1. “No Man Ever Could Have Done It; but God Did It”: Durham’s Conversion, Spirit Baptism and Call
William H. Durham, “Personal Testimony of Pastor Durham,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 3 (August 1912), pp. 2–5 (first printed March 1909; this version rewritten c. 1911); “Our Book and Other Personal Matters,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 8 (August 1911), p. 16; “In Memoriam” (unsigned), The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 3 (August 1912), pp. 2–3. Primary sources; page numbers from the OCR page marks, to be checked against the scans; the interpretations are the authors’.
CTS note: William H. Durham (1873–1912) was pastor of the North Avenue Mission in Chicago and editor of The Pentecostal Testimony. He was baptized in the Spirit at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles on 2 March 1907, under its pastor William J. Seymour. The testimony given here is the version rewritten about 1911 and reprinted after his death; the 1909 wording differs in places. The “claim” theory is the teaching that one may receive the Spirit simply by claiming Him in faith, without any outward sign; to “tarry” is to wait in prayer; to “come through” is to complete the baptism by speaking in tongues. The book Durham promised was never published. “In Memoriam” is unsigned and was written by his Los Angeles assembly after his death on 7 July 1912; its date “February 1910” should read 1911. “[illegible]” marks words the OCR does not preserve.
Personal Testimony of Pastor Durham
(Rewritten and published to glorify Jesus.)
I was born and raised in the State of Kentucky where I united with the Baptist Church about the year 1891. I was sincere at the time, but I was not converted. Therefore my experience was a great disappointment to me, for I knew that, as a member of the church, I ought to have an experience; but I had no joy or peace, or knowledge of salvation. In the year 1898, in the State of Minnesota, the Holy Spirit deeply convicted me of sin. This came about through reading the Word of God; and being convinced of its truth, I was made to see that I was a guilty sinner. The Spirit was so faithful in dealing with me, that I could find no rest or peace, until I resolved to yield myself to God the best I knew how and call upon Him for mercy. The moment I did so, the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus Christ to me hanging on the Cross, and said to me, “Christ died for your sins.” Faith instantly sprung up in my heart to accept Him as my full Savior, and the moment I did so, I felt the quickening power of the Spirit, was made a new creature in Christ, and unutterable joy filled my soul. The Spirit bore faithful witness to me, that I was a child of God. I knew beyond doubt, that I was washed in the Blood of Jesus, and the peace that passes all understanding filled my soul.
I would have as soon met God as my dearest friend. I had no one to tell me that the next step was to be buried with Him, in Whom I had died and had been made alive. Had I been taught the truth, as the Apostles taught it, had I been baptized and had hands laid on me, I would have at once received the Holy Ghost; I should then have been taught to reckon that I was “dead indeed,” and that I was to live and walk only in the Holy Spirit; but I could not walk in Him Whom I had not yet received. Like thousands of others, I drifted. After two years of investigating the theories of men and struggling in every way known to me to obtain the experience of sanctification, and failing in all, I finally had grace given me from God to yield myself to Him, and trust the merits of the Blood alone, just as I had done three years before, when as a trembling sinner, I stood before the Cross and had a glimpse of the glorious Son of God, who died thereon, given me.
To my unutterable joy this step brought me back into the same state of entire sanctification and heavenly rest, peace and joy, which I had the first time I stood in the same place. As in the case of all who remain under the Blood, the Spirit dealt wondrously with me. The influence of His presence with me was so real and precious, that I really thought I had received the gift of the Holy Ghost. My greatest difficulty was in harmonizing my experience with that in the Acts of the Apostles. My difficulty was, that I mistook soul rest and peace, and the sweet holy joy of salvation, and the witness and influence of the Spirit, for the gift of the Spirit. O, how many are making this sad mistake! I knew my experience did not measure up to the standard of the Acts of the Apostles, but like all holiness teachers and people, that I have met, I either kept out of the book of Acts, or confounded the wonderful outpourings of the Holy Spirit recorded there, with sanctification.
What a sad mistake. What could be more ridiculous than the teaching, that it was sanctification, or any other work of grace, the Apostles received on the day of Pentecost?
In the spring of 1906, I heard of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the City of Los Angeles, accompanied by the speaking in other tongues. It brought joy to my heart, and I told my people that I had no doubt, that it was a mighty work of God. I believed in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including tongues, and had longed to see them in operation in the church. But when I heard the teaching, that speaking in tongues was the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost, it stirred me to the depths. I fearlessly denounced this point of doctrine as false; but when I saw the people who were filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues, I knew that their experience was genuine. I simply thought they were wrong on this point. If this teaching were true, I had not the baptism. This would mean, that I would have to come down and take the place of a seeker. It is easy to see how hard it would be for me to do this, as I had preached the Gospel for about five years and all the time professed to have the Holy Ghost, and tried to lead others into the same experience. So I said, “no man can ever convince me, that I have not received the Holy Ghost.” No man ever could have done it; but God did it.
In the fall of 1906, the Spirit began to fall on people here in Chicago. Among the first to be baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues were a number that I had labored with for three years and had never doubted that they had the same experience I had; I saw that they were filled with a joy, power and glory they never had before; that they had a love for God and souls, they never had before; and when I saw them stand up, with their faces shining with the [illegible] of Heaven, and heard them tell of the increased [illegible] and power, and then heard them speak and sing in tongues, it settled the question with me. I saw and heard for the first time in my life something that measured up to the teachings of the Book of Acts. I at once went down before God and became an earnest seeker; I found at once that the old “claim” theory was exploded by this movement. I could not kneel at the altar, and claim the Holy Ghost and go away. This was a real experience. I must wait until He came. Finding it necessary to drop my pastoral duties for a time, I did so, and went to Los Angeles to tarry before God until He met me.
I shall never forget my first day in Azusa Street Mission. As soon as I entered the place, I saw that God was there. There were hundreds of people present, yet no man seemed to have anything to do with what was happening. The Holy Ghost seemed to have perfect control. My soul was melted down before the Lord. After a few hymns had been sung, a wave of power and glory seemed to sweep over the place, and a song broke forth in the Spirit, known in this movement as the Heavenly Anthem. It was the sweetest music that ever fell on my ears. It was the Spirit of God Himself, and I knew it. I could not sing in that choir, though I would have given much to do so. I had not received Him, who was doing the singing. I saw clearly, for the first time, the difference between having the influence and presence of the Spirit with us, and having Him dwell within us in person.
Now began a time of waiting and real heart searching. I became more helpless from day to day. Everything seemed to slip away from me. The works that I had formerly rejoiced in, and the experiences that I had gloried in could not help me now. I reached the place that I could truly say with David, “My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” I had done everything I knew to do, and refused to struggle more. I simply waited, claiming God’s promise, trusting in the merits of the Blood of Christ alone.
On the 26th day of February, 1907, I went to the afternoon service. I was at the end of everything; and the Lord knew it. There were 30 or more people present in the prayer room. Three of God’s dear children came to me, and as they stood over me, one of them said, “Just cease trying to do anything, and surrender all to God.” I did so; when, O, joy, a thrill of power went through me, followed by another. Instantly it appeared as if everyone of my pores were suddenly opened and a mighty current of power turned into me from every side; and so great was the infilling, that it seemed as if the physical life would be crowded out of my body. I literally gasped for breath, and fell in a heap on the floor. My strength was gone, but I was perfectly conscious of everything; so kept lifting my heart to God and earnestly entreating Him to finish the work. So intense was my longing to have the work finished, that I was reaching Heavenward with one hand all the time. God knows best how to do His work. I am glad He did not finish the work the first time the power came upon me. My experience has been much more valuable as He gave it to me. No tongue could ever tell, what passed between God and my soul these first two hours I was under His power. It was glorious and wonderful. It was heaven. Such love, such sweetness, such a revelation of the Blood as the only remedy for sin, such a revelation of Christ as the only Savior, and many things that it is impossible for me to tell. After two hours He withdrew, leaving me the great benefit I had received from His visit, but with a consciousness that He Who had so wonderously wrought, had departed from me. I was disappointed; but knew He would return and finish His work. I now understand why he paid me this wonderful visit and left me without finishing the work. I meet many people who have had some wonderful experience in their lives, which they called the baptism in the Holy Ghost; and this blessed experience enables me to locate them. God has visited them, and when they contend that it is the baptism, I remember how the glory filled my own soul, and how everything within me seemed to be turned into love and sweetness, and how I walked more than a mile, with my very spirit within me whispering, “Glory to Jesus,” at every step. I also remember, that He made me to know that this was simply my own spirit’s being brought into a state of rapture, and that the baptism was not yet completed.
The Lord permitted me to walk in this state for two days and nights. Then, as I knelt before Him, the Spirit again fell on me. Again I fell to the floor, and for two hours His mighty power was upon me. This time there were more manifestations, shakings, etc. Still I did not get the baptism. In spite of my earnest pleadings, He again left me, and I was conscious that the work was not finished. I had come to believe that speaking in tongues was the evidence of the baptism; and besides this my own heart told me, there was more. The next night, I knelt at the altar again, holding before God the words of Christ, that if they ask for bread He will not give them a stone, etc. Again the Spirit fell on me, and again I went down under His mighty power. For three hours He wrought wondrously with me. I have never witnessed anything just like it. My body was worked in sections, a section at a time. Even the skin on my face was jerked and shaken; and finally I felt my lower jaw begin to quiver in a strange way. This continued for some time, when finally my throat began to enlarge and I felt my vocal organs being, as it were, drawn into a different shape. O, how strange and wonderful it all was to me and how blessed it was to be thus in the hands of God. Last of all I felt my tongue begin to move and my lips begin to produce strange sounds; which did not originate in my mind.
In a few moments He was speaking clearly through me in other tongues, and then I heard Brother Seymour, the Pastor say, “He is through now,” etc. He said that he had retired to rest early in the evening, and that the Spirit had spoken to him and said, “Brother Durham will get the baptism tonight,” and that he had arisen and come down. Then he lifted up his hand and prophesied that where I should preach the Holy Spirit would fall on the people. The Lord then permitted me to rise to my feet, and He, for Whom my soul had longed, did not leave me this time, but remained, and for a long time I could not help speaking in tongues.
O, how glorious it seemed to have the blessed Holy Ghost abiding within me, so that I was as conscious of His presence as I was of my own life, and O, how real the precious Blood of Christ and all that pertains to His work of redemption on the Cross of Calvary was made to me.
I have emphasized the Spirit’s dealing with me before He remained in me, to make it plain that one can have wonderful experiences and yet not receive the personal Holy Ghost. In fact, up to the time I saw the Spirit’s work in the Pentecostal movement, I had never seen anything so wonderful, as the operation of the Spirit upon me, in the two experiences I have described, before He finished His work and took up His abode within me; yet in neither one of them did I receive the Holy Spirit.
It is now nearly four years since I received the Holy Ghost, as He took up His abode within me, March 2nd, 1907. And every day of this time I have been perfectly conscious of His indwelling presence. The baptism is only the entrance into the Spirit-filled life, as after receiving Him, He teaches us all things, bringing to our remembrance the words of Jesus, bears His fruits in our lives, imparts His gifts unto us, searches and reveals the deep things of God, and guides us into all truth.
Dear reader, the Spirit may not deal with you just as He did with me; but when He comes within you, to take up His abode, He will speak in tongues and magnify God. Acts 2:4; 10:44–47; 19:6.
Our Book and Other Personal Matters
As hard as we toiled, before leaving Chicago, to finish the material for the book we have promised to write, we have found it impossible to do so. When the revival, reported in another article in this paper, commenced here, we saw at once that all our time and strength would be necessary to carry it on successfully, and there would necessarily be another delay with the book. At one time we thought to return to each one the money paid in for it, but then we remembered that most of those who have handed in a dollar, knowing the book was only prospective, have told us to keep the money and use it in the work as we thought best, if for any reason the book was not published. Then we had a standing notice that anyone desiring a refund could have it on receipt of notice that they desired it.
We believe the book is as sure to be published as the Lord tarries and permits us to live but cannot give the date. We desire the prayers of all the saints in a very special way for us in every department of the work, as it has grown and spread, till it requires wisdom and strength that is beyond human to carry it on. Never have we had such doors of opportunity open before us. Never have we had such opposition and persecution. Never were we so determined to go all the way with Jesus. Christ is all and in all. We will preach Him as such if the number of self-seekers, opposers, traitors and hypocrites should multiply a hundred fold. We are now preparing, in the will of the Lord, to move on up the Coast, and pitch the battle for God.
In most every town the saints are waiting for us. In the will of God we expect to stop at San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane and Portland, and at such other places as the Lord shall lead. We expect a battle in most, or all of these places, but the God of battles is with us, and that means victory. Will the saints in all these places begin to wait on God for a mighty outpouring when we shall come to their town.
For two years the Lord has been moving upon me much of the time to make myself an offering to the whole Pentecostal movement, and not to confine my labors to any particular field. In the fullest possible sense, I now am endeavoring to do this. Pray that my whole life may be laid at His feet, and used to the very best advantage for His glory, and the good of His people.
In Memoriam
On the seventh day of July, nineteen hundred and twelve, at ten minutes after eight in the morning, our beloved brother Durham entered into rest. His end was peaceful, and he gladly obeyed the divine summons to enter the Master’s presence. The following facts concerning his life will be gratefully received by all who knew him:
Wm. H. Durham was born in the state of Kentucky, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-three. He joined a baptist church at the age of eighteen, but was not converted, and not until he had lost confidence in religion and wandered into sin, was he arrested by the Holy Spirit and put under conviction. Day by day this conviction deepened, until finally he resolved to yield and call upon God for mercy. Instantly the Spirit revealed to him Jesus hanging on the cross and said, “Christ died for your sins.” He believed it with all his heart, and instantly the Spirit witnessed that he was born again. This was in Minnesota in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. He was soon after called of the Lord into active service, and wherever he went crowds came to the altar and were saved and healed. This continued until the light came on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which he finally accepted, and travelled from Chicago to Los Angeles that he might wait on God unmolested by his pastoral duties. He was baptized in the Spirit on March 2nd, 1907, and returned to Chicago. And then began that wonderful ministry which astonished the world. Ten missions preaching the full gospel sprang up under his ministry in Chicago.
Ministers from far and near came to his mission and accepted the truth and went away filled with the Spirit.
He published Pentecostal Testimony which went all over the earth, and carried conviction wherever it went. Scores were converted through reading its pages, and many hundreds were convicted to seek for the baptism.
About eighteen months ago God led him to fearlessly proclaim the great truth, the finished work of Calvary. It met with strong opposition, but God confirmed the truth in such a way that men were forced to listen. In February 1910 [that is, 1911], he came to Los Angeles, the great Pentecostal centre, to deliver his message, and amidst persecution and opposition of every kind, God baptized hundreds in the Spirit in a few months, and established an assembly of over six hundred people who stand for the truths of the finished work of Calvary, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Last February he went to Chicago much weakened by continual labors to hold a two weeks’ convention, and God gave him the greatest revival of modern times. God thus signifying to the world his approval of his servant up to the last. This wonderful revival, described on another page of this paper, was the greatest of his life. The material for the last edition of Pentecostal Testimony was prepared during this vigorous evangelistic campaign. This terrific strain brought about a general break down, and though our brother rallied again, it was only for a short time. He was given strength to visit the mission, and deliver his last message, expressing his conviction that God was going to take him home. It came as a great shock to the saints, and threw them on their faces before God. Many all night prayer meetings were held and many devoted saints in different parts of the country prayed night and day for weeks, but God saw that his work was finished, and while the saints were praying, the Spirit said to many of them, “He has finished his course, he has kept the faith.”
His last request to God was that he might be given strength to travel home to Los Angeles and see his beloved friends before he died. God graciously granted this request, and accordingly he left for Los Angeles on Tuesday, arriving here on Friday, July 5th, and early Sunday morning his Spirit went home to God.
We were all assembled for morning worship when the news came. The whole assembly went on their knees before God, and great lamentation followed. We felt our hearts melted together in a common sorrow, but we sorrow not as others that have no hope. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
The funeral services were precious. The body was brought down to the mission hall on the corner of 7th and Los Angeles Streets, where fully one thousand people were present. The service commenced at two o’clock P. M. and lasted for an hour, after which all the people viewed the remains. A large company then followed to the Inglewood cemetery, where we laid his body in the grave, with a certain and sure hope of a glorious resurrection at the sound of the first trump. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power.
We are glad to have known him, and though we keenly feel our loss, he has gone to be with Jesus, which is far better.
“Thus heaven is gathering one by one, / To its capacious breast, / All that is pure and permanent, / And beautiful and best.”
2. “The Bible Brand”: Spirit Baptism, Tongues and Manifestations
William H. Durham, “Manifestations Number II,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 5 (July 1910), pp. 6–9; “Speaking in Tongues Is the Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 2 (May 1912), pp. 9–12. Editorial articles by Durham as editor. Primary sources; page numbers from the OCR page marks; the interpretations are the author’s.
