Down through the echoes of eternity we can learn about those early evangelists of The Salvation Army who were endued with the Holy Spirit’s fullness to accomplish the mission that was before them. This fullness of the Spirit of God is not our having more of God; it is God having more of us. 

Hymn-writer Charles Wesley penned it best, “When Jesus makes my heart His home, my sin shall all depart; And, lo, He saith: I quickly come, to fill and rule thy heart.” Our life is not only to be filled but overflowing with the Holy Spirit of God. All believers whose labors have given recognition to the Lord bear witness to a distinct, definite blessing, which was inaugurated after their spiritual life began. If questioned, they would give different accounts of how they received this experience and describe it, but they suddenly became bold and conquering. Senior Major Allister Smith was one of those people. 

Born to pioneering Salvationists James and Elizabeth Smith, Allister was shaped by his parents and the Holy Spirit to become a person of impact in his own day. Whether in public or private, by proclamation or publication, Allister’s life mission was to tell others about holiness. He believed that it was a commandment from the Lord. In his book “Made Whole,” he writes, “There is no holiness apart from the holiness of Jesus in us. It is Jesus who cleanses our hearts from all sin by His blood and fills us with Himself by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I have no purity of my own, but His pure Spirit makes me pure within, controlling my thoughts, desires, motives, words and deeds.” 

Captain Charles Smith is the corps officer in Jonesboro, AR. Photos courtesy of The Salvation Army International Headquarters Archives and Malcolm Westwood.