Standards of Life and Service
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Standards of Life and Service
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #26652.
About this book
The book is a collection of addresses delivered by Commissioner Thomas Henry Howard, a senior Salvation Army leader, at a series of Holiness Meetings held in London’s Congress Hall in 1908. The opening pages explain that the speeches have been edited from shorthand notes at the request of the commissioner, and they are presented as practical counsel rather than a systematic theology. Howard frames Christianity as a present‑day call to a good life, insisting that true holiness requires “watchful and often painful obedience” rather than a licence to sin after confession. The text proceeds through a series of topical chapters, God’s call, consecration, divine fellowship, the doctrine adorned, and so forth, each aimed at guiding the reader toward a life measured against the divine standard of holiness.
Written in the earnest, sermon‑like prose of early‑20th‑century evangelical literature, the work reflects the Salvation Army’s emphasis on personal sanctification and disciplined service. Its tone is didactic yet devotional, blending scriptural citation with vivid analogies and appeals to the reader’s conscience. Readers who appreciate historic religious instruction, especially those interested in the development of Methodist‑influenced holiness movements or in the practical spirituality of the Salvation Army, will find Howard’s addresses both a window into the era’s evangelical fervour and a source of disciplined moral guidance.
Who appears in Standards of Life and Service
- Commissioner HowardMiddle‑aged man in early 1900s Salvation Army uniform, dark suit, white shirt, black tie, crisp moustache, solemn expression
The opening · free to read
The following pages contain reports of addresses delivered by Commissioner Howard, of our International Headquarters, during an important series of Holiness Meetings held in the Congress Hall, London, principally in 1908. Those Meetings were widely used by God, and at my request the Commissioner has revised the shorthand reports of his words for this volume. We now send forth his messages in the hope of still further extending their usefulness.
Christianity is a present-day call to a good life. If it be anything less than that, it is really not worth troubling about. It is, of course, rich in holy memories, and venerable in its association with all that is true and best in the past. But it is not only ancient in its origin and triumphs--it is intensely modern in its touch with human need, and in its demand that the spirit of righteousness should be the controlling force in human life--in the common life of to-day. It is the aim of the following addresses to bring that truth home to us, and to help us to go direct to JESUS CHRIST Himself for power to respond to that claim.
Cast in popular form, as was necessary for meeting such occasions as those which called them forth, these addresses do not attempt any comprehensive statements of the philosophy of Holiness. Anything of that kind, no matter how successful, would have been the undoing of the whole effort. Nevertheless, the diligent reader will, I think, find underlying these practical counsels certain valuable principles. In particular, he will find implied, when not actually expressed, an important distinction between the work of God in the justifying and purifying of the soul, and the work of man in walking in obedience to the laws of God. It is that obedience I am thinking of when I say that Christianity is a demand for righteousness. It is that obedience we mean when we talk of Holiness--in its practical aspects.
One of the dangers to which all deeply spiritual teaching is open, is a kind of antinomianism--a species of religious bargaining between the soul and God; and that is a thing which is, of course, totally alien to His will, and completely ruinous to true progress. The process of such thought is something like this: 'Christ has performed for me a work of infinite love and merit. If I confess and deplore evil, I may claim pardon for it and purifying from its guilt by faith in the Divine Sacrifice made for me. That will ease my burdened soul and free me from apprehension as to future peril--peril which would otherwise have proved very real. As to temptation to further evil, I must watch against it; but if by chance or evil impulse, or even wilful choice, I fall into it, let me not be too deeply concerned. I can easily obtain again what I have obtained before.'
Now, that is not only a false position, but it involves an extremely dangerous error--an error which in practice is ultimately destructive of real faith. Salvation--indeed, all spiritual experience, is entered into by faith, of course; but it can only be maintained by hearty, determined obedience on our part. Christ has died for us, but He has not obeyed for us. The 'new heart' is by faith in Him--but the new life can only be lived by watchful and often painful obedience to the law of love. 'I counsel thee to buy of Me', saith He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, 'white raiment that thou mayest be clothed'; and 'Blessed', He says also, 'is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked'. Paul prayed for the saints of his day 'that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith'; but he prayed also that they 'might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, strengthened with all might unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness'.
It is towards standards for this life of rightly living that Commissioner Howard is working in the following chapters. May the blessing of the great Standard-Bearer rest upon his words, and give the light and grace which He alone can afford to every reader.
BRAMWELL BOOTH.
THE SALVATION ARMY, LONDON, April, 1909.
I wish that these Addresses could, in their present form, be marked by those personal experiences which made the thoughts so alive to me when the words were uttered in public Meetings. If the flashes of light, the intensity of conviction, and the sense of Divine help which were mine when speaking, could be reproduced in cold type, the impression upon the readers would be much more effective. That may not be fully possible, but I pray that in His own way God may use the book to the helping of many souls in the things which make for Holiness and happy service.
T. H. H.
Thou hidden love of God, whose height, Whose depth unfathomed no man knows; I see from far Thy beauteous light, Inly I sigh for Thy repose: My heart is pained, nor can it be At rest till it finds rest in Thee.
Is there a thing beneath the sun That strives with Thee my heart to share? Ah, tear it thence, and reign alone, The Lord of every motion there! Then shall my heart from earth be free, When it hath found repose in Thee.
Oh, hide this self from me, that I No more, but Christ in me, may live; My vile affections crucify, Nor let one darling lust survive! In all things nothing may I see, Nothing desire or seek, but Thee!
Each moment draw from earth away My heart, that lowly waits Thy call: Speak to my inmost soul, and say, 'I am thy Lord, thy God, thy All!' To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice, To share Thy cross be all my choice.
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