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.
[Illustration: Leaders, authors and editors, prominent in the
holiness movement forty to fifty years ago, contemporaries of D. S.
Warner. (1) W. C. Palmer; (2) J. S. Inskip; (3) Wm. Macdonald; (4)
Daniel Steele; (5) Geo. Hughes, of the Guide to Holiness; (6) Isaiah
Reid, of The Highway; (7) T. K. Doty, of the Christian Harvester; (8)
L. B. Kent, of the Banner of Holiness]
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.