CTS note: Durham held the doctrine later called “initial evidence”: everyone baptized in the Spirit speaks in tongues at that moment (Acts 2:4; 10:44–47; 19:6). He distinguished this sign from the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12–14. Christians weigh the question differently: many Pentecostal churches still teach initial evidence; many charismatics and some Pentecostals regard tongues as one possible sign among others; other Christians hold that such gifts are not expected today. CTS presents these views without deciding between them. “Six years ago on the Pacific Coast” refers to the Azusa Street revival of 1906. George Fox (1624–1691) founded the Quakers; Peter Cartwright and Charles Finney were nineteenth-century American revival preachers. “Under the power” means overcome by God’s power, often falling to the floor. CTS has omitted one short clause in “Manifestations” ([…]).
Manifestations Number II
In a previous number of Pentecostal Testimony we published an article on manifestations which did much to clear up the subject for many; but still many questions are being asked and we feel that another article on the same subject is necessary. One thing is sure: Whenever there is a revival of considerable power there are sure to be manifestations. After all different opinions are expressed the facts remain the same. When the mighty power of God rested upon George Fox and the early Quakers there were visible manifestations of the Spirit’s power. The devil was aroused and awful persecution followed. Mr. Fox was imprisoned, mobbed, and shamefully treated in many ways. To our mind it was not so much his simple, plain preaching and dress that drew the fire of the devil as the manifestations of the Holy Ghost which accompanied his ministry. People not only heard the Word, but saw the power of God. They were compelled to acknowledge that there were supernatural manifestations following the powerful preaching of this humble man.
When God sends a man He always manifests His power through him and the devil is always stirred. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh to deliver His message, signs and wonders accompanied that message when it was delivered. As long as Moses lived God wrought wonders through him. So it was with Joshua and all the prophets. So it was with Jesus Christ Himself and with His apostles, and so has it ever been since the days of the apostles.
When signs and wonders cease it is a sure evidence that the Church has drifted away from God, and that God has withdrawn His presence from it. And in every case where the people set their faces to seek God and continue to do so till He returns to them, His return is evidenced and accompanied by signs and wonders. As stated, it was so in the days of Fox. It was notably so in the days of Wesley, Cartwright, Finney and many other mighty men that God has raised up to declare His Gospel. Further the manifestations have always been somewhat similar. The Quakers were so called because they shook and quaked under the power of the Spirit of God. In the days of Wesley, Finney and others, the people not only shook and trembled but fell under the power, sometimes in numbers, and often lay for hours. These manifestations have always stirred the devil. Cold, formal preachers and churches have always been aroused to action, and have generally opposed and hindered all they possibly could. The preachers know they ought to have power, and not having it, they feel that the easiest thing for them to do is to declare that the manifestations following the ministry of others are not of God, but honest souls are always convinced by the manifestations that God is working.
The manifestations in the present great outpouring of the Holy Ghost have been and still are something wonderful. All the manifestations witnessed in the great revivals of the last two hundred years seem to have reappeared and others that have not been seen before since the days of the Apostles, so far as I know. God has visited His people and mighty signs and wonders are following. God is repeating many of His wonderful works which have been seen in other ages. In this day when the miraculous is being scoffed at even by preachers and church members, God is reviving the miraculous. Just when men are denying the power of God, He is sending His power among those who believe Him. This power will increase among true believers till Jesus comes. God is a God of power: His works are works of power. And the devil and unbelieving men hate to see the mighty power of God being manifested, because they know men will be convinced thereby that God is the same and the works and teachings of men and devils will be overthrown.
From the beginning of the present great outpouring the opposers have severely criticised the wonderful manifestations of the Spirit of God, and have proven their ignorance of what God is doing, by the weakness of their arguments and criticisms. For a person to declare that the manifestations in the Pentecostal movement are psychological or a result of nervousness is sufficient proof to establish his ignorance of the subject in the mind of everyone who has experienced the manifestations of the Spirit in his life. I must state actual facts just as they are. To tell a man who has time and time again felt the literal power of God stream into his soul and body, and so fill him that he would fall helplessly to the floor and remain under the control of the power for several minutes or even an hour or more, and who at such times feels his soul filled with unutterable glory and praise to God, or feels a real burden of prayer and soul travail for the lost, that, because his body is shaken more or less at the time, it is all nervousness is to make yourself ridiculous in his eyes. To say that it is excitement or that we work ourselves up to this state is false.
Recently in a meeting in North Avenue mission there were nearly two hundred people in attendance and without any visible cause for it they were presently nearly all mightily under the power of God. We had just risen from our knees when wave after wave of power and glory swept over our souls and bodies, filling our souls with glory and praise, and shaking many of our bodies, and speaking in tongues and singing in the Spirit was heard on every side. People in all parts of the building were equally affected. This continued for nearly half an hour before the regular order of service could be continued. No person could deny that there was a supernatural power operating among the people. No one who heard the volume of praise which ascended to God and heard the name and power of Jesus Christ and His precious Blood exalted could doubt that it was the power of God. O how Satan hates this real visible power of God which can be seen and felt and which so clearly demonstrates the fact that God is working among His people!
But some will say, “I have seen manifestations which I cannot believe to be from God.” So have I. There never was a genuine work in progress that Satan did not get some counterfeit into it. Every great revival attracts not only honest seekers and well-balanced people, but cranks and fanatics as well. I never saw the exception. Every revivalist of any note has had his troubles with them, and we have had our full share. There is a host of them and they all desire to air their theories or ride their hobbies; but they are no proof that God is not working, but rather prove that He is working. But as the purpose of this article is not to deal with cranks and fanatics, we will return to the subject of manifestations.
There are three distinct kinds of manifestations. The first is produced by the direct operation of the Spirit of God. It is this one, and only this that we wish to defend. The other extreme is any manifestation which is produced by the direct operation of demon power. No one with any knowledge of Scripture can deny that the devil has power and that he gets control of people whenever possible. Between these two is what I would call manifestations of the flesh. There is much that could not be said to be of God, and yet I would not dare to say it was of the devil. My opinion is that many people are entirely too liberal with the devil. That is, they are too quick to ascribe to him any manifestation or work which they do not understand. Such people, as soon as they see a physical manifestation, are ready to cry out that it is the devil; simply because they do not understand it. If asked for proof that it is Satan they simply say: “O, God would never work in that way,” as though they were authority on what God will or will not do.
As some who in a general way believe in the Pentecostal movement are afraid of physical manifestations, we will deal briefly with these three kinds of manifestations mentioned, in the hope that many will be made to see the truth. While it would be wrong to say that every physical manifestation is of God, it is entirely wrong to say that any great per cent of them are from the devil. Nor is it correct to say that that which is physical is of the flesh, as so many do say. God is putting His power not only upon our spirits, but upon our bodies as well. Paul says, “The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit of God comes upon and into our bodies, and physical manifestations are the inevitable result. So that a physical manifestation which is produced by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit is just as real and acceptable as a shout or similar Spiritual manifestation. To my mind, by far the greater part of physical manifestations which I have seen, such as shaking, falling under the power, etc., were produced by the direct operation of the Spirit of God upon the physical beings of His children. I have seen several cases, however, where I believe it was the flesh working. In other cases when God really works, folks become self-conscious and desire to be seen, and thus it becomes evident that while God is working the flesh is working also. In many genuine experiences the flesh is allowed to get in in some little measure, and God is hindered and the person does not have as beautiful an experience as he would, had he kept self entirely out of it. I would have to say that in a few cases, perhaps a half dozen or more, I have seen what I was compelled to believe was the power of Satan working, but it has generally been in persons who have at some time dabbled with Spiritualism […].
Some one will say, “If there have been cases where the enemy got hold of people, is it really safe for us to seek the experience?” Our answer is, that it is perfectly safe for any honest person to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, as the Blood of Christ in which they trust makes it impossible for Satan to touch them. They are in no more danger than an honest sinner is in when he is seeking God for salvation. In other words, we have too much confidence in God to believe He would allow an honest soul while seeking His face, and desiring to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be taken possession of by the devil. If this could be, no one would be safe in seeking God for anything. The words of Christ on this line have great weight with us. He says, “If a son shall ask bread of anyone of you who is a father, will he give him a stone?” etc. There is no safer place under Heaven for an honest soul than seeking God for anything which He has promised to His children.
I would answer the oft repeated question of how to come to God for the baptism in the Holy Spirit in this way: come with a humble heart and mind, trusting the Blood of Christ alone, and ask Him for the gift of the Holy Spirit—not that you may be great and powerful, but that you may be brought into a right relationship to God, and possess your promised inheritance, and that Jesus Christ may be glorified through the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in you. To my mind, it is a sad mistake to seek God for His Spirit’s power with a desire prominent in your mind to do or be something. A person seeking power with a desire to do some great thing, who is not perfectly honest in his desire to be right with God, or who does not first seek to be fully cleansed in the Blood of Christ and made clean and pure in the sight of God, will not only fail to get anything from God, but is in grave danger of being taken possession of by some evil spirit, or receiving an awful rebuke from God, as Simon the sorcerer at the City of Samaria.
I wish to reaffirm that I believe there have been very few cases of demon possession, or manifestations produced by an evil spirit that have come under my observation. I cannot and do not believe it is possible for Satan to get possession of an honest person. It is my belief that every case of real demon power that has been witnessed in the Pentecostal or any other work has been that of some dishonest or unclean person. For a person, as many have done, to attribute all the physical manifestations to Satan, to my mind, is little short of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, as the manifestations of the power of God are so many and so wonderful, as well as so valuable, that it is an awful mistake to credit them to Satan.
There is really little resemblance between the manifestations of the Spirit of God and the manifestations of Satan. I can detect the workings of the devil as soon as I see them. He always leads people to do foolish and unscriptural things, that in the end do not profit; while the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. Satan destroys body, mind and soul, fills with doubt, fear, envy and strife, destroys confidence in God and man, and in the Word of God. The power of God strengthens us bodily, mentally and spiritually, increases our faith in God and man, fills with love, joy and peace, deepens our love and strengthens faith in Jesus Christ the only Son of God, and in the blessed Word of God. Time and again have I had the power of God come upon me and prostrate me for several minutes, or even an hour. When the power would lift I would find myself wonderfully strengthened and rested in body and mind, and most wonderfully uplifted spiritually. In fact, my soul is filled with faith, love, joy, peace, confidence in God, and all other things that I understand to be from God as at no other time. Dare anyone say that I would receive such results if it were Satanic power that came upon me as some seem to think it is? It is disgusting to me to hear folks talk as though God allowed the devil to put his infernal power on His children, and make playthings of them a good part of the time. God’s children are under the Blood of Jesus Christ, and Satan has no power to touch them as long as they stay there; but let them watch and pray, and trust the blood continually, to keep them clean, lest the enemy get an advantage over them.
I believe we will see greater manifestations of the power of God as the dispensation draws to a close. God’s people are going down before Him in real humility and faith. And the nearer they get to Him the greater the degree of power which He puts upon them, and the greater the degree of power which produces the physical manifestations, which we are defending, the greater the results. This is why the devil hates and opposes the manifestations so. He knows they evidence the real power of God in operation. He knows if he can prejudice people against all physical manifestations, he has robbed them of all they would have received through the operation of the Spirit of God upon their physical beings, and it is when the power of God is operating thus, that the best results are obtained. I have seen this wonderful power cause the lame to rise and walk—made instantly and perfectly whole. I have seen it heal the sick in many cases. While feeling this mighty power operating in my body, I have laid my hands on people in many cases, and they would be filled instantly with the Holy Ghost. All the real work that is done on every line is done by this mighty power, which comes upon us and which at times shakes the body, at other times prostrates us, speaks and sings in tongues, and produces many other manifestations. It is none other than the power of God. It is no less a personage than the Blessed Holy Spirit Himself working among the saints of God. This explains why the devil tries to counterfeit it, and the flesh tries to imitate it. Let all the saints yield themselves to God; hate the flesh; and, above all, give no place to the devil.
Speaking in Tongues Is the Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit
For six years the question of whether speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has been much agitated. The real question is, “Do all who receive the gift of the Holy Spirit speak in tongues as at Pentecost, at the time?” Perhaps no point of doctrine has ever been more bitterly contested. It is also doubtful if any other point of doctrine was ever so shamefully compromised, as this one has been by some in the movement. It would be impossible to calculate what the work has suffered, as a result of this point of truth’s being compromised. The work has never suffered from the effects of the opposition of those who stood on the outside of the movement, and bitterly opposed this and other truths. It has suffered from the effects of those who claim to be Pentecostal people, and at the same time deny this great distinguishing truth of the movement.
Now it is not to be supposed that this truth is opposed just simply as an ordinary point of doctrine is opposed. Men in this day, as a rule, are not concerned enough about a small point of doctrine to fight against it, as this doctrine has been fought. This is one of the penetrating truths of God, such as He often sends, that locates every man that hears it. If God did not send His plain, pointed messages and truths into the world occasionally, men would have a much smoother time of it. But just about the time men get settled down to rest in carnal security, on their highly prized but false theories, God sends a plain message of truth, that simply puts every soul on the face of the earth in a corner. In all past time both the message of God and His messengers as well, have been rejected and opposed. By very far the greatest majority of the messengers God has sent to the world have been utterly rejected, and a great per cent of them have been slain.
God’s message puts men under conviction, and, unless they are willing to give heed to it, there is nothing left for them to do but to try to get that which disturbs them out of the way. It has been no exception with this truth. While no one, so far as we know, has been killed for preaching it and for the results that have followed, on every side we have seen it stir up the same spirit that was manifested in those who have murdered the saints and martyrs in the past. We have heard it said over and over again, that our ministers ought to be hung, or killed, or sent to jail. We have been threatened, and heard others threatened. Some have been assaulted and shamefully entreated. The most bitter and scathing articles have been published and circulated against the truth and those who preach it. In a word, there has been a very determined and united effort to exterminate this point of doctrine.
We do not believe that all those who have opposed this doctrine have understood fully what they were doing. We believe that most of them, if they would own the truth, would acknowledge, however, that they hate this truth, because it says to them, in so many words, that they have not the baptism. We believe it is because they are located. Of one thing we feel certain: The devil knows exactly why he hates it and opposes it so. It is because it exposes every false theory that he ever got men to believe. He knows that, if every person he has ever deceived and made satisfied with a theory, and thus robbed of the baptism, should see this truth and tarry for the baptism, they would receive it. He knows that just as soon as men see this truth, they will begin to seek God, and will never be satisfied again till they get the real baptism. He knows just how it stirs men up. He knows this is the one thing that represents the genuine, Scriptural baptism in the Holy Spirit. Therefore he knows the importance of getting it out of the way. He knows that, even among Pentecostal people, as soon as he gets them to lose interest in this great Pentecostal truth, they will settle down, and that in a little while people will quit seeking and receiving the Holy Spirit. One thing one need never be in doubt about; and that is the attitude of the devil toward this truth, or whether he fully understands it.
As small a thing as the speaking in tongues seems to many to be, it is marvelous what a stir it has made in the world. When six years ago it was first preached on the Pacific Coast, that the speaking in tongues was the evidence of the baptism, it met with bitter opposition from the holiness people. The most of the people who heard did not believe it. Therefore they branded it as a false doctrine, and the man that preached it as a false prophet. But some tarried and the Lord met them. In a short time most of those who had opposed were seeking, and most of them received. Then those who had been so confident that they had received the Holy Spirit before, and thus had opposed this teaching, knew two things: first, that they never had had the baptism before; second, that the doctrine that the tongues is the evidence was true.
Right here the line began to be drawn. When the people saw the power of God coming on the people, and heard them speaking in tongues, those, as a rule, who were acknowledged as the most spiritual among them recognized that it was God, and took their stand for it. The other class said they did not believe it was God, continued to oppose, and none of them ever received the baptism. On the other hand those who saw and believed that it was God and became seekers, almost without exception, received the glorious baptism and spoke in tongues. The writer of this article has had this glorious experience for over five years, and has heard all that could be said against it. He gladly places himself on record today as believing, beyond a doubt and without a single misgiving, and more strongly, if possible, than ever before, that this is the genuine, Scriptural baptism in the Spirit, and that in glory and blessing it eclipses all other experiences. No experience is, or could be more valuable except conversion, which is of course the experience on which all other experiences of the Christian life are built. The writer knows today, as he has known from the first, that when the blessed Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, comes in to take up His permanent abode, He speaks in other tongues.
So far as our knowledge extends, every one that went forth for the first year or two stood firmly for the truth that the tongues are the evidence of the baptism. Wherever they went this simple truth put people in a corner, and either drove them away or started them to seeking. The result was, scores received. The instructions were as simple as they could have been. “Just yield yourself up to the Lord and trust the Blood and wait,” they would say. As souls did this, the Spirit would fall on them. The results were the same in all localities. When the power would come upon people they would often fall helplessly to the floor. Generally they would be shaken more or less violently. This was a trying experience to some who never felt the power before and who of course did not understand it. “Just let Him have His way,” the workers would say, and soon the person who was under the power would begin to speak in tongues.
No person ever had a stranger experience than those who speak in tongues for the first time. No one could ever describe it. To me it was the strangest, most glorious and wonderful experience I had ever had. The power, which has already overcome and which shakes the person’s body, simply moves to his vocal organs and begins to operate on them and, if yielded to, soon produces a language. After a person had spoken in tongues we pronounced him through. By this we meant his baptism was completed. Many would have the power on them and not get through to the baptism at the first time, or even the second. When this was the case the power of God, after dealing with a person, would simply lift from him. When He filled him and spoke in tongues He remained with him. This position we held from the first, and we hold it today. All who are really baptized speak in tongues at the time.
