hear!" \Vlien man preaches today something that is not (lod's word, yet claims that (^lod sent him we can know that (Jod never sent him. When a man teaches lies he is not sent of Ood. When a man preaches something that wil! kill s])irituality he is not sent of ("Jod. Jeremiah 1*.">:1-I, "Woe l>e unio the ]>asiois ijiai 244 HOW I GOT FAITH destroy and scatter the sheep of my i)astuie! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my peofjle; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them ; behold, 1 will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and T^dll bring them again to their folds ; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them ; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord." Now, brother, as God has fulfilled this prophesy and has gathered his peoj)le out of the places where they have been scat- tered and set us over them to teach them to not con- form to the world, and to hold them together by the gospel of Jesus Christ, be true to your calling. Fear not to do what God has called you to do and to fill your place, that w^hen you come to the great Judgment Bar of God you can hear the welcome words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, come up a little higher." Zachariah 11 :3, "There is a voice of the howl- ing of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions ; for th e pride of Jordan is spoiled." We see this prophesy fulfilled today. There is a howling and crying out against the ministers of God that spend their time for the glory of God. It is a common thing to hear people say when you go into a community where the truth has been preached, "They are the Evening Light- ers," or spoken of as the "Gospel Trumpeters," or "Those Church of God People." And they will say, "Those people have come here to tear up the church ;" and that the trouble of it is that they got all of our besfc members, our paying members. This can easily be explained, for God says in Kevela- tion, "Come out of her my people." He just calls now I GOT FAITH 1'45 His people. He does not call those who aic not his people, except to call them to repentance. So the ones that God calls out of Babylon are liis people. Romans IG :17-18, "Xow I beseech yon, bretliirit of God. It will hold them together. 2 Timothy 3:1-3, "This know also, that in tl»e last days perilous times shall come. For men sliall be lovers of .their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to ])ai'ents, unUiank- ful, unlioly, without natural affection, truccbicak- ers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, desjnsers of those that are good." This prophesy has come true. It is fulfilled now right in the town where we live. Here we visit the sick. There are thosc^ Ihm-c wlio have come from a distance with lung trouble .seek- ing health from the climate. We visit all we can and try to encourage them, ami try to get them to see what God has for them. ^Nfany have given up the doctors and trusted the Lord for their healing, and some have been healed, and others are improv- ing. The doctors and friends to the woild, and sectaiian ]>T'ea(he!-s, togcMher witli lay nienibei-s f(>ll 240 now I GOT FAITH them that we are of the devil, that we are division makers ; that we are not to be relied upon, yet God honors our work here. Verse four: "Traitors, heady, highminded, lov- ers of pleasures more than lovers of God." The preachers and church members that do this fre- quent the shows and worldly places of anuisement. Verse five: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerniag the faith. But they shall proceed no further : for their folly shall be mani- fest unto all men, as their's also was." Now, this prophesy is being fulfilled in Roswell, New Mexico, they are being exposed by the word of God, and the honest people are beginning to see it. We find in 2 John 1:9-11, "Whosoever trans- gresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, re- ceive him not into your house, neither bid him God epeed. For he that biddeth him God speed is par- taker of his evil deeds." It seems hard for some people to get the understanding of this. They think it would be too hard not to receive any one into their house, and even not to go to hear some preach- ers who come into the community. But God means w^hat he says, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine," the doctrine of Jesus Christ, "receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his e'sil deeds." At one time there was a man knocked at the now 1 HUT FAlTii L'lT door of my liome. i wcMit to the door. The man iiilroduccd himsell as Kcverend »So and t?o, and a founder of a certain holiness faction. I invited him to come in, he said, "Let me get my company." He stepped back a few steps and called lo a couple of yotmg ladies. He introduced them as his daugh- ter and a young lady that was traveling with them. They had tambourines and stringed instruments and tliey wanted to stay over night. 1 kept them. I talked to him as long as he would talk to me, but finally at a very late hour he sulled on me and went to sleep. He told me that he had a Gospel Trum- pet that was printed twenty years ago, ami had read that paper frequently since then. 1 did not have so mucli mercy on him then as I had before, for then I saw that he had had the truth and would not accept it. In tlie morning aftei- breakla.st he asked me if he held a meeting in town if he could have the use of my room. I thought he had reference to the meeting house. I said, "Well, the saints of God have bought this house for tlie pnri)ose of having the jture gospel i)reached in it, and those who will preach the pure gospel are welcome to preach in it." My wife then said to me, "Papa, he does not mean rom- ise in the Xew Testament. We exhoi-t the cliildren to get saved. Have ha i r> * — — iJB