Love-Slaves
"A distinguished writer has beautifully said, 'Comradeship with God is the secret not only of joy
and peace but of efficiency. In that comradeship we find rest, not from our work, but in our work.
When Christ says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me," He does not invite us to lay aside our work; He offers us
rest in our work. The invitation is to those who are laboring and bearing burdens. The promise is that
He will teach such how to labor and how to bear their burdens so as not to be wearied by them. It
is not a couch which He offers us, but a yoke, and a yoke is an instrument for the accomplishment
of work. But a yoke is not only an implement of industry, it is a symbol of comradeship. The yoke
binds two together. To take Christ's yoke upon us is to be yoked to Christ. "Work with Me,'' says
Christ, ''and your work will be easy and your burden will be light." '

And this comradeship with the Lord Jesus is the secret of victory all along the way and over every
obstacle and every foe. Here, O my brother, my sister, tempted and tried, and almost overcome at
the noon of life, here, in fellowship with Jesus, the flesh loses its subtle power, the charms of the
world are discovered to be but painted mockery, the Devil is outwitted, and while life is a warfare
it is also a victory. Glory to God!"

"The Salvation Army was born, not in a cloister, nor in a drawing-room, but on a spiritual
battlefield -- at the penitent-form. It has been nourished for spiritual conquests, not upon speculative
doctrines and fine-spun verbal distinctions, but upon those great doctrines which can be wrought into
and worked out in soul-satisfying experience. Hence, The Army compels the attention of all men
everywhere and appeals to the universal heart of humanity.

And in this it is in harmony with the scientific spirit and practice of the age, which refuses to be
committed to any theory which cannot be supported by facts.

One of The Army's central doctrines and most valued and precious experiences is that of Heart
Holiness. The bridge which The Army throws across the impassable gulf that separates the sinner
from the Saviour -- who pardons that He may purify, who saves that He may sanctify rests upon
these two abutments -- the forgiveness of sins through simple, penitent, obedient faith in a crucified
Redeemer, and the purifying of the heart and empowering of the soul through the anointing of the
Holy Spirit, given by its risen and ascended Lord, and received not by works, but by faith."

"Some years ago the Founder was in New York, and for nearly a week stood before the thronging
multitudes by night and before his own people by day, pleading for righteousness for Holiness, for
God. He seemed to me an ambassador of the Lord, standing in Christ's stead, seeking to reconcile
men to his Master, and to bind to Him those who were reconciled in an unbreakable covenant of
loyalty and love. And as he toiled with flaming passion to accomplish his purpose, the first great
commandment began to unfold to me in fuller, richer meaning than ever before -- 'Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength.' As he poured out his heart upon us, pleading, as only he could plead, with sinners to repent
and turn to God, and with us, who had done so, to be utterly devoted to Him, I said to myself, 'There
is a man who loves God with all his heart.'

Then, as I considered how his whole life was being poured without stint into God's service, I said.
'There is a man who loves God with all his soul.'

Again, when I noted how diligently and with what infinite study and pains he labored to make
plain the great thoughts of God to the feeblest intellect, to the most darkened and degraded, to the
least intelligent of his hearers, I said, 'There is a man who loves God with all his mind.'

And, finally, when I saw him old and worn, snowy white, and burdened with the weight of many
years, with great Meetings awaiting him on the morrow, and with the heavy load of a world
organization ceaselessly pressing hard upon him, still toiling. praying, singing, exhorting, into the
late hours of the night, that Jesus might triumph and sinners be won; when it seemed that he ought
to be seeking rest in sleep, or retiring from the fight to the quiet and comfort of a pleasant home, yet
wearily and heavily, but joyously pressing on, I said, 'There is a man who loves God with all his
strength.'

Afflicted, oftentimes wounded and heart-sore, burdened with care, he still seemed to me to fulfill
each part of that great fourfold commandment; and that, my comrades, was Holiness in action."

(c) Copyright 2002 www.enterhisrest.org