One thing we have observed, and we have been careful to observe all that has happened in this glorious movement. Whenever they cease in any place to teach that the tongues are the evidence the power of God lifts and they have very few baptisms any more. Wherever they stand for this truth and really preach it, if they are straight, or reasonably straight, in other doctrines and are a clean people, the power never leaves them, and people continue to get the baptism. In a word, it is a truth that God has been pleased to honor from the first, and He is honoring it just as much today as ever. God always honors His own message.
Last year I went to a mission where they had gone back on this point of truth. The work was all run down. The place was comparatively empty. In two weeks, as I stood as firm as a rock for this truth and the Finished Work of Calvary, the place was more than crowded. Hundreds were turned away who could not get into the building, and it was a large one. God put people under awful conviction and many were saved. Many who had been saved and even filled with the Spirit came, with tears of repentance, confessed that they were backslidden, and got right with the Lord. In less than three months the Lord baptized over one hundred and fifty in the Holy Spirit. Some try to convince me that it is the messenger that the Lord is honoring. Brethren, I disclaim any such honor. It is the truth of God that He is honoring. God is not putting Himself out in this day, speaking after the manner of men, to honor any man. He is honoring His word and every man who preaches it in its fulness. It is not to be denied that God honors those who live near enough to Him to hear from Him, and to get His message and preach it. God certainly honors those who have honest, true, faithful hearts; but it is saying entirely too much, when we say that it is the man the Lord is honoring with results. When a man gets the message of God and preaches it, God honors both the man and the message. The highest honor that God could confer upon one, in our judgment, is to co-operate with him, and bless his labors, and trust him with His message.
When God sent the message that the tongues were the evidence of the baptism, He accompanied it with His mighty power, which confirmed it. Certainly the man He used to deliver the message was blest and honored of God, as long as he faithfully delivered the message. God gave him success, as men measure success. It was God’s own message, however, that He set His seal upon and confirmed with the signs following. Wherever His message has been faithfully preached from that day to this, His blessing and power accompanies it. It is one message that always brings results. We have never proclaimed it in any place yet, that it did not produce results.
When it is declared that the tongues are the evidence of the baptism, people who have set under the ministry of those who do not believe and preach this point of truth, though they claim to be Pentecostal people, and have never received the Spirit, will get their baptism. During the present Chicago revival, about thirty have come in from one assembly that claims to be a Pentecostal assembly, but does not stand for the tongues’ evidence, and received their baptism. Those who think it is not necessary to preach this truth are robbing the people of the baptism, and themselves of the results they would otherwise see. They are failing to honor God by faithfully proclaiming His message for today. They fail to do their duty to the people by telling them the truth. If they told them the truth, they would know they did not have the baptism, and would get down and wait on God till He baptized them. Every soul who receives the Spirit is always an encouragement to others who are still tarrying, or who may be undecided. People soon lose interest, when they do not see something happening. As soon as seekers see others receiving, it inspires faith in them to believe they will receive also.
God, in the beginning, chose to make this point a pivotal one. He used it to draw the line between those who had the baptism and those who had not. He used it to corner men. He used it to locate all classes of men. It located honest men, who thought they had the baptism and who had not. It located dishonest men, who wanted to pose as having the baptism, and who knew they did not. It located those who were ignorant of the whole matter. Many have come into our meetings and shown unbounded astonishment, when they saw the mighty power of God. They had never seen anything like it before. When they would see it, and hear the saints praising God and magnifying the name of Jesus and the power of His precious Blood, they would be convinced that it was the power of God, and would fall on their knees and receive the Spirit the first service they were in. The truth of God accompanied by the power of God always did and always will locate men. At all times and in all places many have refused to be convinced, no matter what God did. In spite of all the mighty works wrought by Jesus Christ, men found an excuse for rejecting Him. They absolutely refused to be convinced. No doubt every false report they heard, or any so-called excuse that came to them was received with the greatest joy. No doubt they intentionally ignored His mighty works and sniffed at them. Nevertheless, He was the Son of God; and when they, for very envy and jealousy, had condemned Him to death to get Him out of the way, God gloriously raised Him up from the dead. As further proof, God poured out the Spirit before their very eyes, as it were, and let them see His mighty signs and wonders wrought by the hands of those simple followers of Jesus, who received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Those who could be convinced were convinced. Others still refused to be convinced, hardening their hearts against God, and added this to their sins, that they persecuted and killed the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
So it is in this day. Those whom the truth, accompanied by the power of God, will convince, are being convinced. Others reject both the truth and the power, and thus place themselves in the position of those who fight against God. There is nothing that would convince these people because their hearts are hardened against God. No matter what God did, even though He should raise the dead in their very presence, they would say that it was not the power of God. This was what they did in the days of Jesus, and this is what they will do today.
God chose that this sign should follow, when the Spirit was poured out upon His own Apostles on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1–5. It was recognized as an infallible proof at the house of Cornelius, Acts 10:44–47. The church at Jerusalem later, when dealing with the Apostle Peter for going in and eating with the gentiles, at once dropped the case, when they heard the gentiles had received the same Spirit, in exactly the same way they had received Him, that is, accompanied by speaking in other tongues. At Ephesus many years after Pentecost we see the same sign following, Acts 19:6. It is the sign that thousands of the saints are receiving today, when the blessed Spirit comes upon them and fills them and seals them unto the day of redemption. Thank God for restoring this old landmark. It is the sure sign that what we receive is the Bible brand.
3. The Finished Work of Calvary and the Meaning of Sanctification
William H. Durham, “Sanctification: Is It a Definite, Second, Instantaneous Work of Grace?,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 7 (February 1911), pp. 1–4; “The Finished Work of Calvary: It Makes Plain the Great Work of Redemption” and “Some Other Phases of Sanctification,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 2 (May 1912), pp. 1–4 and 7–9. Primary sources; page numbers from the OCR page marks; the interpretations are the author’s.
CTS note: These articles set out the “Finished Work” teaching that divided early Pentecostals. The Wesleyan-Holiness view, held by Seymour, Charles Parham and churches such as the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), the Church of God in Christ and the Pentecostal Holiness Church, describes three stages: conversion (justification); entire sanctification, a second, instantaneous work of grace that cleanses the inborn sinful nature; and the baptism in the Spirit with tongues. Durham taught that at conversion the believer is identified with Christ’s death and resurrection and made holy, so that sanctification is then lived out and deepened, and the baptism in the Spirit is the second great experience. The Assemblies of God (1914) and many later Pentecostals followed Durham; the Holiness Pentecostal churches kept the three stages. Both sides appeal to Scripture and call for holy living, and CTS presents them fairly. Ralph C. Horner and W. B. Godbey were Holiness writers; “Booth” is William Booth of the Salvation Army; “Caradine” is the Methodist preacher Beverly Carradine.
Sanctification: Is It a Definite, Second, Instantaneous Work of Grace?
This subject is attracting so much attention in the Pentecostal movement just now, and is being so widely discussed, that it seems necessary to devote some time and space to it. I have received many letters asking questions on the subject, and hundreds of my friends who have heard me preach on the subject have earnestly requested me to deal with the subject more thoroughly in the paper, that others might receive the light and blessing they have received. It might be well for me to state that from my conversion, thirteen years ago, to the present time, I have continually associated with holiness people; and that for years, in my preaching, I referred to sanctification as a second work of grace, bringing several things in my attempt to prove it:
First, that many people, after being converted, had received what seemed to them to be a definite experience.
Second, that the Scriptures clearly taught that there was an experience to be received after conversion. When I referred to the Scriptures I always used the experience of the Apostles at Pentecost and the experience of the Samaritans as recorded in the 8th of Acts; also the account of the Spirit’s falling on Cornelius under Peter’s preaching recorded in Acts 10:44–47, and the account of the outpouring at Ephesus, Acts 19:1–6.
Third, I used the exhortations of Paul in his epistles to the churches as proof that the New Testament assemblies did not have all the Lord had for them. Fourth, I used the condition of the religious world today. I declared that large numbers of them were Christian people, yet their lives proved that they were not sanctified. They did not live it. Some of my teaching was that in justification we are pardoned; in sanctification we are cleansed; that in justification the tree is cut down; that in sanctification the stump is taken out; that in justification we are saved from evil deeds and habits; that in sanctification we are cleansed from evil tempers and principles; that in justification we are saved from what we have done; that in sanctification we are saved from what we are.
To prove that it was a definite, instantaneous work, I referred to the statements of scholars, viz.: that the references to sanctification in the original Greek are in the aorist tense, which denotes completed action in the indefinite past. This is only a very condensed statement of what I believed and taught on the subject, as I was perfectly familiar with every theory commonly taught by any of the leading holiness teachers and writers. I had heard most of their leading preachers, and had read volume after volume on the subject by their leading writers. It is only fair to myself to state, however, that I always found very great difficulty in harmonizing the definite second work theory with the plain teaching of the Word. I had no trouble, however, in proving that the Bible taught entire sanctification. It seems to me no one could believe the Bible and attempt to deny that its standard of teaching is Holiness unto the Lord. But the minds of some have become so biased by the erroneous second work theory, that you can state clearly to them that you do believe in entire sanctification and that the Bible teaches it as God’s only standard and that therefore no one can be justified short of it, and while still claiming their second work experience, they will go away and say that you do not believe in sanctification.
I believe the time has come that God wants His people to understand His Word, and to accept it in preference to any theory. From the day the Holy Spirit fell on me and filled me I could never preach the second work theory again. I must say that in theory I still held to it, but was restrained in the Spirit from preaching it any more. From the first, the Spirit dealt with me and revealed clearly in my heart the plain Bible truth of the finished work of the Cross of Calvary; but it took months for me to get it clear enough in my mind to be willing to entirely discard the old theory, and take my stand on the simple living truth of God. I moved with great care out of respect for the many recognized great men, including Wesley, who had taught sanctification as a second work of grace. I waited until I was sure that there was no possibility of my being mistaken on the subject from a Scriptural standpoint. Then, in the fear of the Lord, I preached the finished work of Calvary—one work of grace. From the first, God wonderfully honored it and the Spirit fell in power wherever it was preached.
I have preached on this subject to thousands of people since then. I honestly believe that ninety-nine out of every one hundred of them have accepted it. Not one has ever come and told me that what I preached was not the Bible. Some who did not see it at first have said, “Yes, what you preach is the Scripture, but I am going to search the Scriptures to see if I cannot find another work taught somewhere.” I say humbly, not one has ever come to point out the other work to me in the Bible.
The plain teaching of the Word of God is identification with Jesus Christ. The thought of God concerning our salvation is expressed in a death, a burial, and a resurrection. Our faith in God’s plan is clearly expressed in the ordinance of baptism. We believe that we are dead with Christ, therefore we are buried with Him; and if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we believe that we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Romans 6:6 says that our “old man” was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away. The seventh verse says, “For he that hath died is justified from sin.” Col. 2:11–13 says, “In whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you did He make alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.”
Please notice that the body of the flesh is put off in the circumcision of Christ. Please notice in the twelfth verse, that we were buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the working of God. Please also notice in the thirteenth verse, that we are made alive together with Christ. The first verse of the Third Chapter of Colossians tells us “we are risen with Christ.” The third verse says, “For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
Now all the teaching of the second work people has to do with the destruction or removal of the “old man.” They teach that a saved person has a dual nature. That while we are made a new creature, yet the “old man” is in us, and that he (the Adamic nature) is removed in the second work of grace.
Now as soon as it is established that the “old man” is crucified and slain in conversion, the whole foundation from under their theory is entirely removed, and their structure tumbles to the ground; yet the plain teaching in all the Scripture is to the effect, that the “old man” was crucified with Christ, and that we are justified on the ground that Jesus Christ took our place and died in our stead. Now, why was it necessary for Jesus Christ to die for us? Because the sentence of death pronounced upon Adam the first, the “old man,” was handed down to us and must be executed before we could be justified. So when Jesus Christ went to the Cross He not only took our sins upon Him, but He, in the fullest sense, became our Substitute and took our place, and the sentence of death which hung over us was executed in Him; or, in other words, our “old man,” the Adamic nature, was crucified with Christ that it might be destroyed or done away.
Now, when a penitent sinner is made to see that Jesus Christ died in His stead, his living faith identifies him with Christ in His death. From that moment, from God’s point of view, or, as some say, in the eyes of the law, he is dead. He has died in the person of his Substitute, Jesus Christ. He is now a candidate for baptism; that is, to be buried with Christ by baptism into death, because his faith has identified him with Christ in His death on the Cross. But God has quickened him in Christ, when he believed in Jesus Christ, and he passes out of death into life, being made a new creature in Christ. So, just as Christ came forth from the grave to die no more, the believer in Christ comes up from his burial in water to die no more, but rather to be identified with Jesus Christ in his new life. There is no other ground on which people are buried except death; neither is there any excuse for burying any one in water except that he is dead with Christ; and every student of the Bible will agree with me that it was the “old man” that died and that the believer is supposed to rise to walk in newness of life.
This, then, will make baptism (the watery grave) the dividing line between the old life and the new. In the old life the “old man” (the flesh) ruled. In the new life the Spirit of God, Who, from a Bible standpoint, is supposed to be received immediately following baptism, is supposed to rule. Symbolically the “old man” is supposed to cling to us up to the time of our baptism, but to be buried there, never to rise again. The Old Testament type of this is found in the Book of Exodus, where God delivered His people from the bondage of Pharaoh, who is a type of the “old man.” When God purposed to smite the first born of Egypt, He commanded Israel, through Moses, to kill a lamb and sprinkle its blood upon the door-posts and upon the lintel of the door, saying, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” That night God smote the first born of all Egypt, but His own people were saved through the blood of a slain lamb. This, then, brought them under the blood, but they were not yet free from the “old man.” Next, we see them on the banks of the Red Sea, whose waters divided, and into which they entered, followed by the “old man.” God’s promise to them was, that they should never see these Egyptians again. Next, we see Israel, God’s people, who are redeemed by the blood of a slain lamb, come up from the waters onto the dry land; but the “old man” who had followed them to and into the waters was overthrown in the midst of the sea, and left in the very bottom of the middle of the sea, while God’s redeemed people on the shores of deliverance, sang unto the Lord the song of redemption, forever free from the bondage of the “old man.” This is a most beautiful type of God’s simple plan of salvation through the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Pages could be written giving Scriptures to prove our position, but we feel that we must take up and deal with the other side of the question.
As stated above, no one has yet come to us with the Scripture that establishes sanctification as a second work of grace. They come with their experience at times. They also speak of the condition of the religious world, which they say we must acknowledge to be in a justified state. They also point to the condition of the New Testament Churches, and the exhortations to holiness in the Epistles.
Concerning experiences, we would say that we doubt not that many people come into conscious possession of the experience of sanctification after conversion; but because they were not taught the truth in the first place, shall we teach all others that they must seek sanctification as a second work? I know that when God saved me, He fully saved me. What should have been taught me, was to receive the Holy Ghost and present myself to God as alive from the dead and to reckon, in living faith, myself dead. Had I done this, I should never have had any trouble. As it was, having no teaching or help, and not having received the Holy Ghost, I walked in a heavenly state for several months and then grew cold. When I applied to the teachers for help, they told me, in all honesty, no doubt, that what I needed was sanctification. What they should have told me was that I was partially backslidden, that I had lost the joy out of my experience, and needed to get back under the Blood, where I was in the first place. Their failing to do this caused me two years of struggling and grief. Then God in His mercy brought me back to the foot of the Cross, where the precious Blood flows; and to my indescribable joy, I found myself in possession of the same sweet, rich experience that I had at first, but was so full of the second-work theory, that I called it a second work of grace. I believe thousands of honest souls have done the very same thing. I further believe that large numbers of people, if they told the truth, would have to say that they have passed through numbers of such experiences as I have mentioned, that time and time again they have wandered from God, and lost the joy of their salvation, and had to humble their hearts and seek His precious face, until they stood again at the foot of the Cross where the precious Blood flows. To those who say they have had two experiences, I would say, I have had more than two, and almost every saint of God that I have talked with has told me that they, too, have had more than two experiences. To them the final experience would be the definite one, and it might be a fifth, or tenth, just as clear as any person’s second, while the plain truth is, that only one is necessary if we know and obey the truth.
As stated above, some do not know, at first, enough of the truth to get the joy that they would receive, did they possess a knowledge of the truth. Therefore, with new light on what they have in Christ, comes new blessing.
As to the condition of the religious world, while we know many of them have at some time been saved, we further know that large numbers of them have never been born again. The low state of grace seen among believers is no proof whatever that sanctification is a second work of grace. All honest people will have to admit that the majority of the people in the so-called churches are not justified. It is not a second work of grace they need. They need to repent and get right with God. And in hundreds of cases, that have come under my observation, as soon as they repent and get right with God, they get the baptism in the Holy Spirit, just as we have seen hundreds of sinners, who had never heard of a second work of grace, do as soon as they were converted. As to the Scriptures: the Apostles and those at Samaria, and those at the house of Cornelius, and those at Ephesus, did receive something definite after they were converted; but it was not sanctification. It was the glorious gift of the Holy Ghost, Who is the seal of our complete salvation in Jesus Christ, Who announces Himself by speaking in tongues. All Pentecostal people know that these wonderful experiences in Acts have no reference to sanctification as a second work of grace, but exclusively to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. All others ought to know it.
