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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Booth, C. (1881) Papers on Godliness 

Concept of 'Spurious Charity'

True charity looks at th eend - th espresd of righteousness in the earth - the reign of the king.. pp58

But you see it is self-evident that until the Church -I mean the people of God-have explored all the ideas which are in the Divine mind for the propagation of His Kingdom in the earth, SOMEBODY must be ALWAYS RECEIVING NEW LIGHT and making new departures, and there has never been a single instance in the history of the Church in which this has been done, but nearly the whole of that generation has raised a hue and cry against it! How would it be possible for God to bring about a revolution, - a true revival, - a grand aggressive movement of Christianity, without giving new light and calling somebody to some path in advance of all that has gone before ? pp 59

That is, it always manifests itself in harmony with the great moral law of the universe-it never does evil that good may come! You never hear it saying-' 1 cannot say that this is exactly square; I know this is not exactly the right course, but then 1 can 'accomplish such and such objects by adopting it.' Never! that is of the devil. You may always know that the law of righteousness is entwined round the very heart of Divine Charity, and as justice and judgment are the habitation of the throne of its Divine Author, so righteousness is in the very core of its soul. It will never sacrifice righteousness for peace, or anything else, howsoever precious.

Now, what is the whole duty of man ? To do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with God; and, when the Holy Spirit has brought about that result in your soul, God will look on you with a beneficent eye, with a smile of approbation, and its genial influence will sun your whole being, and you will walkin th elight of it, even as the angels do in heaven. "Do justice, love mercy, an dwalk humbly with God:" that is the duty of man - everything is included in that. pp 65ff

Perfect Heart - speaks of sincerity and thoroughness in love. Demonstrated in its loyalty to God; in its obedience to God; and in its trust of God.

We want sanctified humanity, not sanctimoniousness (the curse of a great deal of religion of this day)

What does God want with us? He wants us just to be, and to do. He wants us to be like His Son, and then to do as His Son did; and when we come to that He will shake the worldd through us pp 165

How do you read the history of the miracles - the stories of His opening the eyes, unstopping the ears, cleansing the leper, and,raising the dead ? The Lord show us how to read it.

He will heal you if you will let Him. These are the sort of words the world wants - the living words, living embodiments of Christianity, walking embodiments of the Spirit, and life and power of Jesus Christ. You may scatter Bibles, as you have done, all over the, world. You may preach, and sing, and talk, and do what you will; but, if you don't exhibit to the people living epistles, show them the transformation of character and life in yourself which is brought about by the power and grace of God - if you don't go to them and do the works of Jesus Christ, you may go on preaching, and the world will get worse and worse, and the Church too. We want a living embodiment of Christianity. We want JESUS TO COME IN THE FLESH AGAIN....

You want a real, living embodiment of Christianity over again, and if The Salvation Army is not going to be that, may God put it out! I would be willing to pronounce the funeral oration of The Army if 1 did not believe it was going to be that. The world is dying for this.

pp 166-167

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