Chapter XV: Introduction (5)

=8.= Sabbath. At five this morning a goodly number met in the
Bethel for prayers. The Spirit was with us. Returned to Brother
Bell's; ate a piece for breakfast, as we all felt that bodily wants
were simple and few while the soul was so dearly fed with the bread
of heaven. Met at half-past nine, and after many clear testimonies
were given in for Jesus Brother Dunbar preached the word of life
with great power and sweetness. Text, "For God hath not called us
unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." He read much of the First
Epistle to the Thessalonians, where this glorious second work is
brought out so clear and forcibly. My soul was never before so
wonderfully fed by the gospel in any sermon I ever heard. Oh, how
sweet and glorious the word of life came to my renovated heart!

Mother, Sarah, and I went to Brother Furman's for dinner. Returned
to the two o'clock meeting. Among many clear witnesses I testified
today to the blood that cleanses from all sin and also uncleanness
of nature. The long altar was again crowded and several found
sanctification in the blood. Some backsliders were restored. God is
wonderfully at work. All glory to his name!

At six we met again in the Bethel, after spending a long time in
the closet with God. The Spirit impressed me to talk to the people
on the commands of Jesus, and in simplicity I did so, using John
14:15 as a text. I read the word of the Lord concerning the duty
of washing the saints' feet. Then we proceeded to obey the Lord.
God wonderfully blessed me in talking, but my soul leaped for joy
as I saw the dear sanctified ones come promptly to the bench and
joyfully obey Him whom they love. God wonderfully blessed them, as
they all testified the next day. Many of them had never seen the
holy ordinance of feet-washing observed before. The Church of God
brethren had said that if these holiness people would obey these
lowly commands then they would have confidence in them. Thank God,
true holiness needs but to be tested to be proved genuine.

=10.= This morn had to miss prayer-meeting in order to take Mother
Keller and our dear Levilla to the train, as they go to Upper
Sandusky this morn. We will go by buggy at the close of meeting.
Sister Bell and Sarah went to the country today to get berries. I
wrote and prayed most of the forenoon. Then, feeling very empty and
destitute of the stirrings of the Spirit, I sought God earnestly
in secret and then started out to work for him. Visited and prayed
with two families, but still felt destitute of the Comforter. Met
at 2:30 P. M. at the house of God. Several observed that I was
being much tried. But I was eager to defeat the enemy of my soul
by testifying to the sanctifying power of the blood of Jesus. I
did so, declaring that the blood of Jesus had washed from all sin.
While I was talking, the Lord showed me that I had now entered upon
the path of perfect trust in Jesus, and that as faith was eternal
and unchangeable, I had forever abandoned the up-and-down road of
feeling. I also (in an absent-minded manner) made the remark that
I had been cheated out of the morning prayer-meeting. But quick
as thought I saw that it was wrong, for it was either complaining
of or speaking lightly of God's providence. This remark furnished
a subject of meditation through the afternoon. I see how entirely
loyal to God's providence I now was. I felt that the above remark
and all similar ones, so common and admissible in my past state,
were not only wrong, but could not be true, as I have given myself,
all I have, to God, surrendered all my ways, time, talents, means,
influence, name, reputation, and everything with which I am
connected--wife, child, friends, my destiny--all into the hands
of God. I glorify in the blessed truth that no being in the whole
universe can cheat me out of anything or do me the least harm.
Glory to God forever! How happy I am in accepting all the will and
providence of God! From the time of my testimony I realized the
glorious river of life flowing through my entire being. What a
sweet sense of perfect purity filled my mind and heart! Holiness
was written everywhere. My very body seemed sacred and pure, a
temple for the holy God. Glory to the cleansing power of the blood
of Jesus!

"Precious Jesus, thou hast saved me,
Thine and only thine I am.
Oh, the precious blood has reached me!
Glory, glory to the Lamb!

"Long my yearning heart was trying
To enjoy this perfect rest;
But I gave all trying over,
Simply trusting I was blessed.

"Glory to the blood that bought me,
Glory to its cleansing power,
Glory to the blood that keeps me,
Glory, glory evermore!

"Yes, I will stand up for Jesus;
He has sweetly saved my soul,
Cleansed me from inbred corruption,
Sanctified and made me whole.

"Oh, I can no longer doubt it,
Halleluiah, I am free!
Jesus saves me, soul and body,
And he sweetly dwells in me."

