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In
Praise of Enthusiasm
by
Commissioner Wesley Harris
IN AN old English
cemetery was a chiselled
epitaph for
a parson which stated that he had been
‘vicar of this parish for forty years without showing
the least sign of enthusiasm.’
Since the
eighteenth century the word ‘enthusiasm’ has broadened in its
meaning from indicating religious frenzy or fanaticism as
might be suggested by its literal meaning of being ‘possessed
by a god’. According to the
Oxford
dictionary it can also indicate an ardent zeal for a person, a
purpose or a cause and without that any cause is likely to be
lost.
That is certainly
true in relation to evangelism.
It is recorded that an article by an atheist prompted
the famous cricketer and missionary C .T. Studd to dedicate
himself for the
spread of the gospel.
In part the writer had declared, ‘If I firmly believed,
as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of
religion in this life influences destiny in another then
religion would mean everything to me.
I would cast aside any earthly employments as dross…’
Jesus Christ was
the supreme Enthusiast who came into the world to save
sinners. His
master passion was for the kingdom (or reign) of God in the
hearts of men and women and ‘apostolic enthusiasm’ was a hall
mark of the Church he founded. It certainly characterized the
early Salvation Army. Our forebears in the faith were imbued
by what was called a passion for souls.
William Booth was a pace-setter who made a point of
personally challenging all and sundry about their need of
salvation and his son Bramwell defined enthusiasm as ‘love on
fire’.
Maintaining
enthusiasm may be difficult.
Edwin Way Teale wrote, ‘The measure of an enthusiast
must be taken between interesting events.
It is between bites that the lukewarm angler loses
heart’. Sometimes enthusiasm can diminish with the passage of
years which caused one writer to dismiss it cynically as a
‘distemper of youth’. But that need not be the case.
I know fellow retirees in whom the flame of enthusiasm
burns brightly. It
is what keeps them alive!
In 1875 the Army
Mother, Catherine Booth, wrote, ‘The glorious means and
appliances placed at our disposal for the salvation of souls
are such as should not fail to waken the grandest enthusiasm.
When the lifeboat goes out to the stranded ship and
brings some of the shipwrecked crew safe to shore, no one
complains of the enthusiasm of the bystanders who perhaps
hoist them shoulder high and carry them through the town.
I maintain that is right to be enthusiastic when we
have such a gospel to preach and such results over which to
rejoice’. Amen!
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