The Foursquare Gospel

In the Foursquare Way

It came to me by inspiration!

The great tent was packed. Multitudes were standing around its borders. Many had pilgrimaged from afar. Every heart was a hungered. Leaning forward as with one accord, they absorbed the message.

The subject was "The Vision of Ezekiel."

My soul was awed! My heart athrill! The blazing glory of that heavenly vision seemed it fill and permeate not only the tabernacle but the whole earth.

In the clouds of heaven—which folded and unfolded in fiery glory—Ezekiel had beheld that Being, whose glory no mortal can describe. As he gazed upon that marvelous revelation of the Omnipotent One, he perceived four faces. The faces—those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. These four faces we likened unto the four phases of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the face of the Man we beheld that of the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, dying upon the tree.

In the face of the Lion we beheld that of the mighty Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

The face of the Ox typified the Great Burden-bearer, who Himself took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses, who in His boundless love and divine provisons had met our every need.

In the face of the Eagle we saw reflected soul-enrapturing visions of the Coming King, whose pinions soon would cleave the shining heavens, whose silvery voice would set the milky way to echoing as He came to catch His waiting bride away.

A perfect Gospel! A complete Gospel for body, for soul, for spirit, and for eternity. A Gospel that faces squarely in every direction—

As the wonder—the majesty of it cascaded o'er the battlements of glory, filling, flooding, enveloping my very being, the fingers of the Spirit swept the aeolian harp strings of my heart and evoked a grand and wondrous melody like the sound of a great Amen.

The lost chord was found again!

The universe is spoken of as having four quarters—North, East, South, West.

Nature is divided up into four major elements—earth, air, fire and water.

The tree has four parts—roots, trunk, branches and leaves.

Four stands for completeness. Four also stands for the Triune God plus man. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost plus the Church make Heaven complete.

Four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—make a complete whole, revealing the Master in four beautiful characteristics—the King, the Servant, the Man and the Divine.

Practically everything that is complete falls into four quarters.

The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ points in four directions.

1. It points down in humility to the feet of the Saviour, bidding us "Come, wash away every sin in the fountain filled with Blood drawn from Immanuel's veins."

2. It points upward, bidding us "Lift tear stained eyes to Heaven and seek a better country, a fairer land that knows no death, neither sorrow nor sighing."

3. One arm of the Cross reaches out as though toward the foreign field, bidding us "Bring in the heathen; that they may know redemption, too."

4. The other arm of the cross reaches out as though to those in the homeland, wooing them to Christ.

In other words, the Cross points down to pardon, humility and peace; up toward heaven, eternal joy and blessedness. With one arm it reaches out over the Old Testament—the Law and the Prophets; while the other stretches over the New Testament and the dispensation of grace. Oh, how we thank Him this morning for the blessed Cross of Calvary, and for the foursquareness of the Gospel!

The life of mankind is divided into four major parts—

1. His business life which is known to his associates.

2. His church life which is known to the people with whom he worships.

3. His home life which is known to his immediate family and friends.

4. His private life which is known only to himself and his Maker.

In Luke 5:18 and Mark 2:3 we read of a man who lay sick "of a palsy." What a type he is of this poor world with its sin, sickness, misery and affliction! One has but to pick up the paper to realize just how paralyzed and sick of the palsy it really is. Pleasure-mad, drunken, reeling, staggering with unbelief, suicide, and heartbreak.

Four men were needed to carry this palsied man to Jesus Christ. God grant that we as foursquare Christians may thus pick up the sinful, the sick and the downfallen and bring them to the Lord!

Lifting this man above every obstacle, and carrying him to the roof of the building, the four men removed a portion of the tilings and let the man down into the midst of the assembled multitude where Jesus was.

Four cords were used in lowering him to the place where he might feel the touch of the Master's hand. These four cords might well be likened unto salvation, divine healing, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the Coming of the Lord.

May I bring certain thoughts to your mind concerning these cords.

