 Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947).
Smith Wigglesworth was born in the year 1859 in Yorkshire just ten miles from Bradford. His was a very poor family and at the age of six he was working in the fields pulling and cleaning turnips. At seven he went to work in a woollen mill each day for 12 hours. All this left him without any formal education at this formative age. From his earliest years he had a deep hunger for God. His grandmother was an old fashioned primitive Methodist. She would take him along to these old fashioned revival meetings. She would have been about twelve years old when John Wesley made his last of twenty visits to Bradford. When he was eight years old she took him to to one of these revival meetings, as the believer's danced around a big stove clapping and singing about the Lamb, he looked with faith to the Lamb of Calvary and was born again. At testimony meetings when he would stand to testify he would burst into tears out of frustration of his inability to speak. One memorable night as he wept three old men came to him and laid their hands upon him. The Spirit of God came upon him and from then on he was able to witness for his Christ. The first person he led to his Saviour was his own mother. When ten years old he was confirmed at the Episcopal Church, as the Bishop laid hands upon him he was filled with a great consciousness of Gods presence similar to that which he would receive forty years later when Baptised in the Holy Ghost. When thirteen his family moved to Bradford and attended the Methodist church. Three years later the Salvation Army opened in Bradford where he joined them in all nights of prayer and fasting and in reaching souls on the street. At work he came under the godly influence of a Plymouth Brethern man who taught him about water Baptism and the second coming of Christ.
At twenty he moved to Liverpool for three years which was a powerful time of soul winning on the streets and among children. When he returned he married 'Polly' who was working with the Salvationists, he started his own plumbing business which soon swallowed up all his time. Through busyness he grew very cold in heart but his wife burnt brighter. Soon he came back to the Lord and over the next years burned brighter still in winning the lost to Christ. Every day he went out to work his heart cry was to win souls. Every week he would gather sick people from Bradford and take then to a work in Leeds where the sick were prayed for, he saw many miracles before his eyes. The leaders were going away to the holiness Keswick convention and left the reluctant Wigglesworth in charge at the meeting, but to his amazement he saw a crippled Scotsman healed. Shortly after this he made his stand for healing and holiness and opened a weekly meeting in Bradford where they prayed for the sick and saw mighty miracles on a regular basis. Then he was hit badly by appendicitis, the doctor said he would shortly die but God healed him and raised him up. Though seeing the lost saved and bodies healed he still felt he was lacking the scriptural signs of the fullness of a true Pentecost.
It was in October 1907 at the age of 48 that he first heard that a group at Sunderland under A.A.Boddy were speaking in tongues and operating gifts. Like himself this group was part of The Pentecostal League run by Reader Harris, so he made his journey their. His rough blunt seeking for these tongues was mis-understood by some. A number of friends warned him that tongues were of the devil. After four days of seeking God he was much blessed but had not spoke in tongues. Before leaving he went to the church manse to say good-bye. He said to Mrs. Boddy "I am going away, but I have not received the tongues yet." She replied "It is not tongues you need, but the Baptism." He protested this saying he already had the Baptism. His experience 14 years earlier after waiting on God 10 days and of being purged from his anger was what he called his Baptism. But he asked her to lay hands on him before he left, she did then had to quickly leave the room. The fire fell. Gods power come upon him and he saw Christ exalted. He was so conscious of the cleansing Blood. He could no longer speak in English but began to praise God in tongues as the Spirit gave him utterance, just as they received on the day of Pentecost. His first task was to Telegraph home that he had been Baptised. When he arrived home his wife was indignant, fully beliving she had the Baptism without need for tongues. She put this to the test and made him preach that next Sunday. She was so shocked and convinced by his powerful preaching that she also shortly after received the baptism with speaking in tongues.
The tongue tied plumber became a powerful orator. From this time they answered many calls to go preach this message of Pentecost. In many of these meetings the Spirit of God would fall mightily. He also started an Easter convention like that held at Sunderland. They continued in this manner until 1913 when his dear wife died suddenly. He was now 52 years old. Very quickly the door opened for him to go to the USA for the first time. While there the Great War started, he also ministered in Canada and New Mexico with powerful anointing. When he returned to Britain he joined the PMU council and at his annual convention in Bradford raised much money for the mission work in Congo. The 20's and 30's would be marked for him travelling internationaly to Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Sri Lanka, Austraila, New Zealand and the
USA.
He left a profound mark on the Pentecostal movement worldwide. The lost were saved, bound set free, sick healed and dead were raised up to the glory of God. It was the IIWW which stopped this travelling, during the war years he constantly travelled to many small churches across Britain. He began to weaken and sicken in body but in 1945 God touched his servant quickening and renewing his body and strength. That year at the Preston convention which he chaired, 1000 believers gathered, 20 new missionaries were sent out, 150 were baptized in the Holy Ghost and 20 were converted. It was at the funeral of a friend in 1947 at the age of 88 that he went to be with the Lord. He had been humble and bold, rugged and refined all at the same time.
by Keith Malcomson.
Edited from "Pentecostal Pioneers Remembered" by Keith Malcomson. Copyright 2008 by Keith Malcomson. No part of this article may be reproduced without the permission of the author.
EVER ENCREASING FAITH by Smith Wigglesworth
EIGHTEEN SELECT MESSAGES by S.W.
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