Smith Wigglesworth (June 8, 1859 – March 12, 1947), was a
British evangelist who was important in the early history of Pentecostalism.
Wigglesworth believed that healing came through faith,
and he was flexible about the methods he employed. When he was forbidden to lay
hands on audience members by the authorities in Sweden, he preached for a
"corporate healing", by which people laid hands on themselves. He
also practiced anointing with oil, and the distribution of prayer handkerchiefs
(one of which was sent to King George V). Wigglesworth sometimes attributed
ill-health to demons.
Wigglesworth ministered at many churches throughout Yorkshire,
often at Bethesda Church on the outskirts of Sheffield, where he claimed to
have had many prophecies. He also had an international ministry: as well as
Sweden, he ministered in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the
Pacific Islands, India, Ceylon, and several countries in Europe. Some of his
sermons were transcribed for Pentecostal magazines, and these were collected
into two books: Ever Increasing Faith and Faith that Prevails.
Wigglesworth said he had made a commitment to God that he
would not sleep at night before he had won a soul for Christ every day. He
claimed that on one occasion he could not sleep because he had not met this
commitment, and that he went out into the night and met an alcoholic to whom he
spoke and persuaded to become a believer.
Wigglesworth is considered one of the most influential
evangelists in the early history of Pentecostalism and is also credited with
helping give the movement a large religious audience.
David du Plessis recounted that Wigglesworth prophesied
over him that God would pour out his Spirit on the established churches, and
that David du Plessis would be greatly involved in it. Later du Plessis was
very much involved in the Charismatic movement.
Wigglesworth continued to minister up until the time of
his death on March 12, 1947.
Here's a collection of some of the finest quotes attributed to this great Pentecostal preacher:
The heart is the mainspring.
The spiritual life in the believer never has known
dissension or break, because where the Spirit has perfect liberty, then they
all agree and there is no schism in the body.
There are two kinds of faith. There is the natural faith.
But the supernatural faith is the gift of God.
People could be built far greater in the Lord and be more
wonderfully established if they would move out sometimes and think over the
graces of the Lord.
God's canopy is over you and will cover you at all times,
preserving you from evil.
The man who is going through with God to be used in
healing must be a man of longsuffering.
Enter into the promises of God. It is your inheritance.
You will do more in one year if you are really filled with the Holy Ghost than
you could do in fifty years apart from Him.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of being
filled with the Spirit.
There is a place where God, through the power of the Holy
Ghost, reigns supreme in our lives.
I never get out of bed in the morning without having
communion with God in the Spirit.
Before God could bring me to this place He has broken me
a thousand times.
I am never happier in the Lord than when I am in a
bedroom with a sick person.
Perfect love will never want the preeminence in
everything, it will never want to take the place of another, it will always be
willing to take the back seat.
There is a fruit of the Spirit that must accompany the
gift of healing and that is longsuffering.
God has given us much in these last days, and where much
is given much will be required.
When the saint ceases to seek after holiness, purity,
righteousness, truth; when he ceases to pray, stops reading the Word and gives
way to carnal appetites, then it is that Satan comes.
The devil will endeavor to fascinate through the eyes and
through the mind.
To discern spirits we must dwell with Him who is holy,
and He will give the revelation and unveil the mask of Satanic power on all
lines.
It seems to me better to get the Book of books for food
for your soul, for the strengthening of your faith, and the building up of your
character in God, so that all the time you are being changed and made meet to
walk with God.
The living Word is able to destroy Satanic forces.
This blessed Book brings such life and health and peace,
and such an abundance that we should never be poor any more.
God has chosen us to help one another.
The moment a man falls into sin, divine life ceases to
flow, and his life becomes one of helplessness.
You cannot help distresses coming. They will come, and
offenses will come, but woe unto those that cause offenses. See that you do not
cause offense. See that you live in a higher tide. See that your tongue cannot
move.