FOOTNOTE:

[6] Brother Warner was one of the principal debaters of the Church of God. Dr. Forney mentions his debates as follows: In August, 1871 with the Reverend Mr. Baker, of the Disciple Church, the proposition being, "The Church of God of which I am a member is the only church of divine origin." In June, 1872, with Leonard Parker, Methodist Episcopal Church, on the old subject of baptism. On May 15, 1874, near Orton, Nebr., he defended the perpetuity and public observance of feet-washing as an ordinance against E. Evans, of the Disciple Church. At the Osborne Schoolhouse, near Seward, Nebr., with C. L. Boyd, Adventist. The proposition discussed was, "The first day of the week has been set apart by divine authority as Sabbath or Lord's day." The discussion was the outcome of a series of addresses by Boyd on the seventh day Sabbath. So well did Warner defend the proposition, says Forney, that at the close of the debate the congregation present voted thirty-six to sixteen that he had established it. The debate continued three evenings.

VIII

THE HOLINESS AWAKENING

The decades of the sixties, seventies, and eighties of the last century witnessed a special revival of the doctrine of holiness, or sanctification. Sanctification was held as being a work of God's grace wrought in the heart subsequent to pardon, and accomplishing for the individual, through consecration and faith in Christ, (1) restoration of the soul from innate depravity and uncleanness, the destruction of that carnal element which antagonizes the godly purpose of the soul, and (2) the infilling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In short, it was the doctrine of Christian perfection, the state of loving God supremely and of living victorious over every form of sin.

This doctrine was nothing more nor less than one of the great Scriptural truths that had been obscured by the apostasy. It had been taught by the Wesleys, but through the denomination-building zeal of their followers it had become to a great extent a dead letter in their articles of faith. The bright spiritual lights of the world throughout the gospel dispensation were generally individual men and women who believed in and possessed the experience of sanctification; but now the time came, in the unfolding of God's plan, for holiness to be given specific attention on a scale amounting to a general awakening in religious circles. The various Protestant sects had about reached the heyday of their deplorable rivalry, and it was but natural that the unifying influence of holiness, appearing in striking contrast to such rivalry, should appeal to all true Christians. The movement did indeed, as a rule, enlist the most spiritual members of the so-called churches.

This holiness awakening was a movement that should introduce a prophetic day. It was of God. It was not planned by human agency. Individuals here and there of the more earnest and spiritual class of Christians were led into the deeper experience altogether independent of each other. For some reason they felt impelled to give special emphasis to the doctrine of holiness. These tiny flames were by some unseen hand fanned into a great conflagration destined to sweep the country.

A few paragraphs from M. L. Haney's Inheritance Restored, published in 1880, are on this point.

A number of Christian farmers feel strangely moved to aid in the
salvation of the perishing, and they plan a laymen's camp-meeting,
in which the fires of holiness break out. This leads to the
organization of a Laymen's Holiness Association, and results
in bringing many hundreds to the joys of pardoned sin and the
experience of holiness. Three or four ministers are mutually
impressed with the necessity of holding a holiness camp-meeting.
The seal of God's approval of the service is so manifest that they
are compelled to go farther. An association is formed for the
purpose of holding a number of camp-meetings for the promotion of
holiness. The work enlarges till many earnest inquirers look to
them for specific instruction on the subject of holiness. To meet
this demand, and remain true to God, they are compelled to furnish
these thirsting thousands with specific holiness literature. Thus
the unexpected springing up of a monthly magazine, with books and
tracts, all teaching the way of Christ's cleansing blood.

One minister, comparatively illiterate, stands alone for years. He
preaches, and prays, and testifies, and sings, and shouts, as here
and there a soul is bloodwashed through his ministry. He mourns the
downward tendency, as the sympathy of his brethren seems ofttimes
withdrawn; but at last God brings one of them to stand by his side.
Another, and yet another is added, till God has bound three or
four souls in bonds of perfect love. The obligation to disseminate
the gospel of holiness among the people of God in all the churches
leads them, after much prayer on the subject, to publish a paper
which shall be the medium of instruction on the special doctrine of
holiness. Without a dollar, or a subscription list, with nothing at
the base but unshrinking faith in the God who leads, they launch a
weekly paper. But God touches the heart of a wealthy layman, and
gives him no peace till he pledges three thousand dollars for the
support of that paper....

"God works in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform." When God
determined to break the chains of slavery he revealed to no man
the time or methods of its accomplishment. In like manner, in
the holiness movement, his faithful servants have gone "out, not
knowing whither they went." The way has been so rugged at times
that many have turned aside; but God has put two in the place of
each faltering one, and the ranks of the holiness army are steadily
increasing.

