The Tongue of Fire or The true Power of Christianity

by William Arthur

By the time Tongue of Fire was first published in 1856, the once strong Methodist movement in Great Britain was slowly declining into a "form of religion without the power," as John Wesley feared it would. Now an established denominational body, it bared more resemblance to the tired Church of England than the spirit-fired movement which defined the first Methodists.

Born in 1819, William Arthur was one of a rising generation Wesleyan leaders who saw that the Holy Spirit, who had so mightily breathed life into the movement, was being slowly omitted from Methodist preaching and practice. His Tongue of Fire or the True Power of Christianity is, in essence, a manifesto inviting Methodists to again recover their birthright as an Apostolic movement living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The writings represented in The John Wesley Collection resourced the early Methodists in their quest to spread the gospel, and continue to be the most relevant and helpful messages to offer today’s body of believers the transformation of ancient truth.

264 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

William Arthur was a Wesleyan Methodist minister and author. Born at Newport, in the county Mayo, eight miles from Castlebar, Arthur was educated at Horton College, and at the age of twenty was sent to Goobbee, in Southern India, where he was engaged for several years in missionary work in the Mysore. While there his progress in the Canarese language is said to have been remarkable; but being threatened with blindness, he was obliged to return to Europe, and was employed for three years in advocating with much ability the Indian missionary work of the Wesleyan Society. He acted in his ministerial capacity in Paris from 1846 to 1849; then for seventeen years he filled the post of secretary to the Methodist Missionary Society. In 1867 he was elected Principal of the Methodist College Belfast, and continued to fill that office until 1871, when he resigned, but still maintained his connection with the Conference as honorary missionary secretary. In 1866-67 he was President of the Wesleyan Conference.

Reviews

[Richard Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good in content; a bit tough to work through. Originally published in the mid-1800s the writing style is certainly of its time. The content is great and definitely needed for today's Church. A worthy read, however, plan to spend the necessary time to work through it

[Prof. Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good at times, but always wordy

The author multiplies words and paragraphs sometimes to state basic principles... it was the style of the 19th Century. Hard to read nowadays. The author defends his points, some of which I believe are hard to defend. Some of his points have been proved wrong by the last 150 years of History. My two favorite chapters are Chap. 1 about what a typical Jew would have understood by "baptism of fire", Chap. 4 full of pertinent insights and examples about spiritual effects of the "baptism of fire", and Chap. 6 which is a nice analysis about the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

[Brent Johnson]

I wish I had read this book 36 years ago while I was studying to be a pastor. I would have still done many of the stupid things I did over the years, but I may have avoided a lot of drama. I need the "Tongue of Power" as a pastor or I am just a diversion.

The section around page 68, "Ministerial Effects" was the most memorable part of the book for me. Arthur clears up how to review a call to ministry with three simple questions; are you saved, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spirit?

His analogy of four styles of preaching with pistol, rifle, carbine, and cannon was wonderful. All four have a use and you do not bring a cannon to a pistol shoot.