As to the teaching of the Epistles, every Bible scholar knows, or should know, that the Epistles were written to people who were not only saved and sanctified in Jesus Christ, but were filled with the Holy Ghost, and these Assemblies abounded in gifts of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12:1 is often used as a proof that Paul was trying to get the Roman Church sanctified, but we must remember that the Romans were not only saved but filled with the Spirit, and that Romans 12:4–8 makes it clear that the Spirit had distributed the gifts to them. Thus Paul’s exhortation to them was to present their bodies a living sacrifice, or, in other words, to yield themselves up wholly to God to do His will in all things, which would mean for them to be a continual sacrifice.
Much has been said and written, especially by the opposers of the Pentecostal work, of the condition of the Corinthian Church. They are declared to be an unsanctified church. The advocates of the second work theory say that Paul was trying to get them sanctified; but is this true? Let us test it by the Word. 1 Cor. 1:2 says, they are the Church of God—sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints (holy ones). In the fourth verse, Paul thanks God for the grace which was given them in Christ. In the fifth verse he says, “In everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge.” In the sixth verse he says, “The testimony of Christ was confirmed in you”; in the seventh verse he says, “Ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Who dare say that this Church had never been sanctified? This is the best record given of any Church in the New Testament. They were enriched in everything, gloriously filled with the Holy Ghost, and every gift of the Spirit was in operation in their midst. One man among them, however, had fallen into awful sin. When Paul’s letter was received he was overcome with grief, truly repented, and was restored. Some others had allowed a spirit of partiality or favoritism to get in, even going so far as to contend about Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ, etc., etc. For this the Apostle reproved them. We have seen this thing among every order of holiness people. Some holiness people contend they are of Booth, some that they are of Caradine, some they are of Godbey, some they are of Wesley, etc., etc. None of them seem to think it is a proof that they are not sanctified; but they think it was a proof that the Corinthians were not sanctified.
Again, the condition of the Galatian Church is held up as a sure proof that they were not sanctified, and that Paul was trying to get them sanctified as a definite, second work of grace. But is it true? Let us see what Paul says of them. In the first chapter, sixth verse, he says, “That you are so quickly removing from Him that called you into the Grace of Christ, unto a different Gospel.” In the eighth verse he says, “But though we, or an angel from Heaven, should preach unto you another Gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.” In Chapter 3:1 he says, “O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified;” and in the second verse he says, “This only would I learn from you: Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” In verse three, he says, “Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?” Nothing could be clearer. They had received Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 1:30 says, “He of God is made unto us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption.” They had received the Holy Spirit. They had begun in the Spirit, but were going back into the flesh. Their danger was in departing from the plain way of faith, wherein they had started, and going back to the law, thus coming into bondage. Paul’s plain exhortation to them is to return to the simple Gospel of faith which he preached to them, and to have nothing to do with the law; to walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. All Pentecostal people, I am sure, will agree with me in this.
I have heard some claim that Ephesians 3:14–20 was a prayer for the sanctification of the Ephesians. In the light of truth this statement is ridiculous from every point of view. In the first place, we are taught in the 19th of Acts, sixth verse, that the charter members of the Ephesian Assembly, numbering twelve, were filled with the Holy Ghost, and spoke in tongues and prophesied. In the 13th verse of the first chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, he tells them that, having believed, they were “sealed in the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” In Chapter 4:30, he warns them not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. This is proof positive that the Ephesians were not only saved and sanctified in Jesus Christ, but filled with the Holy Ghost, and sealed unto the day of redemption. In Acts 20:31, Paul reminds the elders of the Assembly at Ephesus that by the space of three years he had ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears. I wonder if anybody really believes that the Apostle Paul would dwell for three whole years among a people laboring night and day among them, and leave them in a converted state, but not sanctified.
One more statement I will make: while, as repeatedly stated in this article, I recognize the exhortations of the Apostle to the Assemblies, to live a holy, separate life because they are dead in Christ and living in Him, there is not one recorded instance in the New Testament where any one was dealt with after conversion to lead them into the experience of sanctification. No one can produce a single instance. When men believed, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; the hands of the Apostles were laid on them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues; and were then carefully instructed how they ought to live in this world and to please God. Were I to write to holiness and Pentecostal people, after all I have seen in many years dwelling among them, I could point to many errors that needed correcting, and would feel constrained to earnestly exhort all of them to yield themselves more fully to God and to the control of the Holy Spirit, that the greater blessing and power of God might rest upon them.
As lengthy as this article is, it has not begun to cover the ground, but very many lovers of truth will see the truth of it. Some of them will look into the Bible and decide not to preach the old theory again, unless they can find Scripture to prove it; a few will say, I cannot accept this because it is not according to my experience; a few others will say, it is contrary to what Wesley taught or to what some other man has taught. The last two classes will pay little or no attention to what the Scriptures teach; some of them, to prove their narrowness and bigotry, will say, as I have heard of a few saying before, that the writer has gone back on sanctification. The writer is wholly sanctified to God in Christ. He holds his experience in living faith. He believes sanctification is God’s only standard. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, with the Scriptural signs following, and is so deeply in love with the truth that he is willing to suffer for it if necessary. The Word of God and the Spirit of God have led him to the belief set forth in this article; namely, that he believes in the finished work of the Cross of Calvary. He believes that a sinner receives Jesus Christ, and that a believer receives the Holy Ghost. These two experiences he finds clearly taught in the New Testament—he fails to find any other. Let us search for the truth, and receive it when we find it.
The Finished Work of Calvary: It Makes Plain the Great Work of Redemption
The confusion and misunderstanding in the religious world today is largely due to the fact that the simple Gospel of Christ is not taught and understood. Christ’s great work of redemption is the sure foundation on which real Christianity rests. “Other foundation can no man lay than is laid which is Jesus Christ.” If the great work of redemption and atonement wrought by Christ on the Cross of Calvary is left out, it is hard to see that Christianity is very far superior to some other religions. Satan knows this, and is leaving no stone unturned in his unceasing effort to blind the eyes of the people to this great fact. It is a fact that cannot be denied, that he has very largely succeeded in doing so. Only a remnant remain who see and cling to Christ as their personal Savior and Redeemer.
The surest possible way to overturn a building is to remove its foundation. The basic truths of the Gospel are that Christ became a substitute for sinners and died in their stead, and that men are saved by faith in Him. If this teaching be not true, then the whole Gospel or Christian structure is built upon an absolutely false foundation, Christ was a false teacher and an impostor and all who have trusted in Him are lost. The time has come that God will have the truth go forth and men will be called to decide one way or the other. God will have His simple, primitive Gospel preached in all the world exactly as it was in the days of the Apostles, so that all men can decide whether they wish to stand for Christ and His Gospel or for the foolish theories of men.
This makes the battle to largely center around the glorious truth of the “Finished Work of Christ on Calvary,” which is the most glorious and powerful truth of the Gospel. Yea, it is the very center and heart of the Gospel. When once this truth is established it clearly draws the line so that no one need be mistaken as to where he is. Thousands of people, who are trusting in morality, legality, philanthropy, humanitarianism, church membership, the brotherhood of man and the hundreds of other silly things in which men are being made to trust by false teachers who are influenced by the devil, will have their eyes opened to the fact that if the Gospel is true, all these things combined could never save a single soul. And all will be made to know that if any or all other things combined could ever save even one soul, then the Gospel is not true and Christ is dead in vain. In this decade the Gospel will be proven true. It will be confirmed by the signs that follow it. The establishment of the truth of the Gospel will explode every theory of men in existence concerning the salvation of lost men.
Many who are in the Spirit see clearly the great battleground and the point at issue. When the truth of the “Finished Work of Christ” was first sounded forth through Pentecostal Testimony, a large number saw what a conflict it would cause. None saw it clearer than the editor who wrote the articles on the subject. How could it be otherwise? The Finished Work is by far the most important teaching in the Bible. What could we expect but that the enemy would oppose with all his power? One brother after another was convinced by the Word of God itself. Nothing else could have convinced them, as they had had the other thing drilled into them for years, and like myself, well knew that it would mean the loss of friendship of all who did not see it, and who would still cling to the second work theory. One after another under challenge said, “I will find it in the Word of God, and convince Durham that he is wrong.” They would then begin the most careful search of the Scriptures and after days would be compelled to acknowledge to themselves and others that they could not find sanctification taught as a second definite work of grace in the New Testament, nor anywhere else, as to that. Then they would write and ask our forgiveness for having opposed us, and inform us that they had taken their stand for the Finished Work.
Some have tried to make it appear that people have simply accepted my teaching without investigation. Nothing could be further from the truth. No truth which I ever presented has ever been so carefully investigated as this one. Many have been forced to acknowledge that they could not find their theory taught in the Scripture; long before they would accept the truth. Others have declared they would never go back on some experience they had, no difference what the Bible taught. By far the greater number of all who have heard this teaching, however, have accepted it; however prejudiced they may have been against the truth and those who preached it. In fact it is a truth that is so clear and convincing that once one’s attention is called to it he cannot help but see it unless he simply closes his eyes and turns away.
The doctrine of the Finished Work, brings us back to the simple plan of salvation. Christ died for us. He became a substitute for everyone of us; for He tasted death for every man. Here is a truth so simple and yet so great that it is wonderful. We are not saved simply because we are forgiven our sins. We are saved through identification with our Savior Substitute, Jesus Christ. We are given life because He died for us and rose again. But some one may ask, “How do we become identified with our Substitute?” We answer, “By faith alone.” We are condemned and sentenced to death. Christ, the Blessed Son of God, stepped in and took our place and died in our stead, thus paying the death penalty that we might go free. When the truth is preached and we tremblingly fall at His feet and cry out, “What must I do?” the word comes back “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” This does not, as we have been taught, mean that we shall be partly saved by having our outward sins forgiven. This would not be salvation. Salvation is an inward work. It means a change of heart. It means a change of nature. It means that old things pass away and that all things become new. It means that all condemnation and guilt is removed. It means that the old man, or old nature, which was sinful and depraved and which was the very thing in us that was condemned, is crucified with Christ. This makes Christ all in all as Savior, and faith the only means by which we can become identified with Him.
How different are the theories preached today, compared with the Gospel preached by the Apostles. On every side men are telling us today that there is no saving virtue or merit in the Blood of Christ, but that He was a very great teacher, and that He was our example of a perfect man. They deny that we are saved through the merits of His precious blood, and set at nought His blessed work of redemption. They deny His Deity and make him a mere man. They tell us the world needs a religion of love. One that recognizes the brotherhood of all men, and that there is good in all religion. Thus they rob us of our Blessed Redeemer. They entirely rob us of the Gospel of Christ which the Apostles preached and which we find in the Bible. No religion ever taught or advocated by anyone could ever teach and enjoin more love and good works than the religion of Christ. The point is that we are not taught that we are saved by these things. Imagine, if you can, one of the Apostles going forth preaching and telling men that they were to believe that Jesus was a great and good man, and that this coupled with good works would save them. A thousand times no! They declared that He was the Son of God, and that God had raised Him up from the dead. They declare that He died for our sins and that we were saved by grace through faith. They made everything to center in Christ, declaring Him to be our only hope. They exhorted to a clean, separate, holy life, fruitful in every good work, separate from the world, lived in fellowship with God, not as a means of being saved, but as a sure proof of salvation already received by faith in Christ. It has remained for modern theorists to rob the Son of God of His title of World’s Redeemer, and thus of His right to the title of Savior, leaving Him a mere man.
So persistent has been the work of Satan along the line of deceiving the people, and blinding their eyes so that they would not see the great truth concerning the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, that, not only have the eyes of the people of the world been blinded, but a large percent of those in the churches as well. People have been made to look to so many other things that Christ has largely been lost sight of. They have turned to theories and creeds, experiences, blessings, works of grace, states of feeling, standings in churches, acceptance of certain truths, and so many other things that their vision of the Blessed Christ of Calvary has been dimmed. God has sent the Blessed Holy Spirit to His Children in these last days, to witness clearly in their hearts that the Gospel of Christ, as contained in the Scripture, is true. Men, doctrines, experiences and churches have been exalted in the earth for centuries. In the end of the age the Holy Spirit has come to exalt Jesus Christ, and give Him His rightful place in the hearts and lives of all God’s children, as well as in the assembly. Never has such a fight been made for men and the things of men as is being made in these days. These are days that try men’s souls. These are days when God is sifting and bringing to light. These are days when the theories of men are being tried by the Word of God, and shown up in their true light. They are weighed in the balance and found wanting. Men are proving their loyalty to their theories and their disloyalty to God, by clinging to their old theories after they are exposed by the Scriptures. They are in many instances fighting the truth of God with all their power. Most of them are not even attempting to bring Scripture to prove their position. They have none to bring; so they try to stop the progress of truth by denouncing those who bring the truth. This method of warfare is sure to fail. What God undertakes, He does. He has undertaken to establish the truth concerning the Finished Work of Christ and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and He will certainly do it. No power will ever prevent His doing so.
One thing is sure, and all would do well to recognize it. Time can never change nor interfere with the plan of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly the same today that it was in the beginning. A man is saved today on exactly the same terms he was in the days of the Apostles. Men change, customs change, churches change, very greatly, both as to their faith and practice, but the Gospel of Christ and God’s plan of salvation remain exactly as they were in the beginning. If Jesus Christ ever was the Redeemer of mankind He is such today. If man ever needed redemption he needs it today. If repentance and faith were necessary in the days of the Apostles they are necessary today. Not in even one place in the New Testament is it ever taught that there is any other way of salvation except through Jesus Christ. Over and over again it is declared that there is no other way, no name except His great name that has salvation in it. The same thing is true today. Millions are deceived by the devil into believing that they will be saved in some other way, only to wake up in the end to see that in rejecting Jesus Christ and setting at naught God’s plan, they sealed their own doom and missed the glories of eternal life.
No doubt the second work of grace theory has done more to blind the eyes of people to the simple truth of the Gospel than any other one theory that was ever taught. It has come to thousands of truly saved people declaring that they are not saved, and that, instead of men coming into Christ and receiving eternal life in conversion, all they get is pardon of their outward transgressions. They are told that when God pardoned them He left them full of sin and corruption, and that it requires a second work of grace to save them from hell. Bishop Horner, in his book “The Root,” makes the astounding statement that a converted person has enough sin in him to damn a nation. Of course, if this loathsome doctrine were true, no man is saved till he receives a second work of grace. If the Word of God taught any such thing we would heartily sanction it, and declare to all that unless they had had the second work of grace they were just as much on the way to hell as they ever were. Such teaching is so unscriptural, unreasonable and damaging that by the grace of God we will show it up in its true light, regardless of the way its adherents rage against us. Let them come forward and defend this thing with the Scripture. God’s Word makes it plain that when God saves a man He cleanses him. A saved man is saved no matter what the theorists say. He is saved from sin, death and hell, is a real child of God, possesses eternal life, does not need another work of grace, but needs to abide in Christ, receive and walk in the Spirit, hold fast the faith, grow in grace and in the knowledge of God and of Christ.
The simple truth is that a sinner is identified with Adam. A believer is identified with Jesus Christ. No man is identified with Adam the first and Adam the second at the same time. A sinner is in Adam and Adam is in a sinner. A believer is in Christ and Christ is in a believer. A sinner is condemned in Adam. A believer is free from condemnation in Christ. A sinner has condemnation and a believer has peace. A man is not in Adam and Christ at the same time. Christ and Adam are not in a man at the same time. When Adam fell the old creation was dragged down with him. When Christ arose from the dead, the new creation came up with Him. A sinner is in the kingdom of darkness and sin. A believer is in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Before conversion a man is in “nature’s darkness.” In conversion he is translated out of nature’s darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. It is in conversion that a man receives Jesus Christ, the glorious Son of God, and is made a new creature in Him, and old things pass away and all things become new. As these glorious truths grip our souls they put real strength in us, and we become established in our Blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These are the real truths of the Gospel. The Spirit witnesses to them when they are preached. The signs follow when this Gospel is preached.
Last year while preaching this glorious Gospel and being opposed in every possible way, we saw over four hundred precious souls receive the Blessed Holy Spirit with the speaking in tongues. In a little more than three months of this year we have seen more than two hundred receive the Spirit and speak in tongues. The demand for this wonderful Gospel has increased, till it will be impossible for us to ever go to one place in fifty which send calls. What is the secret of it? It is the real Apostolic Gospel, and the Spirit in God’s people witnesses to it. It is wonderful how God is establishing His people and uniting them. On the other hand, we have carefully observed for more than a year, and we have not seen anything like a revival among those who oppose the “Finished Work” and stand for the second work theory. We have known of very few receiving the baptism among them in any place that we have been. God is confirming His Word with the signs following, and He will not confirm or honor the theories of those who oppose His blessed Truth. Glory to God! Again the world is ringing with the cry of the Gospel heralds who are declaring the same glad message that the Apostles bore. God has freed us from many theories, and restored His glorious truth to us concerning the simple plan of salvation, and with joy we are passing it along. Christ is all in all. With us He shall be given His proper place. The pages of Pentecostal Testimony shall ever be filled with the glorious truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Will all lovers of truth pray that God will help us in this great warfare against error and in defense of His Truth?