We call attention to the remarkable fact that the holiness work has
sprung up simultaneously in different parts of the earth; in the
east, in the west, in the north, and the south; in the old world,
and in the new; among Arminians, and among Calvinists; in cities,
in towns, and in country places; indicating an unseen hand and
guiding power.

A mechanic, in Pennsylvania, receives a call from the chaplain
of King William's court to come to Germany and teach the church
of Martin Luther the way of holiness, and four hundred learned
ministers sit at the feet of a Presbyterian layman to learn of
holiness in the city of Berlin. A young minister, whom God hath
baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, completely girds the
earth with holy song, as he travels to regain his failing health.

One of Wesley's mightiest sons, is sent to the other side of the
globe to receive this blessed experience, under the instruction of
a Presbyterian minister. Suddenly an organized army springs up in
Europe to spread holiness, and the power of Satan is broken by its
advancing legions.

A number of holy men and women are compelled by their convictions
to make the circuit of the earth, and are invited to preach, and
sing, and testify to holiness in the shadow of the Vatican. Reader,
who do you think has planned, and whose hand is guiding, this
movement?

The truth is, the holiness movement was a movement prophetically due at this time as the introduction to the great reformation (restoration) that now succeeds it, in which God's people are not only embracing holiness, but are taking their stand free and complete in Christ, distinct from all humanly organized bodies called churches. The reader of church history will observe that the progress of Christianity has not been by gradual, steady increase of light and truth, but by reformation after reformation in which some special truth is emphasized and men's hearts are stirred.

Among the early leaders of the movement in this country were Dr. W. C. and Phoebe Palmer, of New York. Mrs. Palmer, especially, was prominent in this respect. She wrote a number of books on holiness and with her husband held meetings in various openings in the East and was otherwise very active in the cause. William Macdonald, John S. Inskip, Daniel Steele, and J. A. Wood were others who, both by preaching and the press, gave prominence to the doctrine of entire sanctification as a second, distinct work of grace. Holiness societies sprung up, books were written on the subject, periodicals were started, and holiness bands began to canvass the country. Well does the writer remember of seeing when a boy these holiness bands travel about the country in covered wagons. They carried a spiritual fire that caught in the hearts of the more fervent ones who, on the barren plains of sect religion, were seeking for a higher and better Christian experience. The activity on this line was not on the part of the various denominations, as such, but on the part of earnest Christians within the denominations.

Holiness, it must be remembered, is Scriptural, a part of God's will to his children, and the movement must not be regarded as being something new, but as a revival of truth intended for man. Since the attainment of this distinct higher experience requires a perfect consecration, an entire abandonment, to God, it was but natural that the doctrine should be opposed by the pleasure-loving church members, those who were Christians only in name and did not care for any advancement or improvement of their spiritual status. These, of course, were greatly in the majority. The holiness advocates were at once opposed and often persecuted; but silently and surely, as leaven works in the meal, the holiness agitation increased and spread throughout the country. It was a very unwelcome and disturbing element among the cold professors. They said that sinlessness was not to be attained in this life; that we could not be sanctified till death; etc. But when shown by the Scriptures that it is indeed God's will for Christians in this life, they would declare that it is attained by growth, or perhaps would say they had received it in conversion. They were opposed to having any further spiritual obligation placed upon them.

But it was not alone the advocacy of an advanced Christian attainment that might well make the holiness movement distasteful to sect devotees. Holiness is unifying. It makes Christians one, in accordance with our Savior's prayer: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21). True holiness is destructive of divisional elements. That is why the advocates of holiness in the different denominations lost to a great extent their sectarian bigotry and could join together in holiness associations independent of their denominations. As a general thing the holiness editors and teachers spoke against sectarian divisions.

This brings us to the critical point. Would those espousing holiness dissolve their sect relations? Here is where many in the holiness movement compromised and would not follow in the onward march of truth out of all denominational confusion and into complete oneness in Christ. Instead, holiness associations urged and even required their members to maintain also a sect membership. They seemed to believe sects were a necessary evil and they opposed the idea of coming out of sects. This is as far as the majority in the holiness movement would go. They deplored sects, but seemed to think that to be outside of all sects would be to have no church relation at all. Had they walked in the light they would have comprehended the true body of Christ and been led out of sectarian entanglements; but failing to follow the true leading of God, they receded, and their holiness degenerated into what was mere sect holiness. To this day they have their holiness associations and their conventions, but fellowshiping as they do the sects and factions of almost every description, they are left to grope in their own darkness and confusion, still making an effort but accomplishing nothing toward Christian unity.

