A. B. EARLE

It was claimed that the famous Spirit-filled evangelist, A. B. Earle, author of "Bringing in the Sheaves," and The Rest of Faith," preached more frequently than any other man living at the same time. In fifty years he traveled 325,000 miles in the United States and Canada, preached 19,780 times, and 150,000 persons professed conversion in his meetings. He often preached three or four times in one day. He usually held union meetings, and frequently ten, twenty, or even thirty churches united in his protracted meetings. In one city fifteen hundred persons professed conversion to Christ as a result of his labors, and during an evangelistic tour of nine months' dura、 tion over five thousand people were gathered into the churches where he held meetings. He deserves to be ranked with the greatest evangelists and soul winners of all time.

A writer in a leading British religious paper said concerning Mr. Earle: "His preaching was not eloquent. His delivery was not beyond the average. His voice had no special power. His large angular frame and passionless mouth were decidedly against him. His sermons seemed sometimes as though composed thirty years ago, before we so often heard, as now, the more clear and ringing utterances of free grace, and the name of Jesus in almost every sentence. He exprssed his own emotions very simply, and did not often refer to them. His rhetoric was

often at fault, and sometimes even his grammar. Truly the enticing words of man's wisdom were wanting in his

case.

The first time I heard him I came away in wonder as to wherein his unusual gospel power lay; but as I listened to him again and again, I could not help realizing how the congregation, and my own soul with them, were held by the power of God. When he preached on the value of a human soul, I do not remember a single thought or illustration that was new to me; and yet I came away overwhelmed in this realization of the infinite preciousness of each child of Adam, and found myself as I awoke the next morning, weeping in sorrow and anxiety for lost sinThat day there were, I trust, two souls given me in private conversations.

ners.

"Yet there was nothing like the electric power which enabled Massillion, in the last century, to cause a multitude to start at once from their seats in an agony of mortal terror, nor even the sobbing and outcry, as under Jonathan Edward's celebrated sermon on 'Eternity.' All was still. But about forty souls were baptized two or three days afterward.

Coming to the meeting perfectly free to follow the guidance of the Spirit, the preacher seemed as simple and as easily guided in any direction as the smallest child in the house. The congregation, which seemed to be so wonderfully swayed by him, were really controlled by the same Holy Spirit which controlled him. He simply watched for and recognized the guidance of God, and walked in it.

"There was no rule in his movements. He sometimes asked the awakened to come forward, sometimes to rise in their seats; sometimes no expression was called for. All was simple and natural; and the very simplicity itself,

and the unexpectedness of the direction of the meetings, surprised the unconverted out of their defences."

Earle was a Baptist, but he was strongly in favor of union meetings in evangelistic work. He believed that one of the most potent factors in bringing souls to Christ was the sight of Christians of different denominations working together in perfect harmony. His union meetings were so many and so large that he had the privilege of laboring with no less than eight thousand ministers, in almost every state in the United States, in three of the provinces of Canada, and in the British Isles. "I have never charged any special sum for my services as an evangelist," says he; "preferring to leave it to the people to give me, as a freewill offering, just what they chose at the close of each series of meetings." His famous book, "Bringing in the Sheaves," has had an immense sale, and the proceeds were considerable.

Earle was a strong believer in the preaching of future punishment. "I have found by long experience," says he, "that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves LOST before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape from danger until they see it. I have reason to believe that a single sermon I have often preached on "The Sin that Hath Never Forgiveness' (Mark 3:29), has been the means of more than twenty thousand conversions." He also says, concerning this sermon: "I have known scores to give themselves to Christ under a single sermon on this subject, again and again." "The wicked never flee from 'the wrath to come' until they are fully satisfied there is wrath," says he.

Earle began preaching in 1830, when eighteen years of age, but his greatest success was after his own Christian experience was deepened, about the year 1860. In his

little book entitled "The Rest of Faith," written in 1871, he tells us how his own soul was led into the "rest of faith" and enjoyment of the deeper things of God. "About ten years ago," says he, "I began to feel an inexpressible hungering and longing for the fulness of Christ's love. I had often had seasons of great joy and peace in Christ, and in His service. I had seen many precious souls brought into the fold of Christ. I fully believe I then belonged to Christ, that my name was in His family record.

"I loved the work of the ministry, but had long felt an inward unrest, a void in my soul that was not filled. Seasons of great joy would be followed by seasons of darkness and doubt. If I had peace, I feared it would not continue; and it did not.

"Many anxious Christians came to me, complaining of the same thing. How could I help them on that point, when I did not know how to get right myself? I took them to the seventh chapter of Romans, and there left them, saying, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' I was there myself, and supposed I must live and die there.

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In this state I was exposed to severe temptations and attacks of the enemy. I made strong and repeated resolutions that I would be faithful, but could not keep them. Then I sought and found forgiveness again, and was happy, and said, 'Oh, that I could always enjoy such peace!' But it was soon disturbed by some word, or act, or heart-wandering.

"Thus I lived on for many years: now happy in my Christian experience, and now unhappy; sometimes doubting and fearing, and sometimes resting. God gave me success in winning souls, and granted me many hours of sweet communion with my Saviour, for which I am truly grate

ful; still I was unsatisfied,-I wanted an uninterrupted rest and peace.

"I often read those precious words uttered by our Saviour, 'If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.' I longed and prayed to be there, but knew not the way. Oh that some one had then taught me the way of rest in Jesus!

"I frequently met Christians who claimed sinless perfection: many of them were, indeed, a better type of Christians than ordinary professors; but they did not seem perfect to me. The rest in Jesus, for which I longed, was still unfound.

"At last I felt that the question for me to settle was this,—Can an imperfect Christian sweetly and constantly rest in a perfect Saviour, without condemnation ?

"This I revolved in my mind for a long time. I read, as far as I could, the experiences of those who seemed to live nearest to Christ. I searched the Scriptures for light, and asked such as I believed had power with God to pray with and for me, that I might be led aright on this great question. At length I became satisfied that Christ had made provision for me and all His children to abide in the fulness of His love without one moment's interruption.

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'Having settled this, I said: 'I need this; I long for it; I cannot truly represent religion without it, and Christ is dishonored by me every day I live without it.

"I therefore deliberately resolved, by the help of my Redeemer, to obtain it at any sacrifice; little realizing how unlike Christ I then was, or how much would be needed, to bring me there.

"I first procured a blank book, which I called my 'Consecration Book,' and slowly and solemnly, on my knees, wrote in it the following dedication: