THE DANGERS IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE.

• Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh. Gal. 3, 3.

• Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye. Acts 7, 51.

• But they rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit, therefore He was turned to be, their enemy and He fought against them. Is. 63, 10.

• Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Eph. 4, 30.

• Quench not the Spirit. I Thes. 5, 19.

Everything of great value is always in peril and nothing in this world is in as much peril as the real Christian life. Looking back at his Christian life, Paul says: “I was in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea and in perils among false brethren,” and yet he was in no more danger than Christians are to-day. The perils are not outwardly the same, but the dangers are just as many.

I call your attention to some of the sources of danger:

1. There is danger of too much emphasis on our feelings. The Spirit coming in to abide always gives more or less intoxication to our emotional nature, but this life is a life of faith and not emotions or pleasurable ecstacies. Often the emotions are oppressed by physical conditions when the blood is cleansing us and the Spirit is keeping us whiter than snow.

2. There is danger in not distinguishing between temptation and sin. We must all be tempted. Temptations are an absolute necessity and will come to us as long as we live, for the devil is their author. There is no sin in temptations. Do not blame yourselves with them, nor consent to them. The sin consists in harboring them and consenting to retain them and approving them.

3. There is danger in not distinguishing between infirmities and sins. Imperfections, weaknesses and frailties will be seen in all of us. Physical infirmities may exist with perfect love. Mental imperfections will be characteristic of us all. Peter was sanctified eleven years before his mind could take in the Gentiles for Christ. Perfect love is not seen in our wisdom or external propriety but in our sincerity of soul to please God. The little girl loved her mother when she put her mother's shoes in the oven and baked them so they would be warm when she went out.

4. The danger of leakage. Many people are holding on to the theoretical knowledge of the experience while they have lost the power and presence of the Spirit. Don't forget that there is a possibility to sin. We may fall so gradually that we shall be awfully surprised to find ourselves committing some sin. John Wesley thought that not one in three who received the perfect love of God retained the grace to the end. Let us not fail to confess the leakage.

5. The danger of silence. The unbelief in the church and the opposition of some of the best people in the church will be a strong temptation to tone down and keep silent on the subject. Here is where John Fletcher failed five times. Here is where I have failed many times more than he and yet not from the same causes. Toning down is always perilous and yet it seems so proper and wise to do it.

6. The temptation to bitterness is often a great danger. There are so many unfair things, discounts, personal insults, that you are liable to become sour and retaliative and before you are aware the gentleness and sunshine of the soul have gone. Do not get sore on account of any bad treatment but rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name.

7. There is danger of spiritual pride. Mr. Wesley warned his people against pride. If God has put it out, keep it out. Keep that lowly mind which was in Christ who made himself of no reputation, and our prayer should be, “Make me little and unknown, loved and prized by God alone.”

8. There is danger of compromising with the world that is in the church, and then wavering and trimming. The cause of holiness has suffered from that source. The world, no matter where it is, is enmity to Christ. The Presiding Elder will advise caution. The Bishop counsel moderation. Let your separation from the world be known to all men.

9. Danger of extravagance, not in service and sacrifice and prayer, but in visions, revelations and extraordinary powers. Avoid tangents, they are very deceptive. Even the gift of tongues, faith healing and second coming, are all perilous if you exalt them out of their place. Keep on the main line of regeneration, the witness of the Spirit and perfect love.

10. Be diligent in the holiness business. Get a move on you. If it is worth anything to you, then help others to receive it. You are not a reservoir, but a channel and if you will not be a channel then you will be a barrier. You must open up the fountain to others. The well of water in you must be springing up to everlasting life for other people. From you there shall flow rivers of living waters. Get busy.

11. There is danger of remaining too narrow and partial for great service. "Add to your faith knowledge.” Think, read and study this subject and become intelligent in this life. There are so many ninnies, just namby pambies. They have tied up at the post where they crossed the river into the kingdom and there they have stamped and shouted till the ground is hard and dry as a paved street and nothing will grow around them. Study the Bible, read good books and papers. You- ought to take a church paper to keep posted in your denomination, but you will need more soul food than you will get there.

12. There is danger in separating from other Christians, forming close religious corporations, and thinking that you belong to a higher class of Christian society and that the other people are inferior to your circle. In many of our churches there are bands that have been snared in that way and they are filled with spiritual pride, so that they are offensive and useless.

13. Another danger to the holiness people is the desire to be leaders. I grant that in many places the appointed leaders in the church are negligent of spiritual things and many times they are opposed to spiritual life. Then God raises up leaders, but when these leaders begin to desire leadership then it begins to poison the heart. The only person that is fit for leadership is one whose heart is not set upon it and who trembles at every additional power and who is willing to give it up whenever the Lord is willing to let him do so. He must be all of Christ and none of self. Wesley wrote to Asbury that he “studied to be small/” No wonder the Lord could use him. “To this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” President Finney said “A Christian needed to be broken all to pieces every six weeks, so as to be fitted for greater service.”

14. Another danger to the Holiness people is touchiness, being sensitive when reproved or rebuked or warned by some people who seem to be common sort of Christians. In every convention or camp meeting there are people who have a brilliant experience and seem so self-conceited that their testimony is an injury rather than a blessing. The only way to get clear of smartness and touchiness is, to be broken all to pieces with love to God and man.