Their confusion on the church question is illustrated by the following quotation from the salutary address adopted by the General Holiness Assembly held in Chicago in May, 1901:

In respect to the matter of church fellowship we observe that the
church is the institution of Christ, having many members in one
body, himself being the living Head. He has redeemed it with his
blood, and engraven it upon the palms of his hands. Membership
therein is a precious privilege, and always to be highly esteemed.
Wherever practical, every saved man and woman should be connected
with some church.

The first two statements are clear in their reference to the true Christian church as the one body of saved people everywhere, redeemed by Christ's blood. But when in the next breath they urge that "every saved man and woman should be connected with some church," as if such were not already in the church through redemption by Christ's blood, they are talking about something else, not the body of Christ. They perhaps do not realize their own blindness; but to the one who spiritually discerns the true church and its sufficiency for all the people of God, their confusion is very apparent.

The writer had an interview not long since with one of the holiness leaders who used to know D. S. Warner and who still labors to bring about the unity of Christians through a holiness that respects sectarian divisions. This man was asked about the prospects for unity after so many years of effort. His reply, in which he complained of the bigotry existing among the denominations, was anything but encouraging. He seemed to have no knowledge of a way out of the trouble, and regarded the present true church movement as only a sect, or faction, saying that "a sect is any body of Christians joined together in the same belief," etc. "But suppose a number of persons come out from and leave the sects with which they have been connected, and stand only on the Bible, independent of sects--suppose they assemble together in a body; would they be a sect?" he was asked. "Yes," was his reply. "Then what about the body of Christ itself, the whole, of which sects are regarded as cut-off factions--is that a sect?" "Yes," was his answer. And then, as if he could know nothing but sects, he referred to Paul as calling the Christians in his day a sect, and assumed to quote him thus: "For as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against" (Acts 28:22). He was told that these words were not spoken by Paul, but by his opposers. "Well," said he, "I will look that up."

Thus his conception of the subject makes the true church impossible. When men have been forty years in the ministry and in the holiness movement, and are just as far from discerning the church as when they started, and even suppose that Paul called the Christians a sect, how blinding and confusing must be the darkness in which they grope! Having failed to follow in God's way when came the call, "Come out of her, my people," they have been building with wood, hay, and stubble a structure that only awaits the consumption at the last day.

But not so all who were engaged in the holiness movement. God had a remnant whom he was leading entirely out of spiritual Babylon, who were returning to Zion over the highway of holiness, with singing and everlasting joy in their hearts. Holiness led them to the threshold of a brighter day, and they did not stop, but passed over. Keeping in the light they retained true holiness and all that God had given them. Thus, coming out of the holiness movement and embodying its true elements, is a movement that not only upholds holiness, but repudiates sectarianism and represents the true Christian unity that Christ prayed for. It holds and knows Christ as the only head of the body, and as complete, in all things, to the church.

It was through the workers in the holiness movement that Bro. D. S. Warner was made to face squarely the issue of holiness. His rejection of holiness in his earlier ministry may have been because of its poor representation on the part of professors; or, in other words, because his introduction to it was not such as would cause him to think seriously of its claims. When he comprehended that it was the line on which God was particularly working, he was not slow in being led into the light and experience and becoming an ardent advocate of the doctrine. Meeting with opposition from the so-called church of God, to which he belonged, and finally being expelled from the West Ohio Eldership, his associations were to a great extent with the holiness bands and societies. Among these he stood prominent.

Of the holiness editors who were contemporary with Brother Warner were John P. Brooks, of the Banner of Holiness, Bloomington, Ill.; George Hughes, of the Guide to Holiness, New York; Isaiah Reid, of the Highway, Nevada, Iowa; and T. K. Doty, of the Christian Harvester, Cleveland. There were also a number of others. Brother Warner himself came to be an editor and to have an acquaintance with nearly all the editors and prominent workers of his day.

As a delegate from Rome City, Ind., he attended the Western Union Holiness Convention, held at Jacksonville, Ill., Dec. 15-19, 1880. George D. Watson, who was a prominent holiness leader and author, was president of the convention. Brother Warner was appointed to the committee on program, serving with four others. He was slated for and delivered an address on the subject, The Kind of Power Needed to Carry the Holiness Work.

At the close of the convention he was placed on a committee of seven to confer and decide relative to the calling of a future convention of holiness workers in the West, with authority to issue a call for such a meeting, if they deemed it necessary. Thus he stood prominent in the holiness movement.

[Music: I Ought to Love My Savior.