Some Other Phases of Sanctification
We feel that in order to make ourselves clearly understood by those who never held to the theory that sanctification is a second definite work of grace whereby the heart is cleansed from original sin, but who have understood it to mean a setting apart for a holy use or for some particular order of service, we ought to clearly state our position with regard to this side of the subject.
A few years ago, after receiving the Holy Spirit, He began to open the Word of God to me and to show me the error I was in with regard to the second work of grace as taught by the holiness people and a large per cent of the Pentecostal people. Generally speaking among all holiness people with whom I had mingled (and I had mingled with most orders of them for about nine years), the word sanctify had only one meaning placed upon it. It was invariably interpreted to mean the “second blessing,” the removal of “inbred sin” or the “old man.” We were told that it meant an inward cleansing from the depraved, fallen, or “Adamic nature.” We were told that the terms in Scripture, “old man,” “carnal mind,” “flesh,” “superfluity of naughtiness,” and all kindred terms meant one and the same thing, that they referred to the inward condition of a man in a natural state, and were left in a man when he was converted, and only removed by a second, definite, instantaneous work of grace. This work of grace, they told us, was sanctification and that only those who were sanctified as a second work of grace were sanctified at all. To the terms mentioned above, referring to the depraved nature of man, they added many others, some of which follow: “Inbred corruption,” “the bent to sinning,” “inherited tendency to evil,” “the hydra-headed monster,” “the roots of bitterness,” “the stump of the tree of sin,” “a nest of vipers,” and many other things which it is unnecessary to mention here. Now the question is not whether these terms are correct. I believe those which are quoted from Scripture at least generally do refer to the nature of sin; but the question is, whether a real saved man who is really born again has all this left in him. We were taught, and some are still teaching, that when Paul exhorted to holiness or prayed for the entire sanctification of any person or church, he meant that that person or church had all the things mentioned above in him or it, as the case may be, and that they were to seek for and receive a second work of grace which would instantly remove all this, and leave those who received it with a clean heart. The theory was that justification was the first work of grace and that it removed all outward sins and uncleanness, but the heart was left full of sin and corruption.
When I saw the absurdity of such teaching, so far as it refers to cleansing the heart from sin, I began to write and speak against the doctrine that it takes two works of grace to save and cleanse a man. I denied and still deny that God does not deal with the nature of sin in conversion. I deny that a man who is converted or born again is outwardly washed and cleansed and his heart left unclean with enmity against God in it. I do not believe a man is saved who has that in his heart which the holiness people claim all saved people have in them. How could he be? How can a man be saved and at the same time have “enough sin in him to damn a nation,” as Bishop Horner, in his book “The Root,” says a saved man has in him? Undoubtedly if he has enough in him to damn a nation it would damn him!
Against this teaching we array the plain Scriptural doctrine, that a man is renewed in conversion. We hold that, not only has Christ paid the penalty for our having broken the law, but that He took our place, as descendants of Adam, who share the condemnation and sentence of death pronounced upon him, and died in our stead. When Jesus Christ died, He paid the whole penalty for sin, both committed and original. By one great offering He completed the work of our redemption. In this great work He became a substitute for us. When we believe on Him and accept Him as our Savior, we become identified with Him, and thus saved from all sin. Therefore, through our identification with Him, Who is our Savior and Sanctifier, we are both saved and sanctified. He becomes, or is made, unto us Sanctification. This sanctification, however, has only to do with our cleansing and purification. It is true we are separated unto God in Christ and set apart in Him, for all who come into Him have this blessed experience.
So far in our writings we have generally only dealt with the above phases of sanctification. We have been writing with the Wesleyan, or rather modern holiness people’s, idea of sanctification in our mind. We have been meeting the contentions of those who hold that we are not cleansed till we receive cleansing as a second work of grace.
There is another side, however, to sanctification. In fact, the words sanctify, holy, etc., either in the Old or New Testament, seldom have any reference to cleansing from sin. The word is used of God and angels. It is used of men, vessels, houses, garments worn by the priest, things to be eaten by the priest and their families and assistants, of the city of Jerusalem and different other things. These things, or at least the most of them, never had or needed any work of grace. Most of them were, and could only be, holy by virtue of their office or relationship to God. They were dedicated to His service, set apart for a holy use. A priest was separated from among the people. He was consecrated or dedicated to the service of God.
It is our opinion that every man who filled the office of priest was supposed to be a clean, pure man before he was accepted for the office, and we doubt if he was any holier from the standpoint of purity of heart, after he was consecrated to the office, than he was before. So it was with the vessels of the temple. They were no more holy within themselves, after being consecrated to the service of God, than they were before. After consecration they were holy, sacred or pure by virtue of their relationship to God. So it was with the garments and food of the priest. They were consecrated or dedicated to the holy service of a most holy God. If a priest touched anything which defiled him, he had to go through the forms of purification. These forms consisted of outward washings. It was the same with any of the holy things used in the temple worship and service. If by any means they were even slightly polluted and defiled, they had to undergo a radical cleansing.
Pages might be written to show that sanctification in Scripture does not, and generally could not mean a second, or any other work of grace, but it seems to us this is not necessary. But some contend, “Sanctify means to make holy.” We know that this is one of the meanings of the word, but in most cases in the Scripture the person or thing is made holy by being brought into a certain relationship to God.
Because of our position against the second work theory, and our statement two years ago, that God’s one standard is entire sanctification, some of our friends have, without cause, been afraid that our position did not admit of the belief, that God sets people apart for His holy service after conversion, and in this way sanctifies them. Others, just a few, however, have feared that we did not believe in growth after conversion. Let us repeat that any such fears have been entirely ungrounded. Every such fear will at once vanish, when it is understood that we wrote only concerning cleansing. We believed then, as now, that when God saves a man He fully saves him. We believe He cleanses him from all sin. We believe, however, that this only brings one into a state of spiritual babyhood, and that the whole Christian life with its variety of experiences lies before him. We further believe that the personal conduct of such a one will have a great deal to do with what he develops into, or is chosen for in his Christian life. Many failing to live a holy, separate life before God and the world, do not qualify for any of the honors God has to confer upon those who do walk before Him in perfect obedience.
When God has a great work to do or office to fill, He lays His hand on some one who is already walking before him in holiness or purity of heart and life, and sets him apart for that office or work. This, in Scripture, is called “sanctification.” Even before the foundation of the world, Christ was chosen for the great and holy office of World’s Redeemer. He Himself says of Himself that the Father sanctified Him and sent Him into the world (John 10:36). No one will attempt to claim that this has any reference to cleansing. After twice declaring that His Apostles were clean, and adding that they are not of the world even as He is not of the world, He prays in John 17:17 that the Father will sanctify them, of course meaning to set them apart for the great work they were to do, and offices they were to fill. Proceeding, He says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself.” The Father had sanctified Him and sent Him into the world; now He was to sanctify Himself. He was going to voluntarily set Himself apart, or dedicate Himself for His great work on the Cross. No one could be more pure and holy than He was in every sense of the word. It was His perfection, in the very fullest sense of the word, that qualified Him for the great work He came to do. It required a perfect, spotless being for the great sacrifice for the sins of the world. Christ was sanctified or set apart for this work.
God in conversion brings a man into Christ and makes him holy by washing away all his sins, inward and outward, and giving him a new, clean heart, thus making a new creature of him. The next thing God does for those who are saved, if they trust Him for it, is to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Those thus saved and filled constitute the body, or church of Christ. God expects them to live a clean, holy, separate life, to crucify the flesh, and walk in the Spirit. From those who are faithful in this experience, God chooses those who are to do His work and declare His message in the world. There are many offices to fill in the Church of God, and they can only be filled by those who are cleansed from sin and filled with the Spirit. So, when God wants a man to fill an office in His church, to do a work for Him, He calls one whom He knows to be qualified to fill that office, or do that work. If He calls a man to fill a position in a local assembly, the man is consecrated to the ministry, and set apart, or sanctified to the service of the Lord in the ministry. The same man, if he proves faithful, may be chosen and set apart as a pastor, then as an evangelist, and finally might be called of God to consecrate himself to go as a foreign missionary. The man was sanctified when he was saved, and he is sanctified several times afterward by being set apart for the holy service of God; but at the end he may not be a particle more saved or cleansed than he was to start with. We believe that God calls men after they are saved, that He sets them apart for different lines of ministry and orders of service; but we do not believe that the Word of God teaches that sanctification is a second, definite work of grace, and that it is essential to the cleansing of the heart, and that only those who have had two works of grace are clean.
We know that after conversion, and even after receiving the Holy Spirit, men grievously fail God, and even commit sin, and have to repent and trust the Blood for cleansing. We do know that most people are not living up to their privilege before God, and living the holy, separate life in the Spirit they should, but we know that those who claim two works of grace are just as far below the standard as others. This convinces us that the lack is not so much of some definite experience, as of living the life.
We believe that as long as we live in this world we are in our humanity, and that instead of God’s destroying our human nature, He expects us to control it. In other words, after cleansing us and filling us with the Spirit, He expects us to so yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit continually, that He will have full control of all our faculties. God makes use of our consecrated faculties, when we remain yielded to Him.
We have been wrongfully accused of teaching that we believe people get all there is in conversion, that, therefore, there is no more to look forward to. On the contrary, we believe that God chooses and sets apart only those who are fully saved. We believe that He generally, wonderfully deepens into Himself those whom He chooses. We believe He generally gives them a mightier anointing of His Spirit and power. He gives them a deeper revelation of Christ and His finished Work of redemption on Calvary’s Cross. He often gives some powerful gift or enablement for service. He always equips those He sends forth; but we do not believe it is Scriptural to say that any of these things is a second work of grace. We do not believe in any second work of grace any more than we do in a third or fortieth work. The Word of God does not teach any. We believe it would be well for all to heed the exhortation in the epistles, and separate themselves more fully unto the Lord and His holy service. We believe there is not a people on the earth that does not need to do this, or scarce an individual. When the people of God will humble themselves and consecrate themselves fully to Him, His power will come upon them in its fulness. Till then there will be a lack.
4. Answering Critics: The Moody Church, Azusa Street and the Holiness Press
William H. Durham, “Doctor Dixon Answered,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 5 (July 1910), pp. 12–14; “The Great Revival at Azusa Street Mission — How It Began and How It Ended,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 8 (August 1911), pp. 3–4; “Concerning Self-Defense, Misrepresentations, etc.,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 2 (May 1912), pp. 12–13. Primary sources; page numbers from the OCR page marks; these are Durham’s own accounts of disputed events.
CTS note: These are Durham’s answers to his critics, and each gives one side of a dispute. A. C. Dixon (1854–1925), pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago, rejected the Pentecostal teaching on tongues; Durham answers his booklet and invites him to a public debate. The Azusa Street article is Durham’s account of February–May 1911, when he preached the Finished Work at Azusa Street while its pastor, William J. Seymour, was travelling, until Seymour and the mission’s officers locked the doors. Seymour, his congregation and many historians tell the story differently: they saw a visiting preacher drawing a congregation away from its pastor and teaching a doctrine its leaders did not accept. Durham’s phrase “men of his own color” reflects the racial tensions of the time; Seymour was African American, and Azusa Street was known for worship across racial lines. Readers should weigh Durham’s sharp judgments of Seymour and Elmer K. Fisher as one party’s view, not as a settled verdict. The paper at Cleveland, Tennessee, was probably the Church of God’s Evangel.
Doctor Dixon Answered
In the last few months Dr. A. C. Dixon, pastor of the Moody Church, has preached twice, or more, on the subject of tongues, and recently has published a booklet on the same subject, a copy of which is before me. Feeling that he has not done justice to the subject, and that the public has a right to hear the other side of the question, I make this attempt to answer some of the statements which he makes. I shall have only time to touch on a very few points, and space compels me to deal briefly with those I shall be able to touch on at all. I wish to state that I always had a very high regard for Mr. Dixon, as I have believed him to be faithfully preaching Christ as the Savior, and standing firmly for the Bible as the Word of God. I have no desire to say or do any thing against him, or to in any way injure him. I simply write in defense of what I believe to be the plain truth of God, and to which I believe my brother has failed to do justice.
In the first place Mr. Dixon admits of a doubt as to whether the Apostles and others on the day of Pentecost really spoke in other tongues or whether the people simply heard in their own language. The Scripture says distinctly that they spake in other tongues, and to our mind there is no room whatever for doubting that they really spake in other tongues. On page one, under the head of “Not Repeated” he makes the statement that the Pentecostal experience was never repeated, and continuing attempts to prove that in other instances where the speaking in tongues is recorded, it does not mean that the people spake in other tongues, but if I grasp his meaning, they simply spoke in a different way in the same language. Let us examine the Scriptures and see if Dr. Dixon is right in this position. His position is that the Pentecostal experience was never repeated. In Acts 10:47, Peter says of the people at the house of Cornelius, “They have received the Holy Ghost as well as we.” In Acts 11:15, Peter says, “The Holy Spirit fell on them even as on us at the beginning.” Now as it was the speaking in other tongues, or as Mr. Dixon puts it, tongues, leaving off the adjective, “other” that convinced both Peter and those that were with him, that the gentiles had received the gift of the Holy Ghost, it is an astonishing thing to me that a man of the learning of Dr. Dixon should not see that it was supernatural tongues that were spoken.
We believe that Peter’s plain, twice-repeated statement that these people had received the same thing he received on the day of Pentecost, entirely removes this flimsy foundation from under our brother’s argument. We cannot see that the absence of visible tongues of fire or of the sound of the rushing, mighty wind has anything to do with what they received or with the tongues that followed. It was the Holy Ghost that was received on the day of Pentecost, and it was the Holy Ghost that was received at the house of Cornelius. In each case it was evidenced by the speaking in tongues, as the Spirit gave utterance. Dr. Dixon uses the same weak argument with regard to the Words of our blessed Lord Who said: “These signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues.” To our mind there can be no doubt as to what the Lord meant, nor have we ever heard any question raised as to His meaning till recently. All have been agreed, so far as we know, that He meant supernatural tongues, and in Acts 2 we see how beautifully it was fulfilled. The same thing applies to Acts 19:6.
On page two Mr. Dixon takes up the subject of the speaking in tongues at Corinth as recorded in the 14th chapter of 1 Cor. After admitting what is generally denied by the opposers of the Pentecostal work, namely that there is a difference between the speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, and the exercising the gift of tongues, as at Corinth, where it is plainly implied that the speaker has control of himself, and can speak or not as he chooses, he takes up the subject of the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation. To our mind our brother is in the grossest possible error on both these subjects. In answering him on these points I am going to put Scripture and facts against his theories. On page four, paragraph four, he says concerning the gift of tongues “it was an ecstatic rhapsodical experience, which expressed emotion without thought.” Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:4–10, that certain gifts are given in the Spirit, and tongues is classed as one of those gifts. It is a travesty on Scripture to teach that that which it calls a gift of the Holy Spirit, is simply “ecstatic,” “rhapsodical” or emotional. The speaking in tongues is a genuine gift of the Spirit of God, and there is not a hint in Scripture that it is an inferior gift, or that it is not to be sought. Can it be possible that this man of letters really believes that God would bestow a gift of the Spirit on his people that was of as little value as he would lead us to believe the gift of tongues is? Repeatedly he refers to the speaking in tongues, as “ecstatic,” “rhapsodical,” “This gift of ecstatic joy,” and in other ways clearly implies that it has no more meaning than a laugh or a shout, making it emotionalism pure and simple. The Word of God calls it a gift of the Holy Spirit, and says that the speaker speaks to God. Can it be that God would commit to His children a means of communication with Himself, that was as unimportant and insignificant as Dr. Dixon makes the gift of tongues appear to be? Three years ago I heard Dr. Dixon in delivering an address say that the speaking in tongues was simply a spiritual ecstacy language, and was the result of a person’s getting so happy they lost control of themselves, and simply gave vent to their feelings in unintelligible gibberish, and that the gift of interpretation, simply meant that at such a time some one would stand up and explain to the people that the one speaking in tongues was not crazy, but simply so happy that he had lost control of himself. This in substance is repeated in the article which we have under discussion. His whole contention, when analyzed, is that the speaking in tongues is simply ecstatic utterances escaping a person when they are rapturously happy, and that interpretation simply means to explain that this is the case. Would it be necessary for God to give a person a gift of the Holy Spirit to produce the former or to explain it? I appeal this case to the intelligence of every reader of this article.
