To Rev. Mr. M——
Questions proposed — “WTiat is the witness of the Spirit 1” — Wesley’s definition — “He that believeth hath the witness”- A promissory note — Ten years’ experience — Whether we believe or not is matter of consciousness — “What are the evidences of entire sanctification?” — “The Spirit itself beareth witness” — “By what marks may we know that we are entirely sanctified?” — Sympathy with Christ — The mind of Christ — Continuous walking in Christ.
Our beloved brother M.’s letter should not have remained so long imanswered had time permitted an earlier reply. You make several important inquiries which it would give me much pleasure to answer were my abihties equal to my wishes. Not that I regard the subjects of inquiry obscure, for to my mind they appear plain, but because, as one says, “it is hard to find words, in the language of men, to explain the deep things of God.”
Witness of the Spirit. Wesley’s Views.
“WJmt is the witness of tJie Spirit?’’ stands first in importance among your questions. In answer to this inquiry, Mr. Wesley says something like this, “It is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to our spirit, that the grace which we have desired is imparted.” With me, this witness has, I think, invariably been given the moment I have unwaveringly believed God. We have received of that Spirit whereby we Tcnow the things freely given to us of God. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit. In all my experience God has honored an implicit reliance on his word and immediately on believing, my heart is ready to exclaim, “He that believeth, hath the witness in himself.”
I cannot well conceive how it may be otherwise, than that the believing one should receive, and in conscious possession enjoy, the precise object which his faith has grasped. According to our faith it is done unto us. “Said I not unto thee. If thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the salvation of God?” Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If I may have so much confidence in the promissory note of a fellow-man, as to make it at once available for whatever articles I may need in food, raiment, &c., with how much stronger confidence may I say of the promissory notes of my heavenly Father,” Faith
Christ the Word of God. “He that beUeveth hath the Witness.”
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen!” Christ says,” The words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are Zi/e.’* And where are the wonderful words thus endued with spirit and life to be found? Surely it were wisdom to know, for who would have the temerity to pronounce a faith resting on these lively oracles, a dead faith?
“Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from above; or. Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart;” here the Word is used as being identical with Christ — the eternal Word speaking in person. Thus it is, that I apprehend, in resting upon the Word, I rest upon Christ as truly as though the Word were again made flesh and dwelt among us. These important truths, I ti-ust, I have realized in my experience for more than ten years past, and it looks to me strangely incongruous for one to say, ‘* I believe, and yet have not the witness in myself.” This form of expression, or something similar to it, is not unusual with many sincere persons, who probably do not perceive the enormity of their fault. In om- communications with each other, each is conscious whether he has confidence, and reposes unwaveringly, on the words of the other. How unreason
What is the Evidence of Entire Sanctification?
able then is the idea, that we now receive the communications of the Holy Spirit through the written word, and not have the witness, or, in other words, the internal consciousness that we do believe!
“What is the evidence of entire sanctification?” is another inquiry. How might an offerer at the Jewish altar arrive at an evidence that his offering was sanctified? In the first place, God had explicitly made known just the sacrifice required, and the manner in which it should be presented. If the offerer had complied with these requirements, he, of course, knew that he had done so, or in other words, had the testimony of his own spirit to assure him of this fact. In immediate connection with this, the witness of the Holy Spirit is given as a consequence of retying upon the faithfulness of God. The moment his offering was laid upon the altar, he had the evidence of God’s word that his offering was sanctified. “But is there not an evidence apart from the word?” The Holy Spirit always speaks to my heart by the word, and when I believe it, let me again say, that I at once experimentally apprehend, as Christ hath said, ‘’that his words are spirit and life.” David says, “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” If the word were only looked upon in the light which emanates from it, the exclamation would never again be heard, “What! believe with no other evidence than the word!” If the word is given as
Marks of Entire Sanctification.
identical with Christ himself, the same as though his living voice were sounding in our ear, then we who believe it may with strong confidence exclaim, “He that believeth hath the witness in himself!” “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,” &c.
And yet another inquiry: “By what marks may we know that we are sanctified?” I am endeavoring to meet your questions in the order in which they stand in your letter, but the foregoing infers that we now have the testimony of our own spirit, and also the Spirit bearing witness with ours that we are wholly sanctified. We were brought into this state by reposing all upon Christ. If we abide in Christ, we shall walk even as he walked. Our sympathies will be blended with his. The prayer,
“My spirit to Calvary bear,
To suffer and triumph with thee,”
will be answered in our experience. We shall as truly submit to be with Jesus as the man of sorrows, in labors abundant for the salvation of the perishing, as on the mount, beholding his excellent glory. But where might I cease in enumerating the marks by which we may know that we are wholly sanctified? “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus,” is perhaps as marked a characteristic as can be given. If we have the mind which was in Christ, it will induce a life which wU correspond, in a degree, with what his was when on
A Growing Assurance. Stability, From Faith to Faith.
earth. Such a life may, in return, bring upon us trials which will mark our onward progress, much in the same way as was His when on earth; for, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.”
The beginning of my confidence has generally been as the light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way in which my heart has become divinely assured, has not been by sudden disclosures of truth, or extraordinary internal or external manifestations, but generally, by a solemn conviction that God cannot be unfaithful. He cannot deny himself; but, as the immutable Jehovah, is ever bound by the law of his nature to fulfill his promises to the trusting one. The rest of my soul has been, not in extraordinary emotion, but “in quietness and assurance.” “Knowledge and stability shall be the strength of thy times.” So saith the Spirit by the prophet Isaiah, and these words happily exhibit what my experience has been. “We who believe do enter into rest;” yet it is not enough that I, by a definite act of faith entered. That act was but one of the many successive acts by which I am accomplishing my passage to the skies: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written. The just shall live by faith.” The work of the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, seems, to my apprehension, to have been equally blended, both in bringing me into this state and in my sustainment
All Revelations from God are by the Spirit.
since I have entered. Of the Spirit it is said, “He shall not speak of himself,” and his silent operations on the heart may not always at once be discerned as distinct from the testimony of our Own spirit. Yet we should ever bear in mind, that whatever revelations of the Father or the Son are made to the believing heart, they are all the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is thus, my dear brother, I am enabled to rejoice in the conscious operations of the Holy Spirit on my heart. In receiving the Bible as the voice of the Spirit, I take the glorious revelations therein set forth as revelations made by the Spirit, to exhibit God the Father and the Son to my believing soul. The ineffable glories of the Father and the Son could never in any degree have been apprehended, had not the Spirit taken of the things of God and revealed them; and it is thus, my beloved brother, that we through the eternal Spirit are brought into communion and fellowship with the Father and the Son. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you! Amen. Your sister in Jesus.
Interesting Disciples. Dangerous Heresy.