The Baptism of Christian Fire
Suppose we saw an army sitting down before a granite fortress, and they told us that they intended to batter it down. We might ask them, how? They point us to a cannon-ball. Well, but there is no power in that! It is heavy, but not more than a hundred-weight, or half a hundred-weight. If all the men in the army were to throw it, that would make no impression. They say, "No, but look at the cannon." Well, but there is no power in that; it is a machine and nothing more. But look at the powder! Well, there is no power in that; a child may spill it, a sparrow may pick it up. Yet this powerless powder, and this powerless ball, are put into this powerless cannon; one spark of fire enters it, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, that powder is a flash of lightning, and that cannon-ball is a thunder-bolt, which smites as if it had been sent from heaven. So is it with our church machinery of the present day. We have our instruments for pulling down the strongholds, but oh, for the baptism of Christian fire!