1. These cords are strong and sure—they will never break.

2. We need all four of them if we are to lower this suffering and needy world to the humble blessed place of mercy at the Master's feet.

3. If we cut or drop one of these cords, we are apt to spill the man off.

4. All four should be used together and the man may be lowered with perfect safety and surety.

In letting down the poor old world into the presence of Jesus, every rope should be kept even; that it, the Gospel should be preached foursquare.

Preach salvation only and, though you are reaching the unconverted, the Christian will be starving for deeper truths whereon he must feed in order to grow in grace.

Over-emphasize the baptism of the Holy Spirit, slacking up on the other three cords, and in spite of yourself you will spill the sick man.

Preach nothing but diving healing, devote the major part of your time in ministering to the physical instead of the spiritual needs of man, and you are most apt to tip him off for his bed has become unbalanced.

Preach nothing but the premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus, and a laying aside of all work that one may go forth to meet Him, and again the balance is lost. Occupy till He come and the conversion of the sinner is lost sight of, and ere you know it the man is slipping perilously near the edge in that direction.

The four cords must be equally divided! The weight upon each must be equally distributed! If not, the people will become disgusted, or fall off. Then, instead of having a blessing, you have a wreck on your hands. Lord, help us to have poise, and equilibrium, and to preach a well balanced, Foursquare Gospel. To be foursquare means facing an issue directly, preaching the truth in an unflinching way! It means that we shall never be lopsided.

A minister said to me some days ago—

"Sister McPherson, your doctrine is perfectly sound and complete if you would only leave out divine healing."

But, no, brother! If I knock one corner off, I would have but a three-cornered Gospel.

Another party comes along and says:

"Sister McPherson, the Gospel that you preach is splendid. It is the Word of God in every point. I thoroughly agree. Only, I think you would get along much better if you did not preach the baptism of the Holy Ghost."

So, if I knock that corner off, I will have but a two-sided Gospel.

Still another minister comes to me and says,

"Sister McPherson, you are all right now if you would but desist from the preaching of the premillennial coming of the Lord."

So that if I knock this third corner off, all that I have left is a one-sided Gospel.

Someone else tells me that the old-fashioned, born again experience, where people kneel at the altar and weep because of their sins, is no longer needed.

"Just teach your people to attend the church, do the best they can, live a moral life, and all shall be well."

Then I have knocked off all the corners and, instead of a ground foundation—solid and concrete upon which to build—there is nothing left but a round stone that goes rolling away down the hill of backslidings and our case is hopelessly lost to the devil.

"N-o!!!" thunders the voice of Jehovah.

"It shall be foursquare, not round."

Oh, let us take the whole Bible! The Foursquare Gospel meets the needs and requirements of every one of us through and through, whether that need be of body, soul or spirit.

The Foursquare Gospel is a Gospel of good news. It reveals Jesus Christ—

1. Able, willing, longing to make the vilest sinner whole.

2. Ready to fill to the uttermost the trusting believer, equipping him with strength for service, enduing him with the spirit of love, and of power, and of a sound mind that he may be fitted for practical, sane, loyal service in the harvest fields of life.

3. Still the same to touch sick and broken bodies as He was when He walked the shores of Galilee. A Christ who has never lost His power—whose arm is not shortened, whose ear is not heavy that He cannot hear—but who is still able to make the believer whole in body as well as soul.

4. The Coming King, whose glorious appearing will some day light the clouds with heavenly radiance—whose coming is near, yea, even at the door.

"But, Sister, if you believe the coming of the Lord to be at hand, why are you building this great Temple?" some one asked during its construction.

"Because," I answered, "the Lord has commanded, saying, 'Occupy till I come.' It is not His desire that we who believe in that blessed hope should sit back and fold our hands. He desires that we should preach the Gospel, building churches, training schools, and provide for the sending forth of missionaries and evangelists now as ever before—desires that we work the more earnestly as we see that day approaching."