Our contention is that the speaking in tongues is supernatural. The Scriptures say that in the Spirit mysteries are spoken. We contend that to interpret means to really translate what is spoken. We believe that the mysteries spoken in the Spirit are brought down into the realms of the natural where the understanding of man can grasp them, by the Spirit’s operating the gift of interpretation. The Spirit through one speaks mysteries, and through another interprets them. This view of things exalts these blessed gifts of the Spirit to the place where they belong. Dr. Dixon’s teaching on this subject entirely removes the Scriptural teaching that they are gifts of the Spirit, and makes them to appear very insignificant, as, if what he says were true, anyone who was happy enough might speak in tongues, and a sinner could interpret as well as any one else. Let the reader decide for himself which is right.
Let us compare Dr. Dixon’s statements concerning “these ecstatic utterances” with actual facts. Is it only when those who speak in tongues are rapturously happy that they speak in tongues? The writer has been filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues for nearly three and one half years, and can say from actual experience that Mr. Dixon’s ideas on this subject are entirely wrong; and with all his learning and wisdom, and knowledge on all other lines, he has no knowledge whatever of this experience. Fifty-thousand copies of this paper will be circulated. They will fall into the hands of thousands of people who are speaking in tongues, all of whom will bear me out in this statement. The first time I ever spoke in tongues was March 2, 1907. The Spirit had come upon me, and I was prostrated under his power. This was the day I was baptized in the Spirit. I was conscious at the time that the personal Holy Spirit had come and taken up His abode within me. He was dealing with me in a wondrous way, when presently He began to operate upon my vocal organs, and then to speak through me in tongues.
There was nothing ecstatic or emotional about it, in the sense of which Dr. Dixon speaks. I was happy and continued to be happy, but it was not my happiness, nor emotions that produced the speaking in tongues. I spoke as the Spirit gave utterance, as the disciples at Pentecost, and it was the operation of the Holy Ghost that caused the speaking in tongues, as well as to make me happy. From that time to this I have spoken in tongues almost every day, and often many times in a day, but I am just as apt to speak when under a burden for the lost, or for the work of the Lord, or when in earnest prayer, as when I am rapturously happy. The Holy Spirit dwelling within speaks when He wills, and I am glad to have it so.
It is the same with interpretation. Time and again has He given me the interpretation of messages spoken in tongues, and at different times when others would stand and give the interpretation of what He had spoken in tongues through me, I would have the same clear interpretation, which is wonderfully strengthening to one’s faith. What a contrast between these actual facts experienced in the lives of thousands of God’s people today, and the theories set forth by my Brother Dixon.
On page 7, paragraph 5, Dr. Dixon makes the astonishing statement that the speaking in tongues was a sign of unbelief rather than of faith. I wonder if any student of the Scriptures will ever believe this? Will anyone believe that it was unbelief in the Apostles on the day of Pentecost that caused them to speak in tongues? Will anyone believe that the speaking in tongues at Ephesus indicated unbelief? Are lovers of the Bible ready to believe that one of the gifts the Holy Spirit imparts to those who receive Him, is a sign that the recipient is an unbeliever, or that he is weak in the faith? Let us appeal the case to Jesus Christ, Who says, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” The speaking in tongues according to the Word of God is a sign of believers, and a sign to unbelievers. If what Dr. Dixon says of it be true it would be a thing to be feared, as no one would want to possess anything that branded him before the world as an unbeliever. Is it not astonishing that the Apostle Paul should say, “I would that ye all spoke in tongues,” when so doing would brand them as unbelievers, and then to make himself still more ridiculous, exclaim, “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all,” when so doing, according to Dr. Dixon, would brand him as the greatest unbeliever of all? What will lovers of Bible truth think of such teaching from a man who fills the position this man fills? Knowing that large numbers of people will be unwilling to believe that Mr. Dixon taught such a thing, and will believe that I am trying to injure him by accusing him of doing so, I refer anyone who doubts to “Speaking in Tongues” by A. C. Dixon, address The Bible Institute, 826 La Salle Ave., Chicago.
Dr. Dixon is very firm in his stand that it is a lack of faith to expect any sign to accompany the receiving of the Holy Spirit. He implies that those who expect to speak in tongues when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit are a “wicked and adulterous generation.” But is this true? Does it betray a lack of faith in God and His word to expect Him to do what He says He will? Is it wrong to expect that when we are justified by faith, we will have peace with God? Is it wrong to expect the Spirit Himself to bear witness with our spirits that we are the children of God? Would it be wrong for one claiming to be a Christian and who had not these evidences of salvation, to concern himself about the matter, and pray that God would give him conscious salvation?
Is it possible that things have so changed, that a person who is clearly convinced by the Scriptures that he has not the baptism in the Spirit must be satisfied to see that Jesus promised to send a comforter even though he has no knowledge of ever receiving Him? Could a sinner claim salvation in the same way? Why did not Peter and the rest of the Apostles after Christ ascended to the Father simply say, “Well He promised to send the Comforter, therefore we have Him, and it would be unbelief to go to the upper room and tarry?” Does anyone believe that when Peter and John went down to the city of Samaria, as recorded in the eighth of Acts, they told the converts that they must not expect to receive any thing, but must believe they had the Holy Spirit, and that was all there was to it? Would Simon, the sorcerer, have been so impressed by such proceedings that he would have offered Peter money to give him power to go through such a form? The truth of the matter is this. When people receive the Holy Ghost, there are signs which follow, without anyone’s seeking for them, and they are following in thousands of cases today. This is so troubling those who have none of the Scriptural signs of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, that they seem determined at any cost to minimize the work the Lord is doing, or discredit it altogether. The Apostles prayed that signs and wonders might be wrought in the name of the Holy Child Jesus, and I do not think they made any mistake in so doing. Paul says, “Covet earnestly the best gifts,” and again, “Desire spiritual gifts,” and to our mind he was not in error. Every thing that comes from God is a gift. Our advice to every sinner would be to seek till he finds God’s gift to him, that is, Jesus Christ the only Saviour. And to everyone who has received Him, we would say, seek to receive what He has to give you, namely the gift of the Holy Spirit. To those who have received the Holy Spirit, we would say keep low at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to give you the gifts of the Spirit, that Jesus Christ may be glorified through you in any way He chooses. Space forbids my dealing with other points which I should like to answer, so I prayerfully submit this article to the judgment of its readers, who I trust will examine the Scriptures to see if these things be so.
I submit the following proposition to Dr. Dixon: I will engage a large hall in the central part of the city, and pay all the expenses on it, if he will agree to meet me in a friendly discussion of this much discussed subject before the people. I will guarantee that there will be not less than 500 Pentecostal people present at this meeting. I believe there would be a thousand, but will guarantee five hundred. This will afford our brother an excellent opportunity to present his side of the subject to the Pentecostal people, and I am glad to have them hear him. This discussion, if Dr. Dixon agrees, is to be a friendly one, affording each one of us an opportunity to present his side of the question, and as this subject is being so widely discussed in the religious world today, we believe it would not only be of interest to the public, but profitable as well. All Mr. Dixon will have to do will be to appear, and deliver his address. All arrangements will be made for the meeting and all expenses paid.
We can see no grounds our brother can have for rejecting this proposition, unless he should feel that it would be unbending too much from his dignity. We should hope, however, that as this work is growing and spreading so rapidly, and as he has taken up arms against it, giving it as much attention as he has, he will be willing to take one more step, and give the public a chance to hear the two sides presented at the same time.
I have ordered fifty thousand copies of this paper, and if Mr. Dixon rejects this proposition, the hundreds of thousands of readers, which will include preachers and missionaries of this and many other lands, can decide why he did so. Finally, will every reader of this paper earnestly pray for the pastor of the Moody Church, that God will have His way with him? And please pray for the writer of this article, who is the least of all the servants of the Lord.
The Great Revival at Azusa Street Mission: How It Began and How It Ended
On February 14th, we began meetings in Azusa Mission. From the first day the power of God rested upon the meetings in a wonderful way. The altar was crowded at every service, and after the first few meetings, it was necessary to provide extra altar space, and soon we moved the seekers’ meetings to the second floor, where there is a large room fitted up for that purpose. The work in Los Angeles was in a sad condition. Those who had been the leaders, in most cases, had proven so incompetent that the saints had lost all confidence in them, and this had resulted in a state of confusion that was sad indeed to see. Scores were really in a backslidden state, and yet in their hearts they longed to follow Jesus. Scores of others were, and for months had been, crying to God to send some one who would preach the truth and lead His people on. The suffering of many had been great indeed. As the message began to go forth, the saints came from all directions, and inside of a few days the place was crowded to the doors, and many turned away. Sometimes there would be more than a hundred at the altar at a single service. One after another would stand up in the meetings and confess that they had gotten their eyes off Jesus, and go to the altar, and in almost every case the anointing of the blessed Spirit would be renewed, till soon the very air was filled with notes of praise and shouts of victory.
From the very first, sinners were saved, and an average of at least ten a week were baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, as He gave them utterance. Week after week went by, and still the interest did not wane, but on the contrary the power increased, till the glory of God literally filled the place. At times the Spirit would move upon the saints, and they would sing in the Spirit, and praise the Lord in the most wonderful way I ever heard. At times there could be no regular order of service; no one could preach or even testify. All we could do was to sit with our souls bathed in a sea of heavenly glory, and praise the Lord with all our hearts.
As stated above, the sufferings of many of the saints had been great. Their joy now knew no bounds. They saw in these wonderful meetings the direct answer to the earnest prayers they had sent up to God for months, and now they knew their labor had not been in vain, and the light of Heaven began to shine from their faces in a way most marvelous to behold. God had told some of them He was going to do a work in Azusa St. Mission, and they now rejoiced in the fulfillment of His promise. Some saw visions of the cloud of glory hanging over the place, and had revelations of what God was going to do, every one of which came true. Time and space forbid our giving anything like a detailed account of the meetings. As many as twenty-two were baptized in the Holy Spirit in one week. Some of the hardest sinners were saved. I believe that literally hundreds who had more or less backslidden were restored, and many real cases of healing were witnessed.
When we arrived in this city, we tried hard to be in fellowship with the Upper Room Mission, of which Mr. Fisher was then Pastor, but we were denied the privilege of speaking there, and refused fellowship, on the grounds that we were crooked in doctrine, in that we did not believe that sanctification was a definite, second work of grace. So when the meetings began Mr. Fisher, with many others who believe the second work of grace theory, seemed to feel it their duty to do all in their power against us. As a result, we were condemned and denounced in the most bitter terms. The people were warned against us, and told that those who were getting the baptism under our ministry were getting false baptisms. This was not confined to Los Angeles, but all up and down this Coast, my teaching has been denounced as from the pit, and all sorts of charges have been made against me. In a word, the most bitter persecution and opposition has raged against me from the day God began to work so marvelously in Azusa St.
Some one will ask what doctrine I preach that has brought all this upon me. In answer I will say that I preach the finished work of Calvary, that we come into Christ and are fully saved in conversion, and that the next step is to be baptized in water, and then in the Holy Spirit; that we do not, according to the Scriptures, have to seek for any intermediate experience. We exhort to stand on the Word of God rather than any experience, to hold on to Christ rather than to something He has given us, to abide in Him, and not in some experience. We believe that in conversion we come into Christ, and are saved and sanctified, and that we are to reckon ourselves dead, and in living faith abide in Christ, and live and walk in the Spirit.
This doctrine commended itself to the saints. The power of God fell, as it was preached. In one case after another God demonstrated His truth by saving and filling people with the Spirit in the same meeting; thus proving His power to work today, as He did in the days of the Apostles, as recorded all through the book of Acts.
Soon the people from the Upper Room Mission began to attend the services, and almost everyone who did so was at once convinced that the mighty power of God was there. Brother George B. Studd, who was associated with Mr. Fisher in the work, came, and was convinced that God was working. He had long been a seeker and had suffered much for the sake of the truth. God showed me that He wanted me to be in fellowship with Brother Studd and that He wanted to baptize him in the Holy Spirit in our meetings, and later that He wanted to separate him from the Upper Room and from Mr. Fisher. True to what He showed me, God baptized him in our meeting, and a little later separated him from Mr. Fisher, and he has been with us ever since, rejoicing and praising God. Meantime Sister Fisher came to our meetings and was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and wonderfully blessed of God. Then came the janitor, the usher and some of the elders and preachers from the Upper Room, and received the baptism. Mr. Fisher came up to the light, and at one time acknowledged it, then turned away, and hardened his heart and opposed the work more bitterly than ever, and today, if I am rightly informed, he is out of the ministry altogether. It is an awful thing to resist the power of God. Those who do so, do it at their own peril. Will the readers of this article please pray for this dear man, that the Lord will restore him?
As the meetings went on, the people on all sides began to ask what Brother Seymour would probably do, when he returned from the East. He had begun to write and wire for money to come home on. Some said he would oppose the work, others said he would accept it. The Spirit put a great burden upon my soul, and showed me clearly that he was trying to get home to get possession of the work, and that if he could not do so, he would do all in his power to stop it. I told this to several people before he arrived, and after he arrived, before he had taken his stand. Meantime Brother Seymour came, and instead of making the honest confession he owed the people, for the way he had compromised and denied the truth, and then taking a humble place, till such time as he had regained the confidence of the people, he attempted to push himself on the people, and preach to them against their will, and a little later, notified me that this was his work, and that he wanted his place. I tried to reason with him, telling him that it would ruin the work to place him in charge at that time, but he showed a very bitter spirit and condemned and judged the people, saying that if the people did not want to hear him they could leave. When he said this I knew that it was useless to try to reason with him further. I saw plainly that God had shown me the truth concerning him. He does not care in the least for the work of the Lord, but wants a place in it. If he can not have the place, he will not hesitate to tear down the work.
The next day I asked for an expression from the congregation, as to whether they wanted him to take charge of the work, or me to continue. With the exception of ten, or less, the congregation, consisting of several hundred people, voted that the meetings should continue, as they were. The glory and power of God continued to rest mightily upon the meetings, and that day several were baptized in the Holy Spirit. This was Sunday.
When we came to the Mission Tuesday we found that Seymour had influenced a few of the officers of the Mission, men of his own color, to stand with him, and they had locked and bolted the door. It developed that for days, while we were preaching, praying and seeking God in the Mission, Seymour had been scheming and planning as to how he could get possession of the building, if he could not get the work. This last move was necessary to let all men see what manner of man he has come to be. Many of us who knew him when the power and glory of God was so mightily upon him years ago, could never have turned away and left him with God, if he had not done something that would convince us beyond a doubt that he had gotten into such a condition that the power of God had entirely left him, and that he was no longer worthy of the confidence and respect of the saints. I have been the last of all the brethren, that I know of, to give him up, and have always found an excuse for his failures and blunders; but now I am compelled to acknowledge that the brethren have been right, and that, though once a mighty man, he is such no longer. Sadly do I pen these lines, and I hope every reader will pray that the Lord will restore him.
We all saw in this move a tremendous effort on the part of Satan to force us into a compromise. Failing in this, he succeeded in having us turned out of the place that was paid for with consecrated money for a place of worship. Thus we were turned into the street in the very midst of one of the greatest revivals we ever saw. It took us some little time to see that this was really God’s way of separating us from an element who were not loyal to Him, and into a larger and better place as well. For a day or two there was a little confusion, as many could not understand what had happened. Then God led us to a large, airy hall at the corner of Seventh and Los Angeles streets which we could lease for a year, and we did so. By the help of the Lord we had it ready for the Sunday services, and from the first meeting the power and glory of God has been mightily upon us. In another article I will give an account of the present condition of the work in Los Angeles, as space forbids in this article.
With joy I have told of the beginning of the great revival at dear old Azusa St. Mission, and with real grief I have told of how it ended, and why. Let none of the saints condemn me, or think I have desired to condemn Mr. Seymour or Mr. Fisher or anyone else. The circumstances have forced this most unpleasant duty upon me. The news of the outpouring at Azusa brought rejoicing wherever it went; and so many letters of inquiry have reached me, that I feel it my duty to tell the saints everywhere just what happened, and who is responsible for it.
Concerning Self-Defense, Misrepresentations, etc.
In the last year several tracts and several articles in religious papers, as well as numerous false reports have been circulated against us. The only reason that we know for this, is that we stand for the Finished Work of Calvary, instead of the old theory of two works of grace, and that some are jealous of the little success the Lord has given us. We are ready to believe that some who have written or reported, that we did not believe in sanctification, did so from their own mistaken idea, that only those who are sanctified as a second work of grace are sanctified at all. There is little excuse for them, however, as we have declared in all our sermons and written articles, when we referred to the subject at all, that we never believed stronger in entire sanctification, and that we believe that it is the single standard of the New Testament. “Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord,” has been our battle cry. We are also willing to believe, that we have been somewhat misrepresented by those who had not a clear understanding of our real position and teaching. We fully believe, however, that most of the false reports circulated against us have been willful and malicious. It is a real grief to us to make this statement, but we know that actual facts warrant our doing so.
Some of the reports circulated against us have created a real prejudice against us. This cuts off our opportunity for doing good to those thus prejudiced. In different places saints have come to us, after hearing us preach a few times, and said, “Is this really William H. Durham?” When assured that it was, they have declared that they were greatly surprised, as they had heard such awful reports about what I preached and believed, and the spirit I did it in. In one case after another, such persons have sent for their friends and gotten them to the meetings, and in some cases they would get the baptism. In such cases, they often say, “How could they ever circulate such things against you?” The only answer that I know to give is that their attitude seems to be, “Why should we not circulate anything against him that will injure his reputation, he does not believe in two works of grace, and we do?”
