Roberts Liardon - Smith Wigglesworth

Copyright 2021 Roberts Liardon

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

The sermons in this book are from the Smith Wigglesworth Collection in the Assemblies of God Archives, Springfield, Missouri, and are used with permission.

Published by Harrison House Publishers Shippensburg, PA 17257

ISBN 13 TP: 978-1-6803-1572-1
ISBN 13 eBook: 978-1-6803-1573-8
ISBN 13 HC: 978-1-6803-1575-2
ISBN 13 LP: 978-1-6803-1574-5

Previously published under 978-1-6068-3426-8

For Worldwide Distribution, Printed in the U.S.A.
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Chapter 1

Smith Wigglesworth

(18591947)
by Roberts Liardon

O nly believe!

Im a thousand times bigger on the inside than on the outside!

Fear looks; faith jumps!

These statements were heard by thousands of people who sat under one of the most unique ministries of this century: the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth. His ministry has survived successfully for more than forty years since his death in 1947. It is of importance to state that for a ministry to be producing eternal results this far after its natural conclusion means that the head of the ministry lived a life of obedience and spoke words of life more than opinion and views.

I have spent many exciting hours reading Smith Wigglesworths sermons and interviewing people who knew him or attended his Gospel crusades. Many describe him with the same adjectives, such as authoritative, bold, compassionate, very challenging, calling him a man of eternal value who lived a life full of faith.

I have collected sermons that Smith Wigglesworth preached under divine unction. Some of them are lengthy and others are short. I believe that these sermons will lift you to new horizons in your personal relationship with Jesus. The cry of the Spirit that came through Wigglesworth can still be heard today through these sermons.

WigglesworthThe Early Years

Smith Wigglesworth was born in Menston, Yorkshire, England, on June 10, 1859. Throughout his childhood, Wigglesworth was extremely poor and received no education. He could not write but only sign his name, even as an adult.

At the tender age of six, he began working full time on a farm. When he was seven years old, he started working with his father in the mills, six days a week, twelve to fourteen hours each day.

When he was eight, he was converted at a Wesleyan Methodist meeting, which he attended with his grandmother. He soon became a soul winner and led his own mother to faith in Christ. Five years later, on September 5, 1872, Wigglesworth was confirmed by a bishop. He experienced a strong presence of God for several days after that.

Also at the age of thirteen, he moved with his parents from his hometown of Bradford. When he was sixteen, he began to work for the Salvation Army there, giving his Sundays to prayer and fasting.

Then Wigglesworth began plumbing. He recalled, When I was eighteen years of age, I went to a plumber to ask for employment. I cleaned up my shoes with an extra shine, put on a clean collar, and applied at the home of the man who was the owner of Bradfords finest plumbing business. He said, No, I dont need anyone.

The man let me walk down to his gate and then called me back, saying, Theres something about you that is different. I just cant let you go!

Polly the Preacher

In 1877, Wigglesworth, now a young man, attended a meeting and saw a girl called Polly converted. He knew she would become his wife.

His life from that point began to grow concerning the work of the Lord. By the time he was twenty years old, he was believing God for about fifty souls to be born again every week. He moved to Liverpool and began to minister to young people there, using his faith all the while.

In 1882, Wigglesworth moved back to Bradford and married Mary Jane (Polly) Featherstone, who had been raised in a Methodist family. She was outgoing, intelligent, and beautiful. Before long, he began to try to preach because Polly was a preacher and wanted him to be one, too. But he couldnt talk very well. He gave preaching a few tries, but he would get embarrassed and discouraged and leave the stage. One day he finally told his wife, Ill never do that again!

Smith Wigglesworth didnt become a preacher at that point, but he did become a father before long. He and Polly had five children from their union: a daughter, Alice, and sons Seth, Harold, Ernest, and George.

Unfortunately, Wigglesworth spent two years in a spiritual wilderness in his life. He lacked commitment to God. His business, however, was doing very well at that time.

Praise God, at age twenty-six, Wigglesworth returned to God with a new zeal. He began to work in what we call the childrens ministry He would get a pony, go to the streets, put little children on it, and take them to church. He would teach them about the Lord, then he would take them back home. Thats the way he worked for the Lord.

Hungry for the Word

Wigglesworth was a man with a hunger for Gods Word. His hunger pains were almost constant, with little relief for him, however, because he could not read. To satisfy his great hunger for Gods Word, he learned to read by a supernatural act of the Lord and with help from his wife.

How he loved Gods Word! Its said that he never went fifteen minutes without reading the Bible.

That same year, Wigglesworth spent ten days waiting upon the Lord. It was worth it. He received what he described as new life from Him.

Jesus Will Heal You!

The healing ministry came into England in the late 1880s. Wigglesworth had never come across anything like it. One day he went to a mission in a nearby city, where they were praying for the sick. For the very first time, he saw people being healed, people being made whole, by the power of Jesus. He was so excited! He went out into the streets, found sick people, and said, Come with me. I know a place where you can be made whole. I know a place where you can be prayed for and Jesus will heal you!

He took them back into the mission and saw many of those people born again and healed.

Then he himself began to pray for the sick. He ministered his first healing when he was asked to substitute for the leaders of some meetings in Keswick. Praying for the sick became a part of his life and ministry. He went on to establish the Bowland Street Mission, through which he brought healing to Bradford. Wigglesworth became very successful in both the mission and his business.

Healing in Jesus Name

Smith Wigglesworth experienced the power of God in many wonderous ways. In the early 1900s, he was healed of hemorrhoids, which he had had since childhood, when a fellow minister prayed in agreement with him. He received another healing while deathly ill. He stated to his wife, It seems to me that this is my home call. To protect yourself, you should now call a physician.

The doctor came and, upon examining him, reported that Wigglesworth had been made weak by appendicitis, which he apparently had had for more than six months. He was doubtful of Wigglesworths strength to undergo surgery.