Pentecostal Possibilities or "The Story of My Life"
by Milton Lorenzo (M. L.) Haney
CHAPTER 48
Campaigning in Southern Illinois
In these first years of evangelism, much time was given to Southern Illinois, and much occurred which cannot now be easily recorded. The best results sometimes were reached at desolate places. There was a cry for help at Petersburg, and I went with expectation of victory. The M. E. Church there had been fearfully weakened and brought low, but the special gift of faith for soul saving, which came to me as the result of giving my life to evangelistic work, seemed to turn mountains into mole hills, and made success a certainty. A few names were here, as in Sardis, whose garments were not defiled; but a genuine revival was a thing of the past. Having so little to build on, I was led to preach much to backsliders, and sinners, and crowds of them were before me.
A prominent brother in the church was alarmed for the church, and greatly feared fanaticism in a body which had hardly drawn a good, healthy breath in years. My services, of course, were in painful contrast with what he had been having, and his soul became fearfully stirred. In concert with him was an elect lady, who was rich, and had a powerful influence. Other dead men and women were awakened sufficiently to fight the truth, but these two held the reins. I saw God had put a throng of perishing souls into my hands, and these dead professors stood fearfully in the way. One night, as I faced a crowded house, I was so wrought up for their salvation that it seemed as though it might take my life. I was in an agony of prayer, and these people must be save or I would die! Doubtless many good people are not able to understand such experiences, but others have had them. It was a touch of Gethsemane which will not be forgotten, and I, doubtless, did not think whether I was pleasing my brethren or not. The prominent brother, alluded to above, was standing in a group of sinners who could not find sitting room, and said to them in the midst of my agony: "I wish you would take that calf out of the house!" The next morning a little girl came to my room and said: "Mamma wants you to come up to our house right away," and the child seemed nervous. I found her mamma was the rich woman previously referred to, and I said: "Tell mamma I will be there in a few minutes." When rods away from her mansion I heard the cry of her agonized soul! On reaching her parlor I saw her prostrate form hanging over a chair, and I listened to her groans for deliverance. She had long, beautiful hair, which she prized very highly, but it was now disheveled and tossed this way and that, as though used for a mop to wipe up her tears from the carpet! Her special friend and church brother, who had been her right hand supporter in opposing the meeting, was stretched on the carpet nearly fifteen feet away, and rolling to and fro with agony. I have rarely seen a strong man so mentally distressed. I noticed, too, that he attempted to give vent to his soul in forms of statement, and groans, patterned after mine the previous night, and his gestures were shocking, but he was oblivious to what men or devils thought, as he felt himself ready to tumble into hell! From a worldly standpoint, it was now my time to call on sinners to take out the calves! But I shared their agonies till God came and lifted them up. I think the brother, though a prominent church official (as many now are), had never been converted, and his poor, deceived soul was dreaming of an arrival in heaven with his heart filled with hatred to holiness! But when God laid that deceived heart open to itself, he saw, and felt, perdition's flames kindled within him, and was as a brand plucked from eternal burning! His conversion was glorious, and his love for me thereafter "surpassed the love of women!" Our sister was wonderfully reclaimed from a backslidden state, and was afterwards beautifully sanctified.
These barriers being out of the way, sinners flocked to the altar, and the community was moved to its inmost centres. O, if the stumbling blocks in the church were removed, her unconverted and backslidden members really saved, how God's work would go forward on the earth!
A great holiness work spread southward through Illinois, involving some glorious camp meetings at Hillsboro, Greenville, and elsewhere. Rev. W. B. M. Colt, with Frank and Henry Ashcraft, were instrumental for a time in saving many souls in that section. My wife accompanied me in that field and was a powerful factor in the meetings. We knew no barren service, and I have no recollection of a single failure. The work was largely among the Methodists, but both ministers and members of other churches shared graciously in this general out-pouring of the Holy Spirit.
A Baptist minister, whose name was Smith, had been sanctified wholly and was a very blessed man of God. He had a church in the country, where a number of his people had reached the fountain, but others were in rebellion against the teaching, and he asked us to come and teach his people doctrinally. The prejudice of his older members largely gave way, and the Lord poured His Spirit upon us. An old "Ironside" Baptist doctor, who was practicing medicine in that locality, was boarding with the postmaster, who was a holiness man, about seven miles away. The news of the work spread, and the postmaster was anxious to come. So he succeeded in inducing the doctor to come with him. He was from Arkansas, in former years, and an exceedingly odd old genius. I noticed him the first night as being startled with the meeting, and before leaving he made a remark which showed his soul was deeply stirred. The second night he was there again, and when I called seekers of pardon, and holiness, he rushed to the altar with a broken heart, and God graciously sanctified him. His testimony was unique, and profoundly interesting. It was odd, like himself, but it was difficult for any spiritual mind to doubt his experience.
The change in him was so wonderful that he could hardly contain himself. We had to go about fifteen miles across the country to our next meeting, and he insisted on taking us there in his carriage. It was a great treat to hear him talk about the Lord by the way, and he was with us in the first service, which was a great uplift to the meeting. I gave an opportunity for testimony, and could I give a verbatim report of his testimony, it would be a wonderful blessing. He said he was an old Ironside Baptist of the strictest sort, and had thought that but few people were right but them. He had heard of the meeting at Smith's Church, but heard we were Methodists, and he did not like the Methodists. In spite of himself he wanted to go, but he heard we were not only Methodists, but preached sanctification in this life! The postmaster, with whom he boarded, was one of them and he urged him to go. So, seeing the meeting was in a missionary Baptist Church he thought he would venture, but he came there so set that nothing should move him. Having sat down with great determination to adhere to his old principles, but this man opened up on holiness, and the first solid shot which came from this old columbiad crashed through his old iron sides and he went home with a broken heart! On coming back the second night his old iron sides utterly gave way, and he fell down at the mourners' bench, and God sanctified his soul! People are rarely moved as was that audience, and his testimony was more than equal to an ordinary three days' service in its soul saving effects. The fire burned so wondrously in the old doctor's soul, that he gave up his practice and went to Arkansas to devote the rest of his life to bringing those who had formerly known him, to this great salvation. O, why do not God's people, and ministers, see that holiness is the key to the world's salvation?