Methodism in Earnest

James Caughey

Mr. Caughey had such a baptism in the earlier years of his ministry. This feature marked it: his theory concerning the necessity of the help of the Holy Spirit in preaching became a conviction - a stern, living conviction. His account of this epoch is characteristically described in one of his letters. He says:

From the hour I read the following striking remarks of Dr. Adam Clarke, a few months previous to my ordination, I have never varied a hair-breadth from the great truth they advocate. I can only quote from memory, as the page which first presented them to my eye is many thousands of miles from me, and I cannot turn to the place in his Works where they stand recorded; but they differ little from the following: “But all this spiritual and rational preaching will be of no avail, unless another means of God’s own choosing be superadded to give it an effect - the light and influence of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit of life and fire penetrates, in a moment, the sinner’s heart, and drags out to the view of his conscience those innumerable crimes which lie concealed there under successive layers of deep and thick darkness, when, under that luminous burning agency, he is compelled to cry, ‘ God have mercy upon me a sinner!’ ‘Save, Lord, or I perish!’ ‘Heal my soul, for it hath sinned against thee’”

I shall have eternal cause of thankfulness that the above sentiments ever came under my notice. If my ministry has been rendered a blessing to many, that blessing has been vouchsafed through the merits of Christ, to a steady recognition of the necessity of the influence of the Holy Spirit. On the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten day in which I read the above, I took up my pen, in secret, before God, and gave vent to the emotions of my deeply-impressed heart, in language something like the following: I see, I feel now as I have never done before upon this particular subject. From the convictions of this hour, I hope, by the grace of God, never to vary. I see, I feel,

1st. The absolute necessity of the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost to impart point, power, efficacy, and success to a preached gospel.
2nd. The absolute necessity of praying more frequently, more fervently, more perseveringly, and more believingly, for the aid of the Holy Spirit in my ministry.

3rd. That my labours must be powerless, and comfortless, and valueless, without this aid; a cloud without water, a tree without fruit, dead and rootless; a sound uncertain, unction-less, and meaningless; such will be the character of my ministry. It is the Spirit of God alone which imparts significancy and power to the word preached, without which, as one has expressed it, “all the threatenings of the Bible will be no more than thunder to the deaf, or lightning to the blind.” A seal requires weight, a hand upon it, in order to [make] an impression. The soul of the penitent sinner is the wax; gospel truth is the seal; but, without the Almighty hand of the Holy Ghost, that seal is powerless. A bullet demands its powder, without which it is as harmless as any other body. The careless sinner is the mark; truth is the ball that must pierce him; but it cannot reach, much less penetrate him, separate from this influence from heaven. In apostolic times, they preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. 1 Peter, I.v12 In our day we need an energy from no lower source, to overturn the wickedness of the vile and profane, and to counteract the formality and worldliness which are everywhere visible.

4th. I am now fully persuaded, that in proportion as the Spirit of God shall condescend to second my efforts in the gospel message, I shall be successful; nor need I expect any success beyond. No man has ever been signally useful in winning souls to Christ, without the help of the Spirit. With it, the humblest talent may astonish earth and hell, by gathering into the path of life thousands for the skies; while without it, the finest; the most splendid talents remain comparatively useless.

5th. The entire glory of all my success shall henceforth be given to the Holy Spirit. By this I shall conscientiously abide, as by any other principle of our holy religion. It is written: “ They that honour me, I will honour.” To this may be added, that righteous, inalienable, and unchanging determination of Jehovah: “My glory I will not give to another.”

These truly scriptural purposes were graven on Mr. Caughey’s heart as with the finger of God. The conviction of dependence became henceforth interwoven with his thoughts and feelings. Several years after, when he was sailing on the full tide of glorious success, he exclaimed, speaking of himself as an instrument:

Amazing goodness, that it should be so owned of God! I know the reason! It is because there is a distinct understanding between my poor soul and Heaven, that no portion of the glory of such a work is to be appropriated by me, either to myself or others; that I am to feel as deeply humbled before God when thousands are converted under my ministry, as when only one sinner has been converted. He knows I would rather die than vary, for a moment, from first principles; I mean those views of the necessity of the Holy Spirit, which I noted down as the convictions of my heart, after reading that sentiment of Dr. Clarke. That eminent servant of God little thought, that this passage, of all the multitudinous writings, which emanated from his pen, should be rendered such a blessing. So true is that stirring saying of holy writ: “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” He little imagined, when penning those words, that they should be wafted across the Atlantic ocean, and fall like heaven’s own fire upon the understanding and heart of a young and ardent spirit at the foot of the Green Mountains, in North America; that, at an important and perilous period of a youthful ministry, these words of light, life, and fire, should arrive, should interweave themselves with the whole texture of his “thinkings,” become one with his very being, and the secret spring of his motions; motions which, though somewhat eccentric in the estimation of some, have resulted in the conversion of many thousands of sinners to God. And then, that this youth, having sprung into manhood, should cross the “raging seas,” in the noon of his usefulness, and pay back, to Ireland first, and then to England, a sort of interest for the use of that invaluable capital transferred to the American shores; and all to the glory of God the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! “ Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest.” Rev. xv. 3, 4.

The experience described in this chapter, may be considered as the beginning of the Spirit’s work in preparing Mr Caughey to be a special instrument of salvation to thousands. He might have resisted that anointing. He might have rested satisfied with a sound theory, instead of steeping his soul in the truth, until it so filled him that he learned as by instinct to lay all the glory of his labours at the footstool of the eternal God. The next chapter will show the further work of the Spirit on his heart.