Our desire has always been to keep still, and never speak a word in our own defense. God has long ago brought us to the place that it does not hurt us, in the least, to be falsely accused and condemned. At times, however, the attitude of most enemies, and some friends, has been, “Why does he not defend himself, if he is innocent?” There has never been one time that we were not perfectly capable of doing so, and at the same time exposing those who have written and spoken falsely against us. We have been publishing editions of fifty thousand copies of this paper; it contains sixteen pages and we are handy with the pen. The reason we have not answered our critics, or rather the reasons why we are not conducting that sort of a campaign, are: first, because we do not believe the Lord and our thousands of friends in this and other countries want us to take up the time defending ourselves; second, we are determined to reserve the space in this paper for the printing of the real Gospel of the Son of God. If we began to fill our space with answers to opposers, we would woefully misrepresent the Pentecostal movement. We know of one mission of some strength on the Pacific Coast that stands for the second work of grace. From there to the Atlantic Coast, I do not know of one mission of any strength that stands for two works. From one ocean to the other every mission, that I know of, is open to me. I have urgent calls to come, at the first opportunity, and preach the Finished Work of Calvary in most of them. I am not going to recognize that there is a faction of any importance that still stands for the second work. Further, in cases where I could do so, I have no desire to publish before the world the failures or downfall of my enemies. If I am right, God will be with me. If they are wrong, they will only go so far, and the Lord will call a halt. I can say with sadness, that it has seemed that I did not need to do anything to pull most of them down.
In different cases I have letters and documents, signed by those who have done the most underhanded and unChristian acts against me; which prove conclusively that all they have done was done in malice and hypocrisy. In all these cases I have had perfect knowledge of this all the time. Some of them have come to me in bitterness of soul and confessed their sin. Some have said they were largely influenced and led to do what they did by others. Others have said they could not possibly understand whatever moved them to do such a thing. During all these things, my attitude has been one of silence. I can trust the Lord to work things out. When you see that people have little or no regard for either truth, or righteousness, it is always best to leave them with the Lord.
A little paper published at Cleveland, Tenn., lately contains the latest, most absurd, and absolutely false report of an imaginary happening in one of my meetings, that we ever heard. Only envy and malice could have prompted it. In it I was accused of ejecting a person from a meeting for testifying to two works of grace. No one was ever in any place denied the privilege by me of testifying to as many works of grace as they desired. With grief, I will say that our ministers and the saints in considerable number have not only been put out, after testifying to the Finished Work, but have been waited on before the service began, and told that they could not speak, sing or pray in the meeting. In one case after another, our people have been shamefully insulted, rebuked and denounced; but in not one case have we ever disfellowshipped any person, because he believed in two works of grace. I have always told our people that, no difference how many works of grace anyone believed in, if he did not show the spirit of Christ, he was not of Him. I have repeatedly warned the people never to show the spirit that has been shown against them.
Finally, brethren, our plan in the future shall be as it has been in the past. We shall make no attempt to answer false and foolish reports circulated against us. We shall clearly set forth from time to time our full belief in the pages of this paper. If you think we ought to speak in our own defense, remember it would consume too much time. If you think we should not refer to these things, even as in this article, remember that a statement is sometimes necessary. In all cases, grant us the benefit of your prayers and the privilege of devoting our entire time and strength to preaching and publishing this blessed Gospel of the Son of God. We have no personal matter, and no personal complaint.
5. Ministers, the Church and Revival
William H. Durham, “A Word to Ministers, from a Minister,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 1 (March 1909), pp. 10–12; “The Church,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 7 (February 1911), pp. 4–5; “An Open Letter to My Brother Ministers in and out of the Pentecostal Movement — A Strong Appeal,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. I, No. 8 (August 1911), pp. 12–13, with its reprint in Vol. II, No. 3 (August 1912), pp. 12–14; “The Great Chicago Revival,” The Pentecostal Testimony, Vol. II, No. 2 (May 1912), pp. 13–14. Primary sources; page numbers from the OCR page marks; the interpretations are the author’s.
CTS note: “A Word to Ministers” appeared in the first issue (March 1909). Its first page is printed in two columns that the OCR interleaved line by line; CTS restored the column order by a line table. Durham refers to a testimony by Pastor E. N. Bell of Fort Worth in the same issue, which is not included. “The Church” states Durham’s sharp 1911 judgment of the denominations; many Pentecostals later formed denominations of their own, such as the Assemblies of God in 1914, and CTS presents his view as a historical position, not as its own. The “Open Letter” follows the 1912 reprint, with the damaged lines and the paragraph the reprint left out supplied from the August 1911 printing. “The Great Chicago Revival” reports Durham’s last campaign (February–April 1912) and its mixed congregation of many races, nations and churches. “Higher criticism” is the historical-critical study of the Bible; Christian Science and spiritualism are religious movements Durham opposed.
A Word to Ministers, from a Minister
There is a deep-felt need among ministers everywhere, today, that can only be met by their receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is nothing that can ever take His place in the life of a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No one can have the inward revelation of Jesus Christ which is necessary to successfully preach Him, as the only savior of men, till it is given him by the blessed Holy Spirit. No one can know the value of the Blood of Jesus Christ, in the fullest sense, till it is revealed to him by the Spirit of God. In fact, it is very doubtful if the Scriptures authorize anyone to preach, till he is filled with the Holy Spirit.
After the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead, He commanded His disciples to tarry at Jerusalem, till they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). In Acts 1:4 He forbids their leaving the city, till the Holy Spirit should fall on them. By this, we see that it was the purpose of our Lord, that His ministers should be filled with the Spirit, and that theirs should be a ministry of power through the Spirit. We can find no place in the Scriptures where this order of things was ever changed, and it is sickening to read articles today, some of them by learned divines, declaring that God has changed His plans, and that we are living in an age when God is perfectly [illegible]; and that any miraculous works that are done today, are done by Satan and his agents. Such teaching is a travesty on Scripture, a slur on the Holy Ghost, and an insult to God, as well as an awful accusation against hundreds of thousands of the purest saints on earth today. It is gratifying to know that the class of ministers last mentioned are few in number, and we dare to hope that their tribe will soon become extinct, and that they will be replaced by men called of God, equipped by the Lord, filled with the Holy Ghost, who will fearlessly preach Christ and His blessed Gospel, instead of trying to explain it away, as these men are doing. On the other hand it seems that the coming of the Lord is the only relief for the situation, as unbelief and higher criticism are getting such a strong hold on many, that we fear their power will never be broken.
Men have made the mistake everywhere of trying to prepare themselves for the ministry. Only God can prepare a man to preach Christ. God’s way of preparing a man is, first to soundly convert him, and second, to fill him with the Holy Ghost, and then give him a definite call. God will also give him a real longing for the salvation of the lost, and he will preach to save men, and to please God. Such a minister will not be self-conscious; he will be God-conscious. He will not seek his own; he will seek the good of humanity, and the glory of God. He will tell all the truth, no matter how many enemies it makes him, and while he will grieve to see those who do not want the truth turn away from him, he will rejoice that he has grace to obey and strive to please God. He will never preach to please men, and make friends, or to get their support. He will preach to men under conviction for sin, and then patiently lead them to the Christ who pardons and saves, and then tell them, they still need the Holy Ghost. A God-equipped, and called minister will never compromise with anybody.
Ministers who prepare themselves, or are prepared by man, will have a need in their own lives, and in spite of themselves, will be conscious of it all the time. This will result in weaknesses, which will be felt by them, and seen by others. They will not have any real burden for the salvation of the lost, in this and other lands. They will have a desire to please men, and to win their approval and support. Their ministry will be a profession instead of a calling. They will depend on their salary, instead of trusting God for all things. They will often compromise the truth, or withhold it in part at least, because they desire to win the applause and support of men, rather than to please and glorify God.
Men are spending years in seminaries, universities, and colleges, preparing for the ministry, and in their eagerness to acquire intellectual knowledge, their spiritual life is many times sadly neglected. Many come out of these institutions, through which they have expected so much help, in a much worse condition spiritually, than when they enter them. Many of these institutions are honey-combed with higher criticism, and instead of the young man’s faith in God and His Word being strengthened, as he expected it would be, it is sadly weakened. Many have told us of the damaging effect the teaching they have received at these institutions has had upon them. Some have said that these things have proven the hardest obstacles they have had to surmount when they really sought to know God, as they felt it was their duty as ministers to know Him. We have dealt with ministers, who, after finishing their regular courses here, have gone abroad, both for travel and study, and who have since spent years in the ministry, and who tell us of the disappointment of it all, so far as the satisfying of their souls is concerned. They tell us of years of real heart hunger, and thirst, which nothing seemed to satisfy. So far as our knowledge extends, this same thirst exists in the souls of most ministers today.
To our mind these things go a long way toward proving, that men are seeking in the wrong direction for preparation for the work of the ministry. We believe that as good as education is, it falls far short of meeting the need of the day, and that we will have to look in an entirely different direction, if the need is to be met. We wish to say to every brother minister everywhere, that God has made full provision for the need. The need is the Holy Ghost. Nothing can ever take His place in the life of any believer, and especially that of a minister. The learned and eloquent need Him as much as others. It is not the work of ministers to charm people by their eloquence, but to preach men under such conviction, that they will turn to God. The world has had so much of the wisdom of man and so little of the power of God, that it seems to us, it is high time for us as ministers of Christ, to go down before the Lord in true humility of heart, and tarry, till He really endues us with power from on high.
Some will say, “The Lord will not fill us now as at Pentecost, and in Bible days,” but to such we answer, that the proof that God will do it is that He is doing it in thousands of cases and in every part of the earth, and what God does for one of His ministers or children, He will do for anyone of them, if they will meet His conditions.
As is always the case when men seek in the wrong direction for a thing, more labor and pains is required, and in the end they fall short of receiving it. They go from one thing to another, until we are reminded of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness. One thing after another is investigated, until many give up in despair, or become infidels, or higher critics, which amounts to about the same thing. We are reminded of the ship whose crew were perishing for water, and when their signal of distress was answered by another vessel, which inquired what the distress was, and having learned, said to them, “Let down your buckets, you are in the mouth of the Amazon!” They were perishing for water when there were millions of tons of it flowing right under their vessel.
To every minister of the Gospel, we would say, “There is an open fountain.” If you have tried many things and failed to receive what your soul craves, get down and cry to God, till He comes and meets your soul, and satisfies you. If you have spent years in study, and travel, and still feel a deep need in your own heart, cease to expect from any source except God. Read the Acts of the Apostles. Note well the experiences given there. Tell God you will never rest, till He has given you what they received. Humble your heart before Him. Set up an altar just where you are, and begin to pray and wait; claim His promise and honestly expect that He will meet you, and He will do so.
Satan will tell you that this is too much for you to expect, and that you can never receive. Where in the Scriptures are we authorized to go on preaching the Gospel with anything less than what we are asking you to seek, and expect to receive? The writer speaks from actual experience, as he preached for more than five years, with a conscious shortage in his own experience, but when God sent him the light, he received it, and became a seeker, and the Lord met him, and filled him with the Holy Spirit, with the sign of tongues as evidence that it was the Bible brand. This experience has stood the test for two years and three months, and even as he writes these lines, his whole being is glowing with the power of the living God. Facts cannot be gainsaid. We are speaking from our hearts, and from tested knowledge of the experience itself. We are sending out this paper at a great sacrifice, of labor and money, and all the reward we expect is the good which we earnestly hope, and dare to believe, it will do.
Again, there is a great hungering and thirsting among the people, and it seems they are waiting for the ministers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and lead them into the things of God. Brethren, our opportunity is now. Let us grasp it. All any minister has to do in these days is to tarry till the Holy Spirit falls on him, and the revival starts. There is a revival spirit among the people; and there is a great need of ministers who will take the Bible and fearlessly preach it. How sad it is to us to see so many ministers holding back, and waiting to see what the people are going to say about this movement. Others are taking what those they look upon as leaders say about the work. Brethren, these men have not investigated this work. They have not told the truth about it. Their criticisms have reached me by scores. Not one of them has been fair, or true to the facts in the case. None of them has done what they could have done to inform themselves on the subject. Many of those who are looked upon as leaders live in Chicago, and know our address, and could learn the truth by attending one Sunday morning service, and two or three consecutive services during the week. They have not done so, but have made grave and utterly false charges against the movement; such as that we start people to seeking for tongues, and that we are not interested in the salvation of sinners, etc., which, of course, is utterly false. Satan is hoisting scarecrows in every direction to keep the people away.
Brother, do you dare to read the first ten chapters of the Acts, and then ask God to give you exactly what He gave the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, and what He gave the converts at the city of Samaria, and the believers at the house of Cornelius, and then wait for Him to do it? Do not ask Him for tongues; ask Him to give you the gift of the Holy Ghost. Ask Him to baptize you without your speaking in tongues, if He ever baptizes people that way, and you will find that when His mighty power falls upon you that you will speak in tongues, as all the rest of us have done. You ask what is the good of the tongues? They are the evidence that what you receive is the Bible brand. It is a Pentecostal baptism we are talking about.
A German Methodist preacher who was baptized in the Holy Ghost here last week, prayed that the Lord would not let him speak in tongues unless that always followed; but when the Spirit fell on him he spoke in tongues clearly for half an hour. Pastor Bell, whose testimony appears in this number, prayed the same way, and with the same results. We will say here what we have preached, and contended for for two years, that we would not give five cents to have everybody in the city of Chicago speak in tongues, unless it was the direct result of their being filled with the Holy Ghost, as the disciples were on the day of Pentecost. This will convince any honest soul, that we are not trying to get people to receive the gift of tongues.
Let us search the Scriptures, and see if these things are so. The Church of Pentecost was made up of men who possessed little learning; but there is not a church on earth today, that has the power in it, that they had. They had the power of the Holy Ghost. They had the power of the Name of Jesus Christ. They knew the value of His Blood. When men stood in their presence they were pricked in their hearts. It was not their learning or eloquence that convicted and convinced men, it was the power of the Holy Ghost, and that is what is needed today. There is an awful falling away from God and His truth in these days, and in our humble judgment, it is very largely due to the fact that the ministry is not filled with the Spirit of God. If all ministers were filled with the Holy Spirit, and preaching Christ as it is the duty of ministers to do, such things as Christian Science, and spiritualism, could not exist. Satan knows there is a real hunger in the hearts of God’s people for the Comforter which Jesus promised, and that Christians know there should be power in their lives; and while the church of God is asleep, he is cunning and crafty enough to palm off his counterfeits on souls who do not know the truth. To my mind, we, as ministers, are largely responsible for the present condition of things; and the Lord will hold us accountable, if we do not humble ourselves before the Lord, and the people, and seek till we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and give the people the real bread of life. They will then receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and find all their hearts desire in Jesus Christ and His blessed Truth.
Finally, while God recognizes only a ministry that is in the Holy Spirit, He has provided a way whereby every one of His ministers can have all their needs supplied, and that by simply believing, and obeying Him, and asking for the Holy Spirit, and waiting till He comes upon them. We then can say, with Paul, “My preaching was not in the wisdom of men, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” And again, “I was determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” How few can say this! Brethren, what right have we to preach a Bible in which we believe very little? What right have we to preach a Christ on whom we believe so little? How dare we preach unless we fully believe?
I prayerfully submit this article for the consideration of ministers everywhere, and will be glad to pray for any who desire it, and even though they do not send request, we will pray for the thousands to whom we mail copies of this paper, knowing that we shall meet everyone of them at the judgment bar of God, where we shall all give an account to Him who has called us to the ministry of the Gospel of His Son. Brethren, pray for me.
The Church
We are frequently asked to give our opinion concerning the Church, as to what it is, of whom composed, etc. We are also asked, frequently, whether in our opinion Pentecostal people should stay in and support the churches in this day. We have seldom answered such questions, as it seems to us every one should understand these things as soon as they were spiritually enlightened and had their understanding opened, so that they would understand the Scriptures. In the first place, the Church of Jesus Christ is composed of Pentecostal people. There never was a Church until after Pentecost, and there is none recognized in the New Testament Scriptures, except the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head, and which is set in order by the Holy Spirit: for the Scriptures declare, 1 Cor. 12:18, “But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him.” Now, as it is declared in Ephesians 1:22 that Christ is the Head of the Church, and, in the Scripture quoted above, that God sets the Church in order, and each one is set in the place that the gifts of the Spirit they have received qualifies them to fill, it is clear that only those who are members of Christ’s Body—“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,” 1 Cor. 12:13—and set in order by the Holy Spirit, are recognized as being members of the New Testament Church. We have an abnormal Christianity in the world today (that is, those we must recognize as Christians, but who are not filled with the Holy Spirit) for which it is impossible to find any Scriptural provision. In other words, only Spirit-filled people are recognized as being in a place that they are pleasing to God. Wherever we find converts in the New Testament who are not filled with the Holy Spirit, we find the Apostles dealing with them to lead them into the experience.
