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Man’s Chief Good
By Catherine Booth
Notes from an Address by Catherine
Booth at Manchester, 20th January 1882. As found in The War
Cry No. 114, February 23 1882, and reprinted in 'Holiness
Readings', 1883.
As I look round this morning, the question
presents itself to me: "Is there no way of showing people-and
especially young people, before the terrible, trying, and
harrowing experience of a lifetime, which it seems to take
most people to learn it-is there no way of teaching people the
great truth, the one end which God has in view in human life,
yea, in allowing the race to continue, and in His dealings
with the race all the way through, the one great lesson which
we must learn if ever we get to Heaven, namely, THAT GOD IS
THE GREAT GOOD, the one satisfying portion for the human
soul?" Then I said, "O Lord, do thou teach it to them. Reveal
to them by Thy Spirit that Thou art the end for which they
were created".
Satan has deluded the race by getting them
to imagine that other ends, and things, and beings are the
great good for which they were made. One young man sets his
eyes on a beautiful young woman, loves her, and thinks that
she will be his great good. She will be a great good, if she
is a godly girl, but not THE great good for which he was made,
and therefore if he stops shot there, he will miss the mark,
and God will perhaps have to take her away from him, to show
him his mistake, and to lead him to seek his happiness in God.
Others think that getting on in the world,
getting fame, reputation, or wealth will be their great good;
they toil, and labour, and take a great deal more pains for it
than will do them good, or satisfy them if they attain it. Oh!
how many of these disappointed men I have talked to! Men whose
life was almost gone, as their silver locks and tottering
limbs testifies, and, as they have looked back on their life,
they have admitted, directly or indirectly, as I heard a man
say a few days ago, "Yes, my life has been a mistake!" Such
people try to satisfy their souls with that which can never
satisfy them. Happy if, at last, like the prodigal, they find
out their mistake, and turn to God before ALL IS LOST FOREVER!
Others make their family their great good.
They say, "I will make that boy this, and that girl the
other;" but there is hardly a parent on earth can do with his
children what he desires, and he finds that even his children
are not his great good. I hear there are some of you that say
"Amen" to that; but you will have bitterer things yet. God is
bound to disappoint you, if He would save you, while you place
your affections and ambitions on anything short of Himself. He
made you FOR HIMSELF, and He will have you for Himself, or He
will have to shut you up with the devil and his angles. The
universe will only be divided into tow parts at last,-those
who will be for God, and those against Him. If you do not take
Him for your great good now, you will be reckoned amongst
those who are against Him then. Those beings that have
affinities for each other gather together. If there were no
God, and souls continue what they are, if after death your
inclinations and dispositions are evil, you will go with the
evil. The good will all go to the right hand, because right is
right; and the bad will all go to the left, because wrong is
wrong.
I have had rather a sharp tussle with the
enemy this morning. As I was coming along in the bath chair I
was taking myself to task, for I like to come to the
foundation of things, and see where I am. It is fearfully
possible for anyone to get wrong, for the devil has a new trap
for each day. I was pulling myself up before some questions
which satan had been thrusting before me. As I was reading in
private this morning, this line struck me very
forcibly-"Because thou hast trusted in thy way, and hast not
trusted in the Lord," etc.
I said, "Oh, Lord! am I trusting in my way
in anything?" Then I examined myself thus: - I said,
"Supposing this were to happen so, and that were to happen so,
all contrary to my way-to my poor judgement of what is the
best. What would I do then?" and my heart said, "I would still
trust in Thee, O Lord! Nay, if Thou should strip my of
everything, and leave me naked and desolate, I would still
trust in Thee, and still seek Thy kingdom; and if there were a
possibility for me to be sent to hell, I would set UP FOR THEE
THERE!" That was enough for the devil; he went off, and has
not troubles me since; and as we were singing- "Jesus has
satisfied,"
I said, "Yes he does!" I have had many a
hard battle, and been worsted many a time in learning this
lesson of life-that God is THE GOOD OF HIS CREATURES. God is a
jealous God. You know how you husbands would feel if you
thought you had a rival in your wife's heart; or you wives, in
your husband's; or you parents, in your children's. God is a
jealous God, and He will be the first and last, and All and in
All to the soul. He will have all creatures subordinate to
Him, and used for, and in Him, and if you will do that, He
will give you a happy time of it; but, if not, you will have a
rough time of it. He cannot save you till you are brought to
it, and if you won't make up your mind to it, you will be
stripped and whipped again and again till you do, and if you
will not, after all, you will be cast into hell. Now make your
choice. I have made mine, and I will go through with it, and
see how it ends. It has begun very nicely. I thought as I
heard my third boy speak, "Yes! I would rather have him there
than sitting on an emperor's throne, and swaying a sceptre
over an empire".
Now, this is what God wants of every one of
you. He says, "If you will choose Me, I will choose you. My
eyes run to and fro over the whole earth, to show Myself
strong on the behalf of those who will thus choose Me. If your
heart is perfect towards Me in this sense, I will put my
great, long arm down, and I will hold you up and confound your
enemies, vindicate your character, and bring out your
righteousness as the sun. Trust Me, and I will look after you.
I will choose your wife, or your husband, if you are to have
one, guide you and provide for you, be near you when sick, and
with you when dying. Whether I allow your head to be cut off
like John the Baptist's, or let you be martyred like Peter,
never mind, I WILL BE WITH YOU, and you shall be WITH ME
FOREVER. Now, will you thus choose Me? Will you, will you?"
The Lord help you, now and for ever. Amen.
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