A Sparkling Fountain for the Whole Earth

Rachel Sizelove was one of the Pentecostal pioneers who went forth from the Azusa Street Revival to bring the Apostolic Faith message to the world. She left behind an amazing little tract called "A Sparkling Fountain for the Whole Earth." It has been out of print for 80 years but I got a copy from the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center.

http://media.wix.com/ugd/7dd69e_3732613e5011484cb829c502c0426839.pdf

Disregard the copyright notice, which is required by Amazon since I have also published it as a Kindle Edition. Feel free to copy and distribute it.

Thanks Wayneman for this post, we need to get back not only to Calvary but also to Pentecost - before the great day of the Lord comes

Quote
{Frank Bartleman, whose eyewitness account of Azusa Street is one of the best books you'll ever read,
acknowledged that the movement was troubled by fanaticism from day one and that meetings were
often a battleground between light and darkness. He defined fanaticism as "a spirit of self-importance.”
If that definition is accurate, then the humble Azusa Street saints were by no means fanatics, whatever
the world said about them. The Apostolic Faith revival did not center on tongues, prophecy, miracles or
any other spectacular thing; it centered on the Cross. That was the secret of their power. That was what
separated them from the world, freed them from the chains of the ego and made them fearless witnesses
of Christ.}

I have read Frank Bartlemans book on CCEL.org
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bartleman/los

it is indeed one of the most inspiring books I ever read.
I very goodly man who lived by faith, with rare insight into the matters of the spirit, throbbing with love for all men, humble throughout and God's power was with him.

I once saw a well done documentary on the Azusa Street revival. It said that more than once during the revival that men and preachers would approach the pulpit to give the congregation a word. It was reported that often the man or person speaking would be so overcome with their own pride that they couldn't even finish speaking. All of this behind the pulpit and in front of everyone. Some were going to lecture and correct the congregation but a revelation of their personal pride would melt them and they could not continue. This happened numerous times and the open pulpit became a feared place. If you wanted to give it a try you had better have the pure word of the Lord. If not you stood to become stripped and humiliated for all to see. Thus, the fanaticism of self importance was actively warred against by the Holy Spirit during this revival.

The documentary I saw, prodcuced by Christians, revealed and spoke of the fact that about three years or so into the revival some brethren who had been attending and one in particular began to proclaim that since the days were so short before Christ returned then no one should marry from that point on. They wanted to lay this on the revival and those attending. The leader of the Azusa street mission was a black man blind in one eye named William Seymour and he had a very discerning spirit. He haed been God's over seer of the revival so to speak and had held a pretty non tolerant attitude toward fleshly demonstrations of the flesh. He wanted the revival to move along truly inspired of God including all of its manifestations. Seymour told these no more marriage folks it was fine etc. if they believed that but he didn't feel it was of the Lord to lay it on all the people attending the mission each day and night. These people and their leader persisted and at some point Seymour's mailing list for his newsletter was stolen. Seymour was a scholarly man and had a teachin newsletter he had been sending out. So a letter shows up to all those on the mailing list and the letter urged everyone to receive the teaching and view that no one should marry from that point on. And at that point the revivial dried up and ended as the Holy Spirit withdrew. The Spirit had built such a precious and enduring unity of love among those attending that when Seymour was betrayed by brethren who stole his mailing list that this treacherous act was seen by the Spirit to be of such a grievous nature to what the Spirit had built that the revival ended. A small group and their sense of self importance had broken the precious unity and the Spirit withdrew. That is how the Azusa Street events ended. Self importance, fought against by the Spirit and held at bay during the revival, finally killed it.

Sizelove testified that, at the height of the revival, "No one dared to get up and sing a song or testify except under the anointing of the Spirit. They feared lest the Holy Ghost would cut them off..."

At other times, "When someone, or some preacher would get up in the audience to read some scripture and try to preach a long sermon or a long testimony, Brother Seymour would get up and say, 'Dear loved ones, these meetings are different from any you have seen in all your born days. These are Holy Ghost meetings and no flesh can glory in the presence of our God.'"

And if someone started shouting or pounding their fists, Seymour would touch them on the shoulder and say, "Brother, that is flesh."

Seymour was engaged to Clara Lum but friends of both colors talked them out of this controversial interracial marriage. Lum and Florence Crawford went to Portland to plant a mission and took the mailing list with them. They issued the anti-marriage edict right around the time Seymour married Jenny Moore. However, the Apostolic Faith Mission in Prtland, which is still around, unearthed documents showing that Lum, Crawford and the Seymours were still on friendly terms even after this episode.

In 1910 at a camp meeting, (speaking of fleshly outbursts!) a man ran through the camp at 2 in the morning screaming that he had received a new revelation of the Name of God, and the "oneness movement" began, and split the movement right down the middle.

But this sort of story recurs throughout church history. The wheat and the tares are planted together and separated at the harvest.