We conclude, therefore, that a Church, from a Scriptural standpoint, is a company of people who are called out of the world, made new creatures in Christ Jesus, buried with Him by baptism into death, and filled with the Holy Spirit. From such a company the Holy Spirit selects those whom He knows to be qualified for the ministry, and gives them a definite call to preach the Gospel. These ministers will have a burning Gospel message filling their hearts and pouring from their lips, and a real burden for the work of the Lord, and soul travail for the lost, and for those who are not up to their privilege in the Gospel. Nothing will ever turn such a minister aside nor cause him to compromise the truth. The wealth of the world would not buy him off, nor can men ever get him under their control or hinder his message from going forth.
The Church of the Scriptures has a real scriptural experience, and holds to and contends for all the truth of the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. She walks before Him in the beauty of holiness in the light of His truth and in the power of His Spirit, and is thus kept entirely separated from the world and sin and the snares of the devil.
The denominational churches of today are of purely human origin. Not one of them has any Scriptural authority for its existence. In other words, God never authorized any man, or set of men, to build and operate a church, nor to receive members into the churches. As said above, people become members of Christ’s true, holy, spiritual Church when they are born of the Spirit and filled with the Spirit, as this is the only normal Scriptural experience; and they are set in order by the blessed Holy Spirit, and equipped for work by the gifts He imparts to them. The churches of men reject very much of the deepest and most precious truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and exclude members and ministers from their fellowship, if they witness that God has done for them the things He promises to do in His Word, and dare to preach the real truth of God.
When a man or church rejects or opposes the vital truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he, or it, becomes the enemy of God and of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a hindrance to souls who are seeking God’s best. The churches of today unanimously reject the glorious Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Ghost that has brought such untold blessing to tens of thousands of God’s honest children. They also reject the doctrine of divine healing that has brought bodily health to thousands of God’s real saints. Many of them reject the precious Bible doctrine of holiness of heart and life, and some even reject the work of redemption through the Blood of Jesus Christ; making His Blood of no avail. Thus, in a very full sense, they become the enemies of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and are unworthy the respect of all those who love the Gospel of Christ. While posing as the Church of God, they are in reality mere social clubs. Many of their ministers are unregenerate, knowing nothing of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After careful consideration and a wide observation, I am of the honest opinion that, while there are many good people still in the denominations, as institutions they are the greatest hindrance to the advancement of the real cause of Jesus Christ. Further, I believe they are doing more to hinder the people of earth from receiving God’s glorious message of full salvation and the baptism in the Holy Ghost than all other forces combined. I further believe that the ministers are doing much more to hinder than the members are doing. Take the ministers out of the way and give the people the privilege of hearing the Gospel, and it is my opinion that tens of thousands would readily accept it. When they heard the real standard of the Gospel lifted up and Christ exalted as the only Savior of men, and the precious Blood as the only remedy for sin, and the Holy Ghost honored as Comforter, Teacher and Revealer of God’s glorious truth, tens of thousands would fall at the feet of Jesus Christ and surrender their lives to Him. When we take this view of the matter, there can be no question as to the duty of the people of God. God wants the world to have His message, and every loyal child of God wants to co-operate with God in getting His message to the world as quickly as possible. How, then, can God’s children stay in these institutions of men who fight God and hinder the progress of the Gospel, and which are so organized that they never can accept the truth of God? How can God’s children pay their money into these institutions, when it is used to fight God with, and when God’s real Gospel messengers are denied the privilege of preaching the Gospel inside their doors?
In answer to the question which has been asked me from so many sources, I would say, if God has filled you with the Holy Ghost, bear faithful witness to what He has done for you, and to what He wants to do for all His people, and faithfully witness against the sins of your church, and if they receive the message and turn to God, well and good—if not, walk out from them. Some say there is no Pentecostal or Full Gospel work in their locality, and they do not know where to go, yet they say the church in their locality is bitterly opposed to the truth they love so much: some say they feel that they ought to support a work somewhere, and there is no Full Gospel work in their locality. This does not excuse you, dear child of God, for paying your consecrated money into the hands of those who use it to fight the truth of God. You had a thousand times better select missions and works that are preaching and publishing the truth of God, and send your offerings to help carry on the work, or to send it for the support of foreign missions, than to place it in the hands of those who oppose and hinder the truth. If God’s true people would obey the plain command of His Word concerning those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof, and turn away from them, the lines would be drawn, and it would soon be apparent to all that they are not the real Church of God. Thus they would lose their influence in the world. Let us search the Word and obey its teachings, receive its experiences, rejoice in its truth, and honor our Blessed God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
An Open Letter to My Brother Ministers in and out of the Pentecostal Movement: A Strong Appeal
We are living in a wonderful day. God is moving very rapidly indeed. The revelation of one precious truth follows another so closely that only those who are in very close touch with the Lord seem able to grasp these precious truths as fast as they are revealed. The result is that many honest souls oppose the truth of God for a time, and then have to humbly acknowledge their mistake, and take their stand with the truth they have opposed. When the great outpouring of the Spirit came to the Pacific Coast five years ago, many were prepared to receive it as from God, and take their stand from the beginning on the side of God and His wonderful work. Others took a firm stand against it and opposed with all their might, only to find themselves arrayed against God, and were compelled to sorrowfully retrace their steps, before they could get in line for the blessing of God upon their souls. Some failed to do this, and today they are entirely destitute of power. They have even lost what power and blessing they once enjoyed. It is sad indeed to see the lifeless, powerless condition many are in, as a result of having opposed the power of God. It is still sadder when we have to acknowledge that many of these cases are ministers who once led God’s people on to victory, but when advanced light and truth came they rejected it, and the people went in ahead of them. In fact, in all ages the preachers seem to be the last to receive the truth of God when it comes. They seem to become so thoroughly established in their theories that the truth makes no impression upon them.
Still another class seemed to see that this wonderful work was of God, but thought it not best to advocate it very strongly, for fear of causing division among the people. They seemed to be afraid to trust the people with the truth. They also excused themselves on the ground that the plain truth reflected so on the experience of so many dear saints, who had lived in the past, that they hardly thought best to proclaim it, or that if preached at all it should be preached very cautiously and apologetically; and many seemed to think it best to abridge or modify it. This class has seemed to feel all the time that they were called to champion the cause of those who have stood against the movement, or those who have lived in the past, and have proven a much greater hindrance in the work than the out-and-out opposers. While God’s faithful ministers have been thundering forth His present-day message in such a fearless, uncompromising way that thousands have been brought face to face with their need, and thus led to seek and find God, these compromisers have gone about soothing the consciences of the really convicted, telling them they could have the Holy Ghost and not speak in tongues, or that they already had the baptism and all they needed to do was to wait for the evidence of tongues, and that it would come in the Lord’s time. All this has been a great hindrance to those who were trying to get the message of God through, and make men feel their responsibility in the matter of accepting or rejecting it. Of course, if the tongues are the evidence, and men reject that part of the message, they are rejecting that much of the message of God. If they are not the evidence, then those who reject this teaching are only rejecting error, and are not only clear, but are to be commended for so doing. Many of us know that the tongues are the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost; and that the Pentecostal message is direct from God, and we can do nothing less than to proclaim it with all our hearts, no matter how much persecution and suffering it may bring upon us. And it has been the grief of our lives for years, to see men who ought to be preaching this blessed message, and standing with us in the front ranks, lagging behind afraid to take a stand.
Some say they see the truth of the Pentecostal message, but do not think it is time to preach it. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, what possible excuse can there be for withholding a truth from the people when God reveals it? It seems to us that this is a cowardly excuse for compromising the precious truth of God, and withholding it from the people. Brethren, take a stand.
At the present time, we are confronted with a matter which is of just as much importance in the Pentecostal Movement as those referred to above. The people who make up this movement have largely come into it from other churches and holiness movements, and, as in all such cases in the past, have brought much of the teaching of the churches and movements, from whence they came, with them. They have accepted this blessed truth, and it is now necessary to discard error. It somehow seems harder for many to do this than it was for them to accept the truth. The Holy Ghost not only reveals truth, but exposes error as well. When He reveals truth we must accept it, or we will lose out. When He exposes error we must drop it, or we will go into darkness and confusion. God is undertaking to restore His precious truth to His people, and to free them from error as well. His full power can only be demonstrated among a clean, honest people, who accept and prize all His truth, and detest and reject all error. Now it is a small matter for people to give up what has been known as gross error, but when it comes to giving up theories that we have believed to be precious truth for years, it is another thing, but in these days we are called upon in many cases to do that very thing. Especially is this true with regard to the theory that sanctification is a second, definite work of grace.
Four years and four months ago God baptized me in the Holy Ghost, and from that day to this, I could never preach a sermon on the second work of grace theory. I had held to it for years, and continued to do so for some time, but could not preach on the subject again. I could preach Christ, and could preach holiness as never before, but not as a second work of grace.
Soon the Spirit began to reveal in my heart the finished work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary, but it was so contrary to all that I had taught, and been taught, that I dared not admit, even to myself, that I could find nothing in the Word of God to establish the doctrine that sanctification was a definite second work of grace. Still the Spirit kept revealing in my heart the precious Gospel as preached by the Apostles: identification with Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. This led me to pray and search the Word of God as never before, and the more I searched, the plainer it was to me that many Pentecostal preachers, myself included, were preaching a doctrine that God’s Word did not teach. After a long and careful examination of the Scriptures and much earnest prayer, I began to preach this blessed and simple Gospel. To my surprise many of the saints told me they had seen the same thing in the Word and in the Spirit, and further, by far the greater part of all who heard it preached, accepted it.
For some time there was no great amount of persecution or opposition, but soon reports were circulated, to the effect that I was not straight in doctrine. Especially did those who for some reason were my enemies condemn and oppose me in this matter. The more I was opposed the more the Spirit moved upon me to preach it, and to challenge the opposers to find anything in the Scriptures that established the second work theory. None of them has done this, but many have brought the experience of themselves or someone else or the teaching of some man on the subject, but this does not satisfy me. I want the Word of God.
Now I find that many of the brethren see the Scripture on the finished work of Calvary just as I do, but are not preaching it. As I preach the simple truth of the Word of God: to receive Jesus, and then receive the Holy Ghost, and then live the sanctified life in the power of the Holy Ghost, God wonderfully confirms His Word with the signs following. Sinners are saved. Believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit; the sick are healed and the saints are established in Christ in a way that I never saw before.
Brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, are you going to wait till the battle is fought out and this precious truth established (for it will be established, as sure as there is a God in Heaven) and then come and take a stand for it, after the smoke of battle is cleared away? I never suffered so much for preaching any truth, nor did I ever receive such blessing. Can the brethren not see the importance of taking a stand upon the Word of God? Some say they see it, but do not think it is time to preach it. Is it ever too soon to proclaim the blessed Gospel as it is written? Others say they fear it will cause division, therefore they think best to not preach it. Can we afford to withhold the Word of God from the saints, for fear that only a part of them will receive it and thus cause a division? How would we feel toward anyone who knew the truth of God and withheld it from us, for fear we would not receive it? Jesus said, “Preach the Gospel,” not, keep still for fear of division. Again it shows a great lack of confidence in the saints, when we are afraid to trust them with the truth. I believe the saints are so in love with the truth, that most of them are willing to lay aside their prejudice and receive it, when they hear it. Further, I believe that the Spirit of God in the baptized saints, who are walking in the light, will witness to the truth when they hear it. The Word of God does not teach two works of grace, and we have no right to preach two. It teaches the finished work of the Cross, and it is our duty to preach it.
Brethren, pray and search the Word, and take your stand with me on the Word, and help fight this great battle. You will be shut out of some Missions, as I have been. You will be branded by some, for a time, as crooked; and the saints will be warned against you, as they have been against me; but you will have the joy of knowing that you are suffering for the truth, and that the reproach you are bearing is the reproach of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
The world has waited so long for the true Gospel, that it is an awful thing to fail to preach it, when it is revealed. Thank God for the large number who are falling in line with the Word, and today the Cross is being preached, as I never heard it in my life before. Brethren, hasten! the time is so short! Let us preach Christ in all His glorious fullness, and drop out all theories of men.
The Great Chicago Revival: How the Lord Poured Out His Spirit and Worked among His People
The Chicago meeting was announced as a convention to last two weeks. Brother VanLoon and the writer arrived from the Pacific Coast on the twenty-fourth of February, and the meetings commenced the twenty-fifth. Brethren Argue, McAlister and Bell, who were expected were detained at home, but we expected them a few days later. Brother Argue soon wrote us that his work in Winnipeg was in such a condition, owing to the fact that the Lord was sending in so many to hear and receive the truth, that it was impossible for him to get away. Brother McAlister wrote that unexpectedly they had to move to another hall, and therefore he could not come. All this was a very great disappointment at first, as we desired very much that this should be a convention. The Lord soon showed us, however, that His plan was to have a revival and not a convention. So we settled down into His will.
From the very first meeting the power of God was manifested. Several were baptized in the Spirit the first day. The first week twenty-eight were baptized in the Spirit with the speaking in tongues as evidence. Meantime both the interest and power were increasing. People were coming from all directions and after listening to the glorious Gospel of Christ would go to the prayer-room, and no sooner would they begin to pray than the power of God would fall upon them, and it was no unusual thing to see six or more lying under the power at the same time, and different times I saw two or more coming through speaking in tongues at the same time.
If ever I saw the proof that God is no respecter of persons, I saw it here. Old and young, black and white, without respect to creed or nationality, the people who went to seek God were met with His mighty power and baptized in the Spirit. I saw Italians, Persians, Scandinavians, Germans, Africans, Indians, Baptists, Methodists, Salvationists, in fact most all orders of people, go to the prayer-room to seek God, and saw them leave filled with the Spirit of God and heard them speaking in tongues. Time and again the power would be so great in the prayer-room that it would seem that wave after wave would surge over the people and one after another would fall under the mighty power of God and come up speaking in tongues. One night about midnight a mighty wave of power struck the seekers and between then and two o’clock five were baptized in the Spirit.
Many attended from out of town during the first two or three weeks of the revival. Almost every seeker that came in from out of town received. I only know of two who have failed. Many who came up and received have gone back to their home towns to proclaim this glorious truth. Several preachers and students are among the number who have received.
I have been in meetings where there was more noise and outward manifestations than there has been in this one. I have seen meetings where there would be much more shouting and other manifestations than we have seen here, and at the same time there would be very little definite results. But I never saw a meeting where the message of God took hold as it has here, and where there were such results as we have seen here. Of all revivals I ever attended or conducted, this in actual results has by far exceeded any. It has been a revival of results. A time when the mighty hand of God was seen all the time.
When the two weeks were up which the meeting was supposed to run, it was apparent to all that the meeting ought to go on. If I remember right the Lord had baptized thirty-three the second week and the interest was unabated. So we announced that the meetings would continue indefinitely. As we continued God was with us in the same power. Sinners would come in and get saved and many times get the baptism in the same meeting. One night seven sinners came in and were saved, and the Lord baptized four of them in the Spirit, and they spoke in tongues. That day God baptized fourteen people in the Holy Spirit. This was the greatest number we have seen in any one day since the Lord baptized us five years ago. We cannot remember to have heard of that many receiving in one day in any place since we have been in the movement. All glory, honor and praise be unto Him Who has raised up our Lord from the dead, and Who is pouring out His Spirit according to His promise. So full of praise was my heart, that for days and days it was almost continually ringing in my heart, “He hath done all things well.” When I would try to pray all I could do would be to praise Him with all my heart. Glory, glory be to His Holy Name!
Page after page might be written giving one instance after another where God proved His willingness to meet and bless His children. In fact I never saw such a manifest willingness on the part of God to work, as I have seen here. The sick have been healed in many cases. Backsliders have been restored; sinners saved in large numbers, and in nine weeks one hundred and seventy have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues.
After the meetings had gone on for a few weeks, Bro. E. N. Bell came among us and was with us for several days enjoying the meetings and meantime delivered some real helpful messages. Many other ministering brethren have visited us in passing.
We are now preparing in the will of God to move to the South Side of the city to hold a revival. A large number of the saints have earnestly entreated us to do this. We find that the largest part of the seekers on the North Side have received. Will every reader of this paper pray earnestly that God will have His way in this city. He has made it plain to me that if He could have His way He would baptize thousands. We are very much in need of prayer, as the battle is exceeding hard. Two weeks ago we had to spare Bro. VanLoon from the work here as it seemed he was much needed in Los Angeles. To say that we miss him does not express it. His services were invaluable to us.
Let no one think this work has been done without opposition from the devil. In every conceivable way he has hindered and opposed. He has resorted to his same old tactics, misrepresentation, false reports, denying what God has done and in a word everything that he thought would hinder or keep any soul from coming and receiving what God has for him. All this we expect from the devil. He knows we have a Gospel that gets people to God, and he would not be the devil if he did not do everything in his power against it. In the end truth will triumph. The Finished Work of Calvary is the truth. Speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance is the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. God is honoring these blessed truths. It is not man that God honors or desires to honor. It is His own blessed truth.
Compromisers who do not preach and stand for the truth need not think that their misrepresentations will prevent God from confirming His word with signs following. Unceasing prayer has gone up to God for Chicago for months and He has answered. Let all saints everywhere join in praising Him for the great work He has done in this great, wicked city, Amen.