A sensible Gospel is the Foursquare!

Its intent is to make spiritual, deeply consecrated, constructive, soul-winning, warm hearted, devoted Christians, who, when the Master shall come will be able to say—

"Unto Thee, O Lord, have we made a foursquare oblation. At a foursquare altar have we offered our sacrifices. Turning our back upon the world and its lure, we have chosen, O glorious King, to dwell with Thee forever in the City of Foursquare."

The term "Foursquare" begins away back yonder in the Olden Testament. It is used as pertaining to the most sacred and holy things.

1. "THE ALTAR shall be foursquare."—Exodus 27:1. "Foursquare shall it be."—Exodus 30:2. And, "It was foursquare."—Exodus 30:2.

2. OF THE ALTAR OF INCENSE, which was filled with fragrant odors and which is described in Exodus 37, we read—"It was foursquare."

3. THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERINGS—Exodus 38—"Was foursquare."

4. THE BREASTPLATE, designed by God—Exodus 39—and worn by Aaron the high priest "Was foursquare." It contained four rows of stones," and was made of cunning work, embracing four colors—gold, blue, purple and scarlet.

5. THE LAVERS, builded by Hiram—1. Kings 7:30-34—stood upon four undersetters, and "upon the mouth of it were gravings with their border, foursquare, not round." "Foursquare, not round"—a wonderful expression that! There were to be no corners cut off, no lopping or chiseling away of undergirders and undersetters. "Foursquare not round!" God help us never to cut off one of the corners of the Foursquare Gospel. The whole tent was enveloped, was aquiver! T"was as though Jesus Christ the only Saviour! Jesus Christ the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit! Jesus Christ the Great Physician! Or, Jesus Christ the Coming King!

6. THE HOLY OBLATION. In Ezekiel 48:20 we read "Ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare." And surely so it is with our oblation, our praises and our testimonies today. If we are to bring our tribute unto Him, let us be sure that it is—an oblation foursquare.

7. THE FOURSQUARE CITY. That glorious place which we call Heaven is a Foursquare City. That glorious place which we call Heaven is a Foursquare City. Let me read you the description:

   "The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and breadth and the height of it are equal."

Praise the Lord! Do you see it? The redeemed of the Lord are to offer a foursquare oblation before a foursquare altar, whilst gazing upon Jesus Christ our High Priest as he wears upon His breast a foursquare breast-plate, and at last, through His infinite mercy, are to be carried to a Foursquare city to worship about the Throne before which the four and twenty elders bow down, crying "Holy, holy, holy," and around which the hundred and forty-four thousand lift their voices in glad Hosannas to the glorious King.

Why all these "foursquares"? What is the meaning thereof? Foursquare stands for balance, poise, solidity, strength, and speed.

The beasts of the fields were formed with four legs upon which to run.

The birds of the air have been given two feet and two wings which to walk and fly.

Vehicles—except it be the unsteady velocipede or bicycle—have been given two feet and two hands with which to serve the Lord and do His will.

In my soul was born a harmony that was struck and sustained upon four, full, quivering strings, and from it were plucked words that sprang and leaped into being—the Foursquare Gospel. The whole tent was enveloped, was aquiver! T"was as though the Holy Spirit was brought into harmony with celestial music. I stood there still and listened, gripping my pulpit, shaking the white heat of my heart.

Instantly the Spirit bore witness! Waves, billows, oceans of praises rocked the audience. Borne aloft upon the rushing winds of a Holy Ghost revival, the melody evoked that day has been caught round the world. The term "Foursquare Gospel"which distinguishing the message which He had given me to preach has become a household word throughout the earth.

In studying the Word of God since that day I have discovered that the word "Foursquare" is entirely scriptural, and that it is woven throughout every phase of the Old and New Testaments. As revelation follows revelation, it seems as though life itself would be too short in which to express the foursquare